selection & assessment session five: a critical review of selection interviews
Post on 22-Dec-2015
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TRANSCRIPT
IN THIS SESSION
A review of the validity of the selection interview and how it’s affected by interview structure, content and bias
A consideration of the social processes in the selection interview, particularly impression management and what distinguishes successful from unsuccessful candidates
INTERVIEWS: A REMINDER
Used by 99% of organisations Validity coefficients of 0.35 (all types) and 0.51
(structured) Inter-Rater Reliability of 0.77 What interviews measure:
Cognitive ability Job knowledge Social skills Person-organisation fit
TWO MAIN PERSPECTIVES
Objectivist Psychometric Approach– What can interviews
measure?– How should they be
structured?– Reliability and validity– Experiential and
hypothetical interviews
Subjectivist Social-Interactionist Approach– Interview process– Patterns of exchange
between the two parties– Power dynamics and
impression management– Interviewer perceptions
and attributions
FINDINGS ON STRUCTURE
Unstructured selection interviews will merely provide a measure of social skills
Structured interviews are a pre-set sequence of questions which are pre-planned and standardised
Structured interviews have better validity and are legally safer
FINDINGS ON CONTENT
Situational and Past Behaviour Interviews Situational interviews ask what you
would do, how and why (validity 0.46) Past Behaviour interviews ask what you
did, when, how and why (validity 0.57) The past predicts the future, though
ignores problems with lying and change
SUBJECTIVIST SOCIAL INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE
Forum for negotiating psychological contract
Even spread of power Preview of ability to work together Not a verbal delivery of test
SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES
Talk more outside of preset questions Are interrogated and interrupted less Engage in turn taking and reciprocation Engage in impression management Explain past successes and failures
differently. Stable, personal and global explanations are far more effective
GIVING BETTER INTERVIEWS
How would you answer this question?
“You’ve been unemployed since graduation: why?”
GIVING BETTER INTERVIEWS
A good answer I decided to get the best degree I could and left
my applications too late (PERSONAL) but that’s me: I always get bound up in what I’m doing (STABLE) but it’s given me time to make the right career choice (GLOBAL)”
A bad answer “Our tutors totally overloaded us with work so I
didn’t have time to make any applications” (Unstable, impersonal, externalised responsibility)
PRACTICAL TASK
Your task is to develop a set of interview questions for OPS to use at interview for the job of Senior Business Psychologist
Try to devise both situational and actual behaviour questions and use them in a mock interview. If you have time, try to develop some good answers based on attribution theory
Competences you are measuring are strong interpersonal skills, strong influencing skills, creativity, effective planning, effective organisational skills, an eye for quality
IN THIS SESSION
A review of the validity, reliability and scope of tests
How to properly interpret what you’ve got
Links between cognitive ability and work performance
Ways of selecting applicants based on their test scores
ABILITY TESTS: A REMINDER
Used by 68% of organisations Validity coefficients of 0.51 Do tests measure what they purport to? Can we measure internal processes? Tests developed on students
INTERPRETING TEST SCORES
Good comparative data Good test-retest reliability Error in measurement Internal reliability
LINKS WITH WORK PERFORMANCE
Threshold & Linearity Hypotheses A necessary but not sufficient condition Correlations with motivation Moderators between cognitive ability
and work performance
TACKLING ABILITY TESTS
Hop around and don’t get bogged down The most general alternative often correct The longest alternative often correct The right answer is often the middle number If two similar alternatives choose neither Always, all, never, none often wrong Generally, seldom, perhaps, usually often
correct
PRACTICAL TASK
OPS have decided to use an ability test as part of their selection procedure for the post of Senior Business Psychologist. Have a go at the attached ability test. Try to apply some of the skills of test taking behaviour we have discussed. When you have finished, reflect on and discuss the construct validity of the test you have just completed