Staffing & SelectionStaffing & Selection

© Nancy Brown Johnson2000

SelectionSelection

Determining who will staff the organization. Includes: interviewing, tests, weighing

education & experience, recommendations

Good Selection Pays OffGood Selection Pays Off

Firm performance depends on good peopleCostly to recruit & train employeesLegal concerns of negligent hiring

What skills recruiters are looking for

What skills recruiters are looking for

Experience with finance Enthusiastic about a new career Hones, hard working Aggressive & dedicated Think out of the box, attention to details Autonomous, work to meet customer needs Willingness to relocate Good communication & interpersonal skills Intellectual quickness, courageous leadership, compelling communication, people development,

proven track record, high personal standards Ability to multi-task, Responsible employee & leader Strong work ethic GPA, good references Dedication & determination Teamwork

Selection InstrumentsSelection Instruments

How to decide whether they are useful.

ReliabilityReliability

Am I measuring the attribute consistently?

ReliabilityReliability

Examples:test-re-test: give people same test at two time periodsInter-rater reliability: do different raters rate consistently

ValidityValidity

Validity - are you measuring what you want to measure?

In Selection: Does our selection instrument predict job performance? (Criterion Validity)

Key DefinitionsKey Definitions

Predictors - personnel selection devices.

InterviewsAbility TestsRecommendations

Criterion - variable used to measure job performance.

TurnoverAbsenteeismProductivity

Empirical ValidationEmpirical Validation

Statistically examines relationship between predictor & criterion scores.

Establish criterion measures Obtain Predictor measures Correlate predictor & criterion measures

Predictor Criterion

Examine predictor/criterion relationship

Examine predictor/criterion relationship

Strengthscatter diagram correlation coefficient

Statistical significance - whether results are real or due to chance.

Strength of RelationshipStrength of Relationship

predictor

criterion

Content ValidationContent Validation

Is the instrument capturing job content:Expert judgement on test contentIs the tests content an accurate reflection of the

job

UtilityUtility

Is the payoff from implementing new predictor worth it?

Weighs the potential benefits against the potential costs.

Utility depends on whether it improves the quality of individuals selected over what they would have been had the devise not been used.

Utility= quantity X quality - cost

Utility= quantity X quality - cost

Quantity = Number People Selected/YearQuality =

What proportion of those selected considered successful?

What is good job performance worth?What is the variation in good & bad job performance.Selection rateWhat is the validity of the test?

Cost = What does the selection test cost?

Raising Cut ScoreRaising Cut Score

Job Performance

020406080

100120

0 50 100

JobPerformance

Performance

Test Score

Changes in Cut ScoreChanges in Cut Score

False positive-test says to hire but it was a mistake

False negatives-test says not to hire but would have been good employee

Raising Cut ScoreRaising Cut Score

Decreases false positives

Increases false negatives

InterviewsInterviews

Most frequently used and most controversial method of selection.

Other functions: public relations, organization communicates what it has to offer the applicant, and can fill in gaps in application blank.

Interviews Unreliable and Invalid

Interviews Unreliable and Invalid

Difficult cognitive task: manage conversationlisten process informationRemember

Improving Interview Validity

Improving Interview Validity

Restrict the use of interviews to the KSAs that interviews can assess most effectively:

personal relations, sociability; &citizenshipUse structure - consistent information from

applicants Job related questions - direct and specific

information about the job.

More on Improving Interview Validity

More on Improving Interview Validity

Formalize scoring - rating scales on a series of characteristics.

Team approach - several interviewers as a group interview the applicant. Train the interviewer

accurately receive information critically evaluate information regulate their own behavior in asking questions.

Behavioral or Situational Interview

Behavioral or Situational Interview

Behavior: asks about behavior in the pastSituational: set up a situation, ask applicant

to respond

ApplicationsApplications

Used to get person's background & experience

minimum requirements comparing their strengths and weaknesses

EEOC guidelines recommend against certain questions with adverse impact.

The questions need to be job related.

LyingLying

Applications were compared with factual data.

25% listed previous employers that said they were never employed

25% disagreement on reasons for leaving57% duration of previous employment72% on salary

Misuse and BiasMisuse and Bias

Weighted application blanks - scoring of application blank.

Weight questions related to job successMust insure no weights for age, sex and marital

status.

Ability TestsAbility Tests

Intelligence tests - yield a single intelligence score.

Mental ability tests - multiple scores: verbal work fluency, math, spatial relations.

Relatively high validity

Personality TestsPersonality Tests

Personality - unique characteristics that define an individual.

Personality not clearly related to job performance except for some situations and for some purposes

tests don't identify dimensions important for job performance

Combining MethodsCombining Methods

Multiple hurdle - Each test represents hurdle and if fails any level then don't get job.

Advantage - inexpensiveCompensatory - all tests given to everyone.

Exceptional performance may offset poor performance on another.

Advantage - higher validity.

Summary Summary

The more systematic you can make selection devise the more reliable.

Improves validity