Selection 2

1
Selection 2

• MANA 4328
• Dr. Jeanne Michalski
• michalski_at_uta.edu

2
Selection Bias

• White Sounding Names
• The professors at U. of Chicago and MIT sent
  about 5,000 resumes in response to want ads in
  The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune.
• White" names received 1 response for every 10
  resumes mailed, while "black" applicants with
  equal credentials received 1 response for every
  15.
• Texas Accents Yall
• Study by U. of North Texas researchers has found
  that Texas hiring managers look favorably on
  applicants with pronounced Texas accents.
• Speakers from California and Minnesota, whose
  regional accents are less distinguishable,
  generally do better with managers all across the
  country.

3
Selection Tests and Litigation

• Unstructured interviews
• Cognitive ability tests
• Physical ability tests
• Structured interviews
• Work sample tests
• Assessment Centers

More likely to be challenged in court.
4
Substantive Methods

• Training and Experience Checklists
• Weighted Application Blanks (WABs)
• Biodata
• Interviews
• Ability Tests
• Proficiency Tests
• Assessment Centers
• Personality Tests
• Integrity Tests

5
Methods to Improve Initial Selection

• How can organizations encourage honesty in
  applications and resumes?
• Training and Experience Evaluations (Checklists)
• Weighted Applications

6
Developing WABs

• Choose criterion
• Performance characteristics of the job
• Identify groups
• Typically high performers and low performers
• Select application items and response categories
• Things that are likely relevant to performance
• Determine weights based on group differences
• Validate weights using a holdout sample
• Set cutoff scores based on validation results

7
Weighted Application Blanks
High Tenure Low Tenure Score Weight
Education Level
Some H.S. 5 5 0
H.S. Diploma 85 15 2
Some College 5 20 0
College Degree 5 60 0
Experience
None 5 70 0
1-2 Years 60 20 2
2 Years 35 10 1
8
Biodata Inventories

• Reliable Valid (r .32 to .37)
• Series of questions on a wide variety of subjects
• Background (e.g. hobbies, jobs, and education)
• Situational questions
• Personality and Values
• Compared to a profile generated from successful
  employees or database for occupations.

9
Examples of Biographical Questions

• How many jobs have you held in the last five
  years?
• Were you ever class president?
• Have you ever repaired a broken radio so that it
  later worked?
• While growing up, did you collect coins?
• When you were a teenager, how often did your
  father help you with schoolwork?
• How many hours a week do you spend studying?
• By the time you were 18 had you traveled at least
  500 miles from home by yourself?

10
Profile Matching

• D2 S (P(ideal) P(applicant))2
• Develop a set of target or ideal scores by
  sampling high performers.
• For each item subtract the applicants scores
  from the ideal score and square the result.
• Sum the squares of the difference scores.
• Smaller D scores more closely resemble the
  ideal candidate.

11

• Why use Biodata?
• Why not use Biodata?