Module-1

Chapter-5

Employees Testing & Selection

 Objectives of this chapter
1. what is meant by reliability and validity.
2. Explain how you would go about validating a test.
3. Cite and illustrate our testing guidelines.
4. Give examples of some of the ethical and legal
considerations in testing.
5. List eight tests you could use for employee selection, and
how you would use them.
6. Explain the key points to remember in conducting background
investigations.
 Selecting Human Resources
• Next to recruitment, the logical step in the HR process is selection of
qualified & competent people.

Nature of Selection
• Selection is the process of picking individuals with requisite
qualifications & competence to fill jobs in the org.
• Recruitment & Selection are the two crucial steps in the HR process.
• Recruitment refers to the process of identifying & encouraging
prospective employees to apply for the jobs, selection is concerned with
picking the right candidates from a pool of applicants.
• Recruitment is said to be positive in its approach as it seeks to attract as
many candidates as possible.
• Selection, on the other hand, is negative in its application inasmuch as it
seeks to eliminate as many unqualified applicants as possible in order to
identify the right candidates.
 Selection Process
External Environment

Internal Environment

R Preliminary Interview
e
j
e Selection Tests
c
t
e
Employment Interview
d
Reference & Backward
A
p Analysis
p
l Selection Decision
i
c Physical Examination
a
n
t Job offer
s

Employment Contract

Evaluation
• Environmental Factors Affecting Selection

Selection is influenced by several factors. More prominent among them

are supply & demand of specific skills in the labour market,
unemployment rate, Labour-market conditions, company’s image,
company’s policy, HRP & cost of hiring.

• Preliminary Interview

In the Recruitment we have seen that short listing of the application,

same in the selection process. Scrutiny enables the HR specialists to
eliminate unqualified job seekers based on the information supplied in
their application forms. Preliminary Interview, on the other hand, helps
reject misfits for reasons, which did not appear in the application forms.
• Selection Tests

Job seekers who pass the screening & the preliminary interview are
called for test. Different types of tests may be administrated, depending
on the job & the company. Generally, tests are used to determine the
applicant’s ability, aptitude & personality.

Eg:- Personality test, Ability test, Graphology test, Medical test.

• Employment Interview

The next step in the selection process is employment interview.

Interview is a formal, in-depth conversation conducted to evaluate the
applicant’s acceptability. It allows an two-ways exchange data.
The Employment interview can be

1) one-to-one
2) Panel
Types of interview

1. Structured – A predetermined checklist of questions, usually asked of all

applicants.
2. Unstructured – Few, if any planned questions, Questions are made up during
the Interview.
3. Mixed – A combination of structured & unstructured questions.
4. Behavioral – Questions limited to hypothetical situation
5. Stressful – A series of harsh, rapid fire questions intended to upset the
applicant.

• References & Backward Analysis

Many employers request names, addresses & telephone numbers or

references for the purpose of verifying information & perhaps gaining
background information on an applicant. Companies normally seeks the
telephone reference. The purpose of reference check is to gain insight about
the potential employee from the people who had experience with him or her.
• Selection Decision

After obtaining information through the preceding steps, selection

decision the most critical of all the steps must be made. The final
decision has to be made from the pool of individuals who pass the tests,
interviews & reference checks.

The final decision indeed becomes a daunting task when there are a
large number of job-seekers lined up for final selection.

eg:- In 2003 Infosys has received one million applications of which only
10,000 were finally hired. Recently in Essar Oil there are 40,000
applications are pending from that they are going to hire only 4,000 emp.

• Physical Examination

After the selection decision & before the job offer is made , the candidate
is required to undergo a physical fitness test. Finally, such an
examination will protect the employer from workers compensation claims
that are not valid because the injuries or illnesses were present when the
employee was hired.
• Job offer

The next step in the selection process is job offer to those applicants
who have crossed all the hurdles. Job offer is made through a letter of
appointment. Such a letter generally contains a date by which the
appointee must report on duty.

• Employment Contract

After the job offer has been made & the candidates accept the offer,
certain documents needed to be executed by the employer & the
candidate. There is also a need for preparing a contract of employment.
The basic information that should be included in a written contract of
employment will vary according to the level of the job.
Typical Heading

• Job title
• Duties
• Date when the employment starts
• Pay, allowances, overtime, method of payment
• Hours of work including lunch break
• Holidays arrangements

• Evaluation

The broad test of the effectiveness of the selection process is the quality of the
personnel hired. A firm must have competent & committed personnel. The
selection process, if properly done, will ensure availability of competent employee
in the org.

Eg:- Japanese employer are selecting the employees with the help of their blood
group. With the help of the blood group they will know the skills & abilities of
employee.
Why Careful Selection is
Important
The Importance of
Selecting the Right
Employees

Legal
Costs of
Organizational Obligations and
Recruiting and
Performance Liability (negligent
Hiring
hiring)
 Selection Ratio
• Effects of the labour market on selection
decisions can be evaluated by selection
ratio

No. of Applicants Hired

SELECTION RATIO =
Total no. of Applicants
 Selection Outcomes
JOB PERFORMANCE

RIGHT CANDIDATE UNSUITABLE

CANDIDATE
Correct
Decision Correct
Decision

UNSUITABLE RIGHT CANDIDATE

CANDIDATE
Wrong Wrong
Decision Decision

ACCEPT REJECT
• Basic Testing Concepts

• Selection is thus important. We will start with testing.

• A test is basically a sample of a person’s behavior.

• Reliability
• Validity
 1. Reliability

• Consistency of scores obtained by the same person

when retested with the identical tests or with an
equivalent form of a test.

• Reliability is very important. If a person scores 90 on an

intelligence test on a Monday & 130 when retested on
Tuesday, you probably wouldn’t have much faith in the
test.
2. Validity

– tests must be valid, or measure what they are supposed to

measure

– A test should be job related - performance on a test should

be a valid predictor of subsequent performance on the job
Types of Validity
Validity

Criterion Content
Validity Validity

Construct
Validity
 Demonstrating a Test’s
Validity
• Criterion Validity
– those who do well on the test also do well on
the job, and those who do poorly on the test
do poorly on the job
• Content Validity
– showing that the test constitutes a fair sample
of the content of a job
• Construct Validity
– Extent to which a selection method measures
the degree of identifiable characteristics in the
candidates necessary for successful
performance of the job
• How to validate a test

– Step-1:- Analyze the Job

– Step-2:- Choose the test
– Step-3:- Administer the test
– Step-4:- Relate your Test Scores & Criteria
– Step-5:- Cross Validate & Revalidate
 Types of Tests
What Tests
Measure

Cognitive Motor and Personality

(Mental) Physical and Achievement
Abilities Abilities Interests