The document discusses various methods for testing and evaluating job applicants, including tests of cognitive abilities, motor and physical abilities, personality, interests, and achievement. It covers intelligence tests, specific cognitive ability tests, personality tests measuring the big five factors, interest inventories, and achievement tests. The document also discusses other selection methods such as background checks, reference checks, work samples, and situational judgement tests. It notes that selection tests must be validated, and that personality tests can be prone to faking or legal challenges.

1. Tests
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2. Chapter Outline
 Selection Testing Methods
 Cognitive (mental) abilities
 Motor and physical abilities
 Personality and interests, or achievement
 Measuring Personality and Interests
 Different types of testing methods
 Background Investigation and Other Selection Methods
 Previous employment checks
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3. Selection Testing
 Many kinds of tests can be used to select qualified employees.
 We can conveniently classify tests according to whether they measure
 Cognitive (mental) abilities
 Motor and physical abilities
 Personality and interests, or achievement
 Valid employment tests help companies predict before hiring which
applicants will likely be the most successful
 Selection tests must be evaluated extensively before being utilized for
hiring decisions.
 The development of test items should be linked to a thorough job analysis
 Initial review of the items should include knowledge statistical and validity
assessments.
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4. Test of Cognitive Abilities
 Cognitive tests include tests of general reasoning ability (intelligence) and tests of
specific mental abilities like memory and inductive reasoning
 Cognitive ability tests measure an individual’s thinking, memory, reasoning, verbal, and
mathematical abilities
1. INTELLIGENCE TESTS:
 Intelligence (IQ) tests are tests of general intellectual abilities.
 They measure not a single trait but rather a range of abilities, including memory,
vocabulary, verbal fluency, and numerical ability.
 An adult’s IQ score is a “derived” score; it reflects the extent to which the person is above or
below the “average” adult’s intelligence score
 Intelligence is often measured with individually administered tests like the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale.
 Employers can administer other IQ tests such as the Wonderlic individually or to groups of
people.
 In one illustrative study of firefighter trainees’ performance over 23 years, the researchers
found that a measure of general intellectual ability and a physical ability assessment were
highly predictive of trainee performance.
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5. Test of Cognitive Abilities
2. SPECIFIC COGNITIVE ABILITIES:
 There are also measures of specific mental abilities, such as:
 deductive reasoning
 verbal comprehension
 Memory
 numerical ability
 Psychologists often call such tests aptitude tests, since they importance to
measure aptitude for the job in question.
 Consider the Test of Mechanical Comprehension illustrated in Figure , which tests
applicants’ understanding of basic mechanical principles.
 This may reflect a person’s aptitude for jobs—like that of machinist or
engineer—that require mechanical comprehension.
 Other tests of mechanical aptitude include the Mechanical Reasoning Test and
the SRA Test of Mechanical Aptitude
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6. Tests of Motor and Physical Abilities
 Organization might want to measure motor abilities, such as:
 finger dexterity (Finger dexterity is the measure of a person's ability to handle small objects or
to manipulate controls using their fingers)
 manual dexterity (Manual dexterity is the ability to use your hands in a skillful, coordinated way
to grasp and manipulate objects and demonstrate small, precise movements)
 and (if hiring pilots) reaction time.
 Thus, the Crawford Small Parts Dexterity Test measures the speed and accuracy of
simple judgment as well as the speed of finger, hand, and arm movements.
 Tests of physical abilities may also be required. These include
 static strength (such as lifting weights)
 dynamic strength (pull-ups)
 body coordination (jumping rope)
 Stamina
 Applicants for the U.S. Marines must pass its Initial Strength Test (2 pull-ups, 35 sit-ups, and a 1.5-mile
run)
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7. Measuring Personality and
Interests
 A person’s cognitive and physical abilities alone hardly ever explain
his or her job performance.
 As one consultant put it, most people are hired based on
qualifications, but are fired because of attitude, motivation, and
temperament
 Personality tests measure basic aspects of an applicant’s personality.
 Industrial psychologists often focus on the “big five” personality
dimensions:
 Extraversion: Extraversion represents a tendency to be sociable,
assertive, active, and to experience positive effects, such as energy and
zeal.
 Emotional stability/neuroticism: Neuroticism represents a tendency
to exhibit poor emotional adjustment and experience negative effects,
such as anxiety, insecurity, and hostility
 Agreeableness: Agreeableness is the tendency to be trusting,
compliant, caring, and gentle
 Conscientiousness: Conscientiousness is comprised of two related
facets: achievement and dependability
 Openness to experience: Openness to experience is the disposition to
be imaginative, nonconforming, unconventional, and autonomous
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8. Measuring Personality and Interests
 Some personality tests are projective.
 The psychologist presents an ambiguous stimulus (like an inkblot or clouded picture),
and the person reacts.
 The person supposedly projects into the ambiguous picture his or her attitudes, such
as insecurity.
 Other projective techniques include Make a Picture Story (MAPS) and the Forer
Structured Sentence Completion Test.
 Other personality tests are self-reported: applicants fill them out.
 Thus, available on line, the Myers-Briggs test provides a personality type classification
useful for decisions such as career selection and planning.
 Similarly the DISC Profile learning instrument enables the user to gain insight into his
or her behavioral style
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9. Measuring Personality and Interests
 Personality test results do often correlate with job performance.
 For example, “in personality research, conscientiousness has been the
most consistent and universal predictor of job performance.”
 Neuroticism is negatively related to motivation and to job engagement.
 Extroversion correlates with success in sales, management, and expatriate
jobs.
 Emotional stability, extroversion, and agreeableness predicted whether
expatriates would leave their overseas assignments early.
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10. Measuring Personality and Interests
There are several personality test limitations.
 First, projective personality tests are difficult to interpret and score; it
usually requires an expert to analyze test takers’ responses and infer their
personalities.
 Second, for this and other reasons, personality tests can trigger legal
challenges.
 Third, experts debate whether self-report personality tests suffer from low
validity.
 Fourth, people can and will fake responses to personality and integrity
tests. The bottom line: make sure the personality tests you use predict
performance for the jobs you are testing for
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11. Interest inventories
 Interest Inventories: A personal development and selection device that
compares the person’s current interests with those of others now in various
occupations so as to determine the preferred occupation for the individual.
 Strong Career Interests Test –
 Strong Career Interests Test provides a report comparing one’s interests to those of
people already in occupations like accounting or engineering. Someone taking the Self-
Directed Search (SDS) uses it to identify likely high-fit occupations.
 The assumption is that someone will do better in occupations in which he or she is
interested, and indeed such inventories can predict employee performance and
turnover
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12. Emotional Intelligence Tests
 Emotional intelligence: The ability to recognize and
manage our own feelings and the feelings of others
 Emotional intelligence reflects the soft skills that are
critical for establishing good working relationships within
the work unit and organization
 Leaders who have a high level of emotional intelligence
perform better and achieve superior outcomes than
leaders with less of this competence.
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13. Achievement tests
 Achievement tests measure what someone has learned.
 Most of the tests you take in school are achievement tests.
 They measure your “job knowledge” in areas like economics, marketing, or
human resources.
 Achievement tests are also popular at work.
 For example, the Purdue Test for Machinists and Machine Operators tests the
job knowledge of experienced machinists with questions like “What is meant
by ‘tolerance’?” Some achievement tests measure the applicant’s abilities; a
swimming test is one example
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14. Computerized and/or online testing
 Computerized and/or online testing is increasingly replacing paper-and-pencil
tests. For example, Timken Company uses online assessment of math skills for
hourly position applicants.
 In addition to being quicker and less expensive to administer, computerized
tests have other benefits. For example, vendors such as PreVisor
(www.previsor.com) offer adaptive personality tests. These adapt the next
question to each test taker’s answers to the previous question. This improves
validity and makes it less likely candidates can share test questions (because
each candidate gets what amounts to a customized test)
 Employers increasingly use several related analytical and technical tools to
improve and expedite the employee selection process.
 Analytics - Analytics Using tools like statistical techniques to examine data, in
order to draw cause–effect conclusions from that data. Talent analytics means
using such techniques to let employers search through their employee data to
identify patterns and correlations that show what types of people or processes
succeed or fail.6
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15. Computerized and/or online testing
 Artificial intelligence: Using technology (particularly computers) to carry
out tasks in a way that we would consider “human” or “smart.”
 Machine Learning:
 Machine learning basically refers to software that can improve its own performance
and learn on its own.
 Machine learning software “learns” to associate the (1) characteristics of an input (like
loan applications) with (2) responses (like who defaults on loans).
 Machine learning doesn’t just rely on tests, although tests may be one component.
Instead, it can identify how factors like word use (does the person often say “tired”?),
comments in social media postings, and tiny video interview facial gestures, were
related to employee performance in particular companies in the past, and therefore
how they may do so in the future
 Tools like algorithms use in Machine Learning. These and other tools are building
blocks for artificial intelligence systems.
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16. Work Samples
 Work samples: Actual job tasks used in testing applicants’ performance.
 Work sampling technique:
 A testing method based on measuring performance on actual basic job tasks.
 Work sampling has advantages.
 It measures actual job tasks, so it’s harder to fake answers.
 The work sample’s content—the actual tasks the person must perform—is not as likely to be unfair
to minorities (as might a personnel test that possibly emphasizes middle-class concepts and
values).
 Work sampling doesn’t delve into the applicant’s personality, so there’s little chance of applicants
viewing it as an invasion of privacy.
 Designed properly, work samples also exhibit better validity than do other tests designed to
predict performance
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17. Situational Judgement Tests &
Simulation
 Situational judgment tests are personnel tests “designed to assess an
applicant’s judgment regarding a situation encountered in the workplace.”
 Situational test: A test that requires examinees to respond to situations
representative of the job
 Video-based simulation: A situational test in which examinees respond to
video simulations of realistic job situations
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19. Other test methods
 Polygraph: A device that measures physiological changes like increased
perspiration, on the assumption that such changes reflect lying.
 WRITTEN HONESTY TESTS: Paper-and-pencil (or computerized or online)
honesty tests are special types of personality tests designed to predict job
applicants’ proneness to dishonesty and other forms of counter productivity.
 Graphology: The use of handwriting analysis to determine the writer’s
personality characteristics and moods, and even illnesses, such as depression
 “HUMAN LIE DETECTORS”: Some employers use so-called human lie detectors,
experts who may (or may not) be able to identify lying just by watching
candidates
 Psychomotor tests: Tests that measure dexterity, hand–eye coordination, arm–
hand steadiness, and other factors
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20. Other test methods
 Substance Abuse Screening:
 Most employers conduct drug screenings, and many applicants are failing the tests.
 The most common practice is to test candidates just before they’re formally hired. Many also test
current employees when there is reason to believe they’ve been using drugs—after a work
accident, or with obvious behavioral symptoms such as chronic lateness.
 Some firms routinely administer drug tests on a random or periodic basis, while others require
drug tests when they transfer or promote employees to new positions. Most employers that
conduct such tests use urine sampling
 Physical Exams:
 Once the employer extends the person a job offer, a medical exam is often the next step in
selection (although it may also occur after the new employee starts work).
 There are several reasons for pre-employment medical exams:
 To verify that the applicant meets the job’s physical requirements
 To discover any medical limitations you should consider in placement
 To establish a baseline for future workers’ compensation claims.
 Exams can also reduce absenteeism and accidents and detect communicable diseases
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21. Background Investigation and Other
Selection Methods
 Testing is only part of an employer’s selection process.
 Other tools may include:
 Background investigations and reference checks
 Pre-employment information services
 Honesty testing
 Substance abuse screen
 Background checking is critical for a wide range of positions, including schoolteachers,
janitors, bank tellers, and many others.
 Background information can be obtained from a variety of sources, including past job records,
credit history, testing records, educational and certification records, drug tests, criminal
history, sex offender lists, motor vehicle records, and military records.
 Advancements in technology and access to information online have made it simpler for
employers of all sizes to conduct background checks.
 Failure to check the backgrounds of people who are hired can lead to embarrassment and
legal liability
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22. Why Conduct Previous Employment
Checks
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23. Previous Employment Checks and
Personal References
 Good questions to ask previous supervisors or employers include the
following:
 What were the dates of employment?
 What was the position held?
 What were the job duties?
 What strengths and weaknesses did you observe?
 Why did the individual leave employment?
 Would you rehire?
 There are many ways to conduct employment checks, and one of the most
common methods involves obtaining information via telephone
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24. Additional Measures on Previous
Employments
 Previous job tenure : A measure of how long the applicant has stayed on jobs held in
the past. Criticism of job hoppers (Job-hopping, generally defined as spending less
than two years in a position, can be an easy path to a higher salary — but experts
caution that bouncing from position to position can be a serious red flag to prospective
employers) has decreased in recent years, and many hiring managers now expect that
workers will leave the organization in a few years
 Long-Term Unemployed : Some hiring managers view long gaps between jobs as a red
flag on an applicant’s profile. Time gaps between jobs may be caused by a number of
factors, many of which are not related to the applicant’s suitability for employment.
Individuals who have been laid off in economic downturns may face bias or
discrimination, which makes it more difficult to find a new job. Since skills may erode
during periods of unemployment, some companies hesitate to give these individuals an
opportunity.
 Educational Credentials - Hiring managers frequently use attainment of a college
degree to assess applicant commitment and intelligence
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25. Negligent Hiring and Retention
 Negligent hiring : Occurs when an employer fails to check an employee’s
background and the employee injures someone on the job
 Negligent retention: Occurs when an employer becomes aware that an
employee may be unfit for work but continues to employ the person, and
the person injures someone
 To reduce the probability of negligent hiring, companies verify applicant
information and conduct background screening. Many organizations use
outside vendors that specialize in conducting background checks because
these firms can provide such services much more efficiently and effectively
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26. Reference Checking
Form
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27. Selection Factors for Global Employees 27