Selecting Job

Applicants

Selection

The process of deciding which job applicants will make the most
suitable employees

Reliability

Refers to how consistently a selection method measures a

persons characteristics.

Validity

Refers to how a selection method predicts an applicants

suitability as an employee.

Suitability

Refers to an applicants job performance or skills and abilities

that are required for future performance.

Application Forms, Resumes, and

Reference Checks

Used to screen out people who lack the minimum education,

work experience, or other requirements.

Selection Method
Applicant forms,
resumes, reference
checks

Work sample tests

Unstructured
employment
interview

Populari
ty

Validity

Comments

Moderate

Validity is only as good as

information
provided,
so
reference checks should verify
application form information

Moderate

Moderately
High

Excellent
application
of
sample rather than sign as
predictor, but can be expensive
(assessment centers) and are
not easy to apply to some jobs.

Very High

Low to
moderate

Validity increases with number

of interviewers involved and
types of questions asked.

High

Work Sample Tests

A selection method that requires job candidates to demonstrate

their behavior and performance in a real-time situation.

Employment Interview

Used in assessing the applicants personality traits particularly

responsibility, dependability, initiative, and persistence.

Patterned behavior description

A structured employment interview method that asks applicants to
interview
recall specific incidents in the past and describe how they handled the

situations.

Selection Method
Patterned behavior
description
interview

Ability tests

Personality tests

Populari
ty
Moderate

Moderate

Moderate
ly Low

Validity

Comments

Moderately
High

Consistently the most valid

interview method for selection,
but less popular with applicants
and interviews.

Moderate

Knowledge-based
tests
are
close
to
samples,
but
aptitude tests are also closely
linked to job-related behavior.

Low to
moderate

Increasingly popular (although

still low) in selection, but only
specific
personality
traits
predict success for specific
performance dimensions on
specific jobs.

Ability/Aptitude Test

A selection method that measures a persons potential ability,

such as general intelligence and finger dexterity.

Personality

The relatively stable pattern of behaviors and consistent internal

states that explains a persons behavioral tendencies.

Personality Test

Used to identify personality traits for specific types of job

performance for some jobs.