At the core of successful hiring practices is the fair and accurate evaluation of skills, abilities, knowledge and other criteria for a job. One powerful method to do this is through psychometric assessments. The RIGHT assessments used in the RIGHT way provide objective evaluation of criteria that are far more accurate than interviews alone. Unfortunately, choosing the wrong assessments or using assessments in the wrong way can lead to bad choices, biases, and even discriminatory practices that violate compliance standards.

1. The Art of Selecting Candidate Pre-Hire
Assessments
Melissa Dobbins Naba Ahmed
With: Moderated by:
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Leveraging Assessments For Workplace
Success Webinar Series

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4. About Melissa Dobbins
In 2016, Melissa Dobbins formed a HR tech company to remove bias from hiring by shifting the focus from
resumes to qualifications.Removing bias from candidate screening does more than engage a wider candidate pool
in today’s fierce competition for talent; it drives diversity, efficiency, and compliance.
Career.Place tackles bias and the resulting diversity, compliance, and efficiency challenges by removing bias-laden
resumes from talent evaluation and replacing them with a HR solution that combines the best of technology and
human touch to objectively measure candidate qualifications. Candidates remain anonymous, enabling fair
evaluation and comparison without names, gender, ethnicity, age, or other bias-triggering information.
About Naba Ahmed
Naba went to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and majored in Journalism and minored in Integrated Marketing
Communications. After working as Editor-in-Chief at the campus newspaper, she became interested in developing
content across multiple platforms, and now works as a Content Marketing Specialist at Aggregage, providing some of
the most interesting thought-leaders across a wide variety of industries with a space to celebrate the diversity, depth,
and experience of their professional cultures, personalities, and passions.
Leveraging Assessments For Workplace
Success Webinar Series

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www.career.place
The Art of Selecting Assessments
Melissa Dobbins
CEO, Founder: Career.Place
mdobbins@career.place
www.career.place

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the evaluation or estimation of the nature, quality, or
ability of someone or something
Assessments are…
Skills * Abilities * Knowledge * Traits * Personality

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Why Use Assessments?
• Verification
• Level / Range
• Objective comparisons
• Proof of meeting requirements

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How to Select Assessments?
The short answer: carefully

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How to Select Assessments… really?
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Is the assessment effective
Predictive, accurate, validated
Step-by-Step
Is the assessment effective for ME
Meets ‘must have’
Is the provider effective for ME
Compatible partnership

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Selecting Assessments step-by-step
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Is the assessment effective
Predictive, accurate, validated
Step-by-Step
Is the assessment effective for me
Meets ‘must have’
Is the provider effective for me
Compatible partnership

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Step 1: Is the assessment effective
Not all assessments are created equal…
Your brain is…Based on when you were born… Your most like the character…

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Step 1: Is the assessment effective
Does the assessment measure what it is supposed to
be measuring?
Question 1
• What is being measured?
• What is the scale of measurement?
• How wide is the variability?
• How was it validated?
When looking at how it
is validated, ask for
“Validity Evidence”
TIP
Don’t understand the
answer? ASK.
Still don’t understand –
yellow flag!
TIP

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Step 1: Is the assessment effective
Does the assessment measure what it is supposed to
be measuring?
Question 1
Example: “Analytical Thinking”
• Definition: A cognitive trait measuring the ability for an individual to
analyze information and use logic to address work-related issues
• Scale: Low means the individual must be provided with step-by-step
directions to execute a task and high means the individual can solve
complex problems.
• Variability: Normal distribution (a curve centered around ‘average’)
• Validation Method: Comparison against other known ‘analytical thinking’
assessments

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Step 1: Is the assessment effective
Is the assessment accurate?Question 2
• How reliable are the measurements?
• How big is the data set?
• Who is represented in the data?
• How are the tests protected?
Reliability is on 0.00 –
1.00 scale
Shoot for 0.70 +
TIP
Size of data:
Normative data: 100s +
Job-specific: depends…
TIP

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Step 1: Is the assessment effective
Does the assessment have adverse impact – what is
it?
Question 3
Adverse Impact: Members of a
protected class are selected at lower
rates than another class
Inappropriate Adverse Impact: Using
results with adverse impact for reasons
that do not pertain to the job.
Adverse Impact Illustration

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Step 1: Is the assessment effective
Does the assessment have minimal inappropriate
adverse impact?
Question 3
Example: Height
On average – women
are shorter than men
The taller the person, the
better for an engineer
position
Not bad… Bad…

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Step 1: Is the assessment effective
Is what is measured linked to job performance?Question 4
Ask for
Criterion-related validity
The ‘gold standard’ of
evidence to prove that the
assessment predicts
outcome
TIP
✓ Do you have the trait?
Does the trait matter for
performance?
?
✓ Is the adverse impact low?
✓ Was it measured accurately?

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Selecting Assessments step-by-step
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Is the assessment effective
Predictive, accurate, validated
Step-by-Step
Is the assessment effective for me
Meets ‘must have’
Is the provider effective for me
Compatible partnership

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Step 2: Is the assessment effective for me
What is required to be successful at the job?Question 1
Causation vs. Correlation
Correlation: data overlap
If you are A you are likely B
Causation: because of one, the
other occurs
Because you are A, you will be B
TIP
• MUST have vs. nice to have
• On day one vs. trainable
• Objective vs. preference
• Causation vs. Correlation

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Step 2: Is the assessment effective for me
How will the assessments be used in the process?Question 2
Minimum
Requirements
Fit for tasks
Fit for culture
Cannot do
the job
without them
Evaluate
approach
Use job related
questions
Evaluate
values
Soft Skills /
Traits
Traits
required for
success
If possible, use
assessments
candidates
Candidate qualification funnel
Qualified
candidates
Remove
unqualified
Find the
oneOR

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Step 2: Is the assessment effective for me
Question 3
Accessibility considerations:
• Method(s) of interaction (paper, digital, etc.)
• Timed vs. untimed
• Reading level
• Color codes
Does the assessment meet your accessibility needs?
How will the score be effected for a dyslexic, someone with a physical
disability that slows hand movement? Someone with autism?
Is this what you intend?

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Step 2: Is the assessment effective for me
Question 4
• How is the assessment administered?
• What is the assessment experience?
• Can the assessment integrate into the existing flow?
Does the assessment fit how your organization hires?
Minimize adoption pain by finding assessments that
fit your process

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Selecting Assessments step-by-step
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Is the assessment effective
Predictive, accurate, validated
Step-by-Step
Is the assessment effective for me
Meets ‘must have’
Is the provider effective for me
Compatible partnership

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Step 3: Is the provider effective for me
What is the TOTAL cost of the solution?Question 1
Set ‘total budget’ first
Before evaluating the first
assessment:
• Define a realistic budget
either per hire or per year
• Identify sources of budget
• Get pre-approval for spend
TIP
When calculating costs, consider:
• Assessments
Per candidate, per hire, per year
• Set-up
Technology set-up, integrations, training/certifications
• Consulting
Job evaluations, building ‘perfect tests’
• ‘Maintenance’
Continuing certifications / training, annual fees
• Internal costs
Additional HR or IT resources, change management

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Step 3: Is the provider effective for me
How will the provider support me?Question 2
• Hours of operation
• Primary support method
phone, email, messaging
• Available support staff / expertise
• Escalation path
• Emergency policy
“We have a situation here!”
• Technology maintenance

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Step 3: Is the provider effective for me
How will the provider help with my success?Question 3
• Consulting services
• What assessments should I use?
• How should I use assessments?
• Wait… what exactly are these assessments?
• Data security
• Personal identifiable information (PII)
• Assessment results
• Fit with the way I do things

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Bringing it all together
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Is the assessment effective
Step-by-Step
Is the assessment effective for me
Is the provider effective for me
1. Does the assessment measure what it is supposed to be measuring?
2. Is the assessment accurate?
3. Does the assessment have adverse impact – what is it?
4. Is what is measured linked to job performance?
1. What is required to be successful at the job?
2. How will the assessments be used in the process?
3. Does the assessment meet your accessibility needs?
4. Does the assessment fit how your organization hires?
1. What is the TOTAL cost of the solution?
2. How will the provider support me?
3. How will the provider help with my success?
Or… we have a
whitepaper!
Easy, right?

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Melissa Dobbins
mdobbins@career.place
www.career.place
Thank YouWant to learn more about this
or other hiring topics?
go to www.career.place/blog for:
• This presentation
• Whitepaper: Anatomy of a Great Job Description
• Whitepaper: The Art of Selecting Assessments
• Weekly tips for inclusive hiring
• Webinar: D&I in Today’s Technological World
• And more…
Join us in removing bias one hire at a time