mgto 324 recruitment and selections external selection ii: other selection tools kin fai ellick wong...

MGTO 324 Recruitment and Selections

External Selection II: Other selection tools

Kin Fai Ellick Wong Ph.D.Department of Management of Organizations

Hong Kong University of Science & Technology

Prologue

• Do you still remember the idea of multiple predictors?– In a real selection, we can use many predictors simultaneously– Of course, some predictors are conceptually more “important”

than others• Cognitive Ability vs. Handwriting

– How to assign the weight?• Rational weighing

– Managers and experts establish the weights for predictors according to degree to which each predictor is believed to predict job success

• Multiple-regression– The one we learned

– more objective and more scientifically driven

Prologue

• So, what should be included as “predictors”?– Managers thus far have used a large number of predictors. I summarized the

m into three categories• Popular predictors (for initial assessment)

– Resume & cover letter– Biodata– Reference letter

• Useful predictors (for substantive assessment)– Personality test– Ability test– Integrity test

• Other interesting predictors– Genetic screening– Handwriting analysis– Birthday

Outline

Selection tools

Popular tools Useful tools Interesting tools

Part 1: Popular Tools

Popular toolsPopular tools

Resume / Cover letterResume /

Cover letterBiodataBiodata Reference letterReference letter


• Resume / Cover letter– The initial step for applicants to catch employees’ attention– An organization may receive a thousand (or much more)

resumes for a single procedure– Resume screening could be a very time consuming and resource

demanding process • It may be done by lower-level staff or computer with resume scanning

software• Good candidates might be eliminated because of the inflexibility in the

screening process– E.g., searching for key words “BBA” may exclude applicants from social

science disciplines

– Thus far, there is no research examining the reliability and validity of resume and cover letter !!!!!


• Biodata (Biographical information)– Personal history information on an applicant’s background and interests– Why history?

• The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior• Past behavior may reflect ability or motivation

– For example, for the vacancy of assistant professor at MGTO, we are particularly interested in

• Applicants’ publication record• Teaching record

– Organizations may look for other historical data that are thought to be relevant to job performance

• See Exhibit 8.6

– Reliability and validity• Good reliability (around .8) and validity (around.35)


• Reference letter– Highly popular in some settings (e.g., academic institutions)– It is particularly useful for reference checks and validating

information from cover letter and/or resume.• However, most organizations do not do reference check.

– Problems• Almost all letters are positive• Letter contents are not structured and standardized

– Difficult to have standardized scoring keys or system

• Projection problems– Same writer for different applicants high correlation

– Different letters for the same applicants relatively low in correlation

Outline

Selection tools


Part 2: Useful Tools

Useful toolsUseful tools

Personality testPersonality test Ability testAbility test Integrity testIntegrity test


• Personality test– Big Five Personality Traits

• OCEAN– Openness to Experience– Conscientiousness– Extraversion (or Extroversion)– Agreeableness– Neuroticism (or Emotional Stability)

– Key research findings thus far• Conscientiousness predicts job performance across almost all occupations, with r

being about .3• Emotional stability predicts job performance in most occupations, especially in

sales, management, and teaching• Extraversion predicts performance of salespeople• Openness to experience is conceptually related to performance in art, music, or

literature, though no clear evidence obtained thus far• Emerging evidence indicates the conscientiousness is negatively related to

creativity (e.g., George & Zhou, 2001, Journal of Applied Psychology)


• Ability test– Cognitive ability

• Perception, memory, reasoning, verbal and mathematical ability, etc.• See Exhibit 9.4 for some samples

– In Primary 6, almost all of you did an aptitude test called 學能測驗• Cognitive ability has been regarded as the most important predictor for all

jobs – Validity is estimated to be as high as .5

– It has been characterized as “among the most valid, if not the most valid, methods of selection” (textbook, 426)

– Other ability tests• Psychomotor ability, Physical ability tests, Sensory/Perceptual ability tests


• Integrity test– Integrity (誠信 )

• One’s honesty and moral character– Two types of integrity test

• Clear purpose, which directly tests one’s attitude toward theft– Do you think most people would cheat if they thought they could get away with it? – Have you ever stolen anything?

• General purpose, assessing one’s personality related to integrity– Would you rather go to a party than read a newspaper?– Do you like to create excitement? – Do you think taking chances makes life more interesting?

– Validity• Both are valid predictors of counterproductive behaviors (absenteeism, workplace violence, e

tc.).– Validity for clear purpose test (about .5) is larger than hat for the general purpose one (about .3)

• Both predict job performance (around .3 to .35)• Related to conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability

– Given that people often distort their responses to be social desirable, why is the clear purpose one useful?

Outline

Selection tools


Part 3: Interesting Tools

Interesting toolsInteresting tools

Genetic screeningGenetic screening Handwriting analysisHandwriting analysisBirthdayBirthday


• Genetic screening– Check applicant’s genes

• Primary purpose is to screen out people who are susceptible to certain diseases due to exposure to toxic substances at work

• So, it is used to protect the “potential” employees• It is not supposed to be used for selection purposes with other reasons,

– Doing so might violate the Disability Discrimination Ordinance


• Handwriting analysis– Also called graphology

• Widely used in Europe as selection methods• Handwriting is thought to be related to personality

– t

– Paper position…

• No clear evidence indicating that these tests are valid

Part 3: Interesting tools

• Birthday test– Also called Fung Shui Ming Lei (風水命理 ), or simply Chinese astrology

• Relatively commonly used in Hong Kong and other Chinese communities• A very complicated “knowledge” that spreads widely in Chinese communities

– Just one example here, The idea of Yin yang wu xing (陰陽五行 )• An old Chinese philosophy about the world

– All are made up by five elements: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, and Soil– Some elements generate other elements

» Gold Water; Water Wood; Wood Fire, Fire Soil; Soil Gold– Some elements “kill” other elements

» Gold kills wood; Wood kills soils; Soils kills water; Water kills Fire; Fire kills gold• The organization and the boss should also be one of the five elements

– So employees with elements that “kill” the organization or the bosses will not be hired– Employees with elements that “generate” the organization or the bosses are highly pref

erred– There are a set of rules about one’s birthday– Of course, not scientific evidence

http://hk.astrology.yahoo.com/chimay/8words/details14.html

mgto 324 recruitment and selections external selection ii: other selection tools kin fai ellick wong...

Documents

popular tools slide

correlation slide

driven slide

categories popular predictors

cover letter andor resume

validity of resume

idea of multiple predictors

large number of predictors