PERSONNEL SELECTION

1
PERSONNEL SELECTION

• In this session on personnel selection I will
• Explain the principles against which selection
  techniques should be measured
• Describe the scope of selection techniques
• Present a critique of the main selection methods

• At the end of this session you should be able to
• Understand the main principles of psychometrics
• Critically evaluate your own organisations
  selection methods
• Understand what makes for a good reliable and
  valid interview

2
FURTHER READING

• Anderson, N (1997) The Validity and Adverse
  Impact of Selection Interviews a Rejoinder to
  Wood Selection Development Review, 13, (5),
  13-17
• Boyle, S (1997) Researching the Selection
  Interview Selection Development Review, 13,
  (4), 15-17
• Ceci, S Williams, W (2000) Smart Bomb People
  Management (24 August 2000)

• Chmiel, N (ed) (2000) Work Organisational
  Psychology. London. Blackwell.
• Cook, M (1998) Personnel Selection (3rd edition).
  London. Blackwell
• Silvester, J (1997) Spoken Attributions and
  Candidate Success in Graduate Recruitment
  Interviews Journal of Occupational
  Organisational Psychology, 70, 61-73.

3
WHO USES WHAT?

• Interviews (99.6)
• Ability Tests (54.2)
• Personality Questionnaires (36.3)

• Assessment Centres (26.0)
• Telephone Screening (17.6)
• (Source CIPD 2000 N 262)

4
PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOMETRICS

• Sensitivity
• fair discrimination between good and bad
• not too easy or hard
• Standardisation
• compare results against larger population of like
  individuals

• Reliability
• consistency and repeatability
• across time and raters
• Validity
• face, content, criterion, construct
• it measures what it claims to measure

5
THE IMPORTANCE OF VALIDITY

• Face Validity
• The method looks plausible
• Content Validity
• The method looks plausible to experts

• Criterion Validity
• The method predicts performance
• Construct Validity
• The method measures something meaningful

6
A FOCUS ON PREDICTIVE VALIDITY

• Unstructured Interviews (0.20)
• Structured Interviews (0.44)
• Ability Tests (0.54)

• Personality Measures (0.38)
• Assessment Centres (0.43)
• Telephone Screening (?.??)

7
TELEPHONE SCREENING

• Used for Prescreening
• Genuine Occupational Qualification

• Poorer Ratings
• Staccato Communication

8
ASSESSMENT CENTRES

• Developed for WW2 Officer Selection Board
• Simulation Exercises Measure Competencies
• Various Techniques, Candidates, Assessors
  Competencies

• Poorly Defined Competencies Exercises
• Poor Training Selection of Assessors
• Poor Selection Briefing of Candidates
• Poor Scheduling Timetabling

9
ABILITY TESTS

• Popularity Due in Part to Growth in Academic
  Qualifications
• Situated Cognition

• Clear but Modest Link with Performance, Earnings
  Satisfaction
• The Flynn Effect

10
PROBLEMS WITH INTERVIEWS

• Unstructured Unplanned
• Untrained Biased Interviewers
• Structured Means Standardised or Artificial
  Inflexible

• Biographical Interviews Job Relevant Criteria
• Situational Interviews Truth
• Competency-Based Interviews Oral IQ Tests?

11
INTERVIEWS CAN.....

• Assess Certain Characteristics
• Assess Organisational Team Fit
• Satisfy Social Exchange Function

• But Heed Warning Signs from Research
• Same Sex Bias (Graves Powell 1996)
• Attributions in Interviews (Silvester 1997)