Employee Selection: References and Testing Flashcards
The process of confirming the accuracy of résumé and job application information
Reference check
The expression of an opinion, either orally or through a written checklist, regarding an applicant’s ability, previous performance, work habits, character, or potential for future success
Reference
A letter expressing an opinion regarding an applicant’s ability, previous performance, work habits, character, or potential for success
Letter of
recommendation
The intentional placement of untrue information on a résumé
Résumé fraud
A situation in which an employee with a previous criminal record commits a crime as part of his/her employment
Negligent hiring
The correlation between scores on a selection method (e.g., interview, cognitive ability test) and a measure of job performance (e.g., supervisor rating, absenteeism)
Validity coefficient
A term usually found with meta-analysis, referring to a correlation coefficient that has been corrected for predictor and criterion reliability and for range restriction; sometimes called “true validity”
Corrected validity
An organization’s failure to meet its legal duty to supply relevant information to a prospective employer about a former employee’s potential for legal trouble
Negligent reference
The extent to which a score from a test or from an evaluation is consistent and free from error
Reliability
A test that measures the amount of job-related knowledge an applicant possesses
Job knowledge test
Abilities involving the knowledge and use of information such as math and grammar
Cognitive ability
Tests designed to measure the level of intelligence or the amount of knowledge possessed by an applicant
Cognitive ability test
The cognitive ability test that is most commonly used in industry
Wonderlic Personnel Test
Measure of facility with such processes as spatial relations and form perception
Perceptual ability
Measure of facility with such processes as finger dexterity and motor coordination
Psychomotor ability
Tests that measure an applicant’s level of physical ability required for a job
Physical ability tests
A method of selecting employees in which applicants participate in several job-related activities, at least one of which must be a simulation, and are rated by several trained evaluators
Assessment center
An assessment center exercise designed to simulate the types of information that daily come across a manager’s or employee’s desk in order to observe the applicant’s responses to such information
In-basket technique
An exercise designed to place an applicant in a situation that is similar to the one that will be encountered on the job
Simulation
A method of selecting employees in which an applicant is asked to perform samples of actual job-related tasks
Work sample
An exercise, usually found in assessment centers, that is designed to simulate the business and marketing activities that take place in an organization
Business game
A method of selection involving application blanks that contain questions that research has shown will predict job performance
Biodata
The gathering of biodata from employee files rather than by questionnaire
File approach
The method of obtaining biodata from questionnaires rather than from employee files
Questionnaire approach
Division of employees into groups based on high and low scores on a particular criterion
Criterion group
For scoring biodata in which the percentage of unsuccessful employees responding in a particular way is subtracted from the percentage of successful employees responding in the same way
Vertical percentage
method
A group of employees who were used in creating the initial weights for a biodata instrument
Derivation sample
A group of employees who are not used in creating the initial weights for a biodata instrument but instead are used to double-check the accuracy of the initial weights
Hold-out sample
A psychological assessment designed to measure various aspects of an applicant’s personality
Personality inventory
The most widely used objective test of psychopathology
Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory-2
(MMPI-2)
A subjective test in which a subject is asked to perform relatively unstructured tasks, such as drawing pictures, and in which a psychologist analyzes his or her responses
Projective tests
A projective personality test
Rorschach Inkblot Test
A projective personality test in which test-takers are shown pictures and asked to tell stories. It is designed to measure various need levels
Thematic Apperception
Test (TAT)
A type of personality test that is structured to limit the respondent to a few answers that will be scored by standardized keys
Objective tests
A psychological test designed to identify vocational areas in which an individual might be interested
Interest inventory
A popular interest inventory used to help people choose careers
Strong Interest Inventory
SII
The process of helping an individual choose and prepare for the most suitable career
Vocational counseling
Also called an honesty test; a psychological test designed to predict an applicant’s tendency to steal
Integrity test
An electronic test intended to determine honesty by measuring an individual’s physiological changes after being asked questions
Polygraph
An electronic test to determine honesty by measuring an individual’s voice changes after being asked questions
Voice stress analyzer
A type of honesty test that asks questions about applicants’ attitudes toward theft and their previous theft history
Overt integrity test
A type of honesty test that measures personality traits thought to be related to antisocial behavior
Personality-based
integrity test
The amount of goods lost by an organization as a result of theft, breakage, or other loss
Shrinkage
Test designed to reduce faking by asking test-takers to select the reason that best explains a statement
Conditional reasoning
test
Also called handwriting analysis, a method of measuring personality by looking at the way in which a person writes
Graphology
Tests that indicate whether an applicant has recently used a drug
Drug testing
A letter from an organization to an applicant informing the applicant that he or she will not receive a job offer
Rejection letter
