CHAPTER 7: GENERAL PRACTICES IN PERSONNEL SELECTION

TYPES OF PERSONNEL ACTIONS

     Personnel selection refers to choosing, from a number of available candidates, who are to be employed.

* Placement - focuses on choosing from a number of possible jobs the one presumable best suited to a given candidate.

* Classification - applies to a situation in which there is a pool of individuals and a pool of jobs and refers to the assignment of the individuals to the jobs in order to optimize, collectively, the matches between the two.

* Promotions - advancement of individuals to higher-level jobs.

PERSONNEL SPECIFICATIONS

     The objective of setting up personnel specifications is to state those items of personal data that are "valid" for selecting individuals for the job.

 TWO CLASSES:

1. Specifications that are reasonably intrinsic to the job (aptitudes and sensory and physical abilities)
2. Other specific requirements associated with labor market conditions

TYPES:

1. Work experience
2. Education
3. Training
4. Biographical data
5. Physical data
6. Information on various abilities, personality, interests, and other characteristics

SPECIFICATIONS FOR TRAINED VS UNTRAINED PERSONNEL

     Trained personnel's focus of specifications is on the nature, length, and quality of any relevant training, education, or experience required for the job. On the other hand, untrained personnel's focus of specifications is on those qualities presumed to reflect their potentialities for the job.

SOURCES OF RELEVANT PERSONNEL DATA

1. Personnel tests and inventories
2. Application forms and other personal data questionnaires
3. Physical examinations
4. Interviews
5. Letters of reference

TYPES OF RELIABILITY COEFFICIENTS

1. Coefficient of Stability - based on the use of the same type of measurement instrument administered at two points in time to a sample of people, the results of these two administrations usually being correlated.
2. Coefficient of Equivalence - based on data from two samples of the "universe" of the behaviors or events being measured.
3. Coefficient of Internal Consistency - various parts or items of a test of some behavior or attribute all should measure essentially the same thing.

VALIDITY

     Validity is the appropriateness of inferences from test scores or other forms of assessment.

TYPES:

1. Criterion Related Validity - determined by comparing test scores with one or more independent criteria.
2. Construct Validity - evaluated by investigating what psychological qualities a test measures.
3. Content Validity - applies to various types of achievement tests, job knowledge tests or job performance tests
4. Job Component Validity - predicated on the assumption that the human requirements of any given job activity or "component" would be comparable in any job in which that activity or component occurred in equal degree.

     In personnel selection, the most approved validity is criterion-related validity.

JOB STATUS METHOD OF TEST VALIDATION

     When this method is used, the test scores of employees on each of two or several jobs are compared to ascertain whether there are significant differences.

FACTORS DETERMINING THE FUNCTIONAL VALUE OF PERSONNEL TESTS

1. Reliability
2. Validity
3. Percentage of present employees who are "satisfactory" on the job.