Designing Effective Selection Systems

By Posted in - Talent Management on February 9th, 2011 0 Comments

The design of an effective selection system starts with a good understanding of the requirements for job success.  This understanding will drive the identification of appropriate selection tools, as well as how results should be combined to make a good hiring decision.  While many selection tools are available, you will usually find three core components in the toolbox.  These three core design components with some personal recommendations for their use are:

Candidate Pre-Screening – For jobs with large candidate pools, there needs to be some method for the initial pre-screening of candidates.  The purpose of a pre-screen is to reduce a potentially large candidate pool to a more manageable number of candidates.  I prefer custom screening questionnaires for accomplishing this purpose.  Custom screening questionnaires are similar to scored application forms but are designed specifically for a particular job.  Structured questions that relate to the specific requirements of the job are created.  These questionnaires are most commonly presented online and scored in real time.  Differential weights are applied to candidate responses to create a weighted score.  Knock out factors on mandatory requirements are included.  Resume data are also captured and can be potentially scored.

Custom screening questionnaires are highly efficient, provide a structured approach for reviewing candidates, and are able to collect the job specific information necessary for making an accurate screening decision.   One would review the resumes of screened-in candidates before making a progression decision.

Interviewing – Interviews are the most ubiquitous selection tool in use today.  They also are the selection method with the poorest track record.  That is because many organizations still rely on unstructured interviewing approaches even though there is a considerable body of research that supports the power of the interview when it is a structured process.  When interviews are structured, they have considerable reliability and predictive value and are a powerful selection tool.

I recommend combining online interviewer training with an online interviewing management system to create structured interviews, manage the entire interview process, and equip interviewers with the tools and skills to conduct accurate interviews.

Testing – Pre-employment tests are quite prevalent today.  According to a recent survey roughly 86% of companies are using some form of pre-employment testing.  Two of the more frequently used tests are mental ability tests and personality tests.

There is abundant evidence that mental ability tests are a strong predictor of overall performance across a wide range of jobs.  However, there is also evidence that they can lead to adverse impact.  Mental ability tests with a heavy verbal reasoning component are more likely to lead to adverse impact than tests with less verbal content.

Personality tests also have strong evidence of validity but typically are not associated with adverse impact.  When using personality tests, it is important to use those that were specifically developed and validated for selection rather than for general research on individual differences.  It also is important to select an instrument that contains a well-designed “faking” scale as a key construct.

For jobs where testing makes sense, I recommend combining personality test results with mental ability test results to lessen the potential adverse impact of the mental ability test.  I would also recommend using numerical reasoning and abstract reasoning rather than verbal reasoning tests to further lessen potential adverse impact.

Patrick Hauenstein, Ph.D.

About Patrick Hauenstein, Ph.D.

Patrick Hauenstein is the President and Chief Science Officer for OMNIview. During his free time Pat likes to cook. He is particularly fond of traditional southern cuisine. Pat is also an animal lover ...
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