Chapter 6 - Selection

Front 1

Ability tests

Back 1

Tests that assess an applicant's capacity or aptitude to function in a certain way.

Front 2

Behavioural description interviews

Back 2

Interviews that attempt to find out how job applicants responded to specific work situations in the past.

Front 3

Biographical information blank (BIB

Back 3

) A type of application blank that uses a multiple-choice format to measure a job candidate's education, experiences, opinions, attitudes, and interests.

Front 4

Compensatory approach

Back 4

An approach where a higher score on a predictor may compensate a low score on another.

Front 5

Computer-assisted interviewing

Back 5

Use of computers to electronically profile job candidates and screen new hires.

Front 6

Computer-interactive performance tests

Back 6

Performance tests using computer simulations that can measure skills, comprehension, spatial visualization, judgment, etc.

Front 7

Concurrent validity

Back 7

An empirical approach to validation that measures the predictor and criterion scores concurrently.

Front 8

Construct validity

Back 8

A rational approach to validation that seeks to establish a relationship to a construct, attribute, or quality related to job performance.

Front 9

Content validity

Back 9

A rational approach to validation that examines the extent to which the selection device includes elements of the job domain.

Front 10

Differential validity

Back 10

Test validation process aimed at discovering the validity of a test for various subgroups, e.g., females and members of visible minorities.

Front 11

Drug tests

Back 11

Tests that include whether a job applicant uses marijuana, cocaine, or other drugs. A growing number of employers have instituted drug testing as part of the selection process. Substance abuse in the workplace costs employers billions of dollars each year.

Front 12

Employment interview

Back 12

A formal, in-depth, face-to-face, or more recently, a phone or video conference between an employer and a job applicant to assess the appropriateness of the applicant for the job under consideration.

Front 13

Employment references

Back 13

Evaluations of an employee's past work performance and job-relevant behaviours provided by past employers.

Front 14

Employment tests

Back 14

Devices that assess the probable match between applicants and job requirements.

Front 15

Halo effect

Back 15

A bias that occurs when an evaluation allows some information to disproportionately affect the final evaluation.

Front 16

Integrity tests

Back 16

Employment tests that measure an applicant's honesty and trustworthiness.

Front 17

Interviewee errors

Back 17

Interviewee mistakes such as boasting, not listening, or lack of preparation that reduce the validity and usefulness of an interview.

Front 18

Interviewer errors

Back 18

Mistakes like biases and domination that reduce the validity and usefulness of the job interview.

Front 19

Knowledge tests

Back 19

Tests that measure a person's information or knowledge.

Front 20

Medical evaluation

Back 20

Assessment of health and accident information of a job applicant through self-reports or physical exam by company medical personnel.

Front 21

Multiple cutoff approach

Back 21

An approach where scores are set for each predictor and each applicant evaluated on a pass-fail basis.

Front 22

Panel interview

Back 22

Interview using several interviewers.

Front 23

Performance tests

Back 23

Test that measure ability of job applicants to perform the job for which they are to be hired.

Front 24

Personality tests

Back 24

Questionnaires designed to reveal aspects of an individual's character or temperament.

Front 25

Predictive validity

Back 25

An empirical approach to validation that correlates predictor and criterion scores.

Front 26

Realistic job preview (RJP)

Back 26

Involves showing the candidate the type of work, equipment, and working conditions involved in the job before the hiring decision is final.

Front 27

Reference letters

Back 27

Written evaluations of a person's job-relevant skills, past experience, and work-relevant attitudes.

Front 28

Reliability

Back 28

A selection device's ability to yield consistent results over repeated measures. Also, internal consistency of a device of measure.

Front 29

Selection process

Back 29

A series of specific steps used by an employer to decide which recruits should be hired.

Front 30

Selection ratio

Back 30

The ratio of the number of applicants hired to the total number of applicants.

Front 31

Situational interviews

Back 31

Interviews that attempt to assess a job applicant's likely future response to specific situations, which may or may not have been faced by the applicant in the past. In this type of interview, the interviewer describes situations likely to arise on the job and important for effective job performance, and then asks the applicant what he or she would do in such situations.

Front 32

Situational judgment test

Back 32

A test that places an applicant in hypothetical scenarios and asks them to indicate how they would respond from a list of alternatives.

Front 33

Stages of an interview

Back 33

Key phases in an employment interview: interview preparation, creation of rapport, information exchange, termination, and evaluation.

Front 34

Stress-producing interviews

Back 34

Job interviews that use a series of harsh, rapid-fire questions to upset the applicant and learn how he or she handles stress.

Front 35

Structured interviews

Back 35

Interviews wherein a predetermined checklist of questions usually asked of all applicants is used.

Front 36

Subjective approach

Back 36

An approach where the decision maker looks at the scores received by the various applicants on predictors and subjectively evaluates all of the information and comes to an overall judgment.

Front 37

Unstructured interviews

Back 37

Interviews using few if any planned questions to enable the interviewer to pursue, in depth, the applicant's responses.

Front 38

Validity

Back 38

A key attribute of a selection device that indicates its accuracy and relationship to job-relevant criteria.

Front 39

Validity generalization

Back 39

Using validity evidence accumulated for other jobs or applicant populations to guide employment test choices until local validation study results can be acquired.

Front 40

Weighted application blank (WAB)

Back 40

A job application form in which various items are given differential weights to reflect their relationship to criterion measure.