SELECTION & ASSESSMENT

SESSION FIVE: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF SELECTION INTERVIEWS

IN THIS SESSION

A review of the validity of the selection interview and how it’s affected by interview structure, content and bias

A consideration of the social processes in the selection interview, particularly impression management and what distinguishes successful from unsuccessful candidates

INTERVIEWS: A REMINDER

Used by 99% of organisations Validity coefficients of 0.35 (all types) and 0.51

(structured) Inter-Rater Reliability of 0.77 What interviews measure:

Cognitive ability Job knowledge Social skills Person-organisation fit

TWO MAIN PERSPECTIVES

Objectivist Psychometric Approach– What can interviews

measure?– How should they be

structured?– Reliability and validity– Experiential and

hypothetical interviews

Subjectivist Social-Interactionist Approach– Interview process– Patterns of exchange

between the two parties– Power dynamics and

impression management– Interviewer perceptions

and attributions

FINDINGS ON STRUCTURE

Unstructured selection interviews will merely provide a measure of social skills

Structured interviews are a pre-set sequence of questions which are pre-planned and standardised

Structured interviews have better validity and are legally safer

FINDINGS ON CONTENT

Situational and Past Behaviour Interviews Situational interviews ask what you

would do, how and why (validity 0.46) Past Behaviour interviews ask what you

did, when, how and why (validity 0.57) The past predicts the future, though

ignores problems with lying and change

SUBJECTIVIST SOCIAL INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE

Forum for negotiating psychological contract

Even spread of power Preview of ability to work together Not a verbal delivery of test

SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES

Talk more outside of preset questions Are interrogated and interrupted less Engage in turn taking and reciprocation Engage in impression management Explain past successes and failures

differently. Stable, personal and global explanations are far more effective

GIVING BETTER INTERVIEWS

How would you answer this question?

“You’ve been unemployed since graduation: why?”

GIVING BETTER INTERVIEWS

A good answer I decided to get the best degree I could and left

my applications too late (PERSONAL) but that’s me: I always get bound up in what I’m doing (STABLE) but it’s given me time to make the right career choice (GLOBAL)”

A bad answer “Our tutors totally overloaded us with work so I

didn’t have time to make any applications” (Unstable, impersonal, externalised responsibility)

PRACTICAL TASK

Your task is to develop a set of interview questions for OPS to use at interview for the job of Senior Business Psychologist

Try to devise both situational and actual behaviour questions and use them in a mock interview. If you have time, try to develop some good answers based on attribution theory

Competences you are measuring are strong interpersonal skills, strong influencing skills, creativity, effective planning, effective organisational skills, an eye for quality

SELECTION & ASSESSMENT

SESSION SIX: A CRITICAL REVIEW OF ABILITY TESTS

IN THIS SESSION

A review of the validity, reliability and scope of tests

How to properly interpret what you’ve got

Links between cognitive ability and work performance

Ways of selecting applicants based on their test scores

ABILITY TESTS: A REMINDER

Used by 68% of organisations Validity coefficients of 0.51 Do tests measure what they purport to? Can we measure internal processes? Tests developed on students

OVERVIEW OF TESTS

Achievement Tests Aptitude Tests General Mental Ability Tests Specialised Tests

INTERPRETING TEST SCORES

Good comparative data Good test-retest reliability Error in measurement Internal reliability

LINKS WITH WORK PERFORMANCE

Threshold & Linearity Hypotheses A necessary but not sufficient condition Correlations with motivation Moderators between cognitive ability

and work performance

SELECTION BASED ON TEST SCORES

Top Down Top Down Quotas Separate Norms Fixed Bands Sliding Bands

TACKLING ABILITY TESTS

Hop around and don’t get bogged down The most general alternative often correct The longest alternative often correct The right answer is often the middle number If two similar alternatives choose neither Always, all, never, none often wrong Generally, seldom, perhaps, usually often

correct

PRACTICAL TASK

OPS have decided to use an ability test as part of their selection procedure for the post of Senior Business Psychologist. Have a go at the attached ability test. Try to apply some of the skills of test taking behaviour we have discussed. When you have finished, reflect on and discuss the construct validity of the test you have just completed