Using Assessments to Evaluate Job Fit

Pre-employment tests are quite prevalent today. According to a recent survey roughly 86% of companies are using some form of pre-employment testing. However, one must be careful when selecting assessment tools because their quality can vary greatly. When evaluating assessment tools, there are some very important properties that you should examine. These qualities include reliability, validity and adverse impact.

In the context of leadership assessments, reliability refers to the quality and consistency of the measurements, validity refers to whether the measures are correlated with actual leadership success or satisfaction, and adverse impact refers to whether some classes of individuals tend to score less well than others on the measures. Providers of professional assessment tools should be able to supply technical reports that clearly describe these properties as well as the norms available for the assessment. Carefully selected assessment tools can provide a rich and comprehensive view of talent that is not only predictive of job success but fair to all individuals. When selecting a test for selection purposes, one should first confirm that the tests that have been validated for evaluating fit in the target position.

While there are a large number of different types of tests available, the two most common that have been validated for selection and used for a number of different kinds of positions are:

Mental Ability Tests

The most common type of ability test is a test of cognitive or mental ability. There is abundant evidence that this type of test is a strong predictor of overall performance across a wide range of jobs. There are three common types of mental ability tests.

• Verbal Reasoning – Verbal Reasoning is the ability to understand and reason using concepts framed in language.
• Numerical Reasoning – Numerical reasoning is the ability to use numbers to develop, comprehend, and communicate ideas.
• Abstract Reasoning – Abstract Reasoning is a measure of an individual’s ability to perceive and think clearly, make meaning out of confusion, and formulate new concepts when faced with novel information.

The main drawback to mental ability testing is evidence of adverse impact on minority populations. Diversity goals are negatively affected by this type of testing. Therefore, it is common practice to combine such tests with other tests or selection procedures such as personality tests to dilute their adverse impact.

Personality Tests

Although personality tests measure a variety of specific constructs, these constructs typically collapse to five basic factors of personality. These factors, commonly called “the big five”, include: (1) openness to experience, (2) extroversion, (3) agreeableness, (4) conscientiousness, and (5) emotional stability. The lack of adverse impact and the consistent evidence of validity have made personality testing a frequent component of selection procedures for a number of different kinds of positions.

Other Considerations When Using Assessment Data

There are some other considerations when using assessment data to determine likely job fit. When evaluating job fit, assessments should be combined with other information to provide a complete picture of the individual. For example, other information could be provided by structured behavioral interviews. This information would provide insight into competencies, key accomplishments, technical and functional expertise, and career goals and preferences. Combining assessments with interview data can provide incremental validity to the evaluation process. A recommended approach for evaluating individuals for pivotal roles is to combine personality testing, structured behavioral interviews, and mental ability testing to optimize the amount of predictive information that is gathered while minimizing the adverse impact of the mental ability test. It is also recommended that such evaluations be conducted by trained professionals such as Industrial/Organizational psychologists. OMNIview provides such an assessment service. Please call us at 877.426.6222.