The Importance Of Pre-Employment Testing : Judge And Jury

The down side to the Federal Technician testing is that each employee was hired sight-unseen based on our test scores. While each and every one of us was excellent at the jobs we were hired for, there were some fairly serious personality and hygiene issues in the bunch. One of the hires weighed over 500 pounds and, though intelligent, required two plane tickets every time she traveled. Another had such repulsive personal hygiene issues that the entire office turned against her, customers wouldn’t work with her and she was ultimately asked to resign. An interview would have not only established the individual’s capabilities but would have identified those that would ultimately become a liability to the

Part of that process is the use of a personality assessment to screen for desirable candidates to fit with Neiman Marcus’s ideology. The screening tests are supposed to help an interviewer have objective information that is not subject to biases. According to the Dalrymple’s Sales Management text “Testing was found to be one of the most reliable predictors of entry level job success.” Three main tests mentioned are intelligence, personality, and aptitude.

Dalton, D. R. and M. B. Metzger: 1992, ‘Integrity Testing’ for Personnel Selection: An Unsparing Perspective’, Journal of Business Ethics

Unfortunately, many employers have two avenues in the realm of privacy issues in which they can legally and “morally” use personality tests. “It should be noted, however, that two defense are available for employers in actions for invasion of privacy. The first is when the applicant or employee consents to the use of personality testing. The second is when the employer can show qualified privilege, meaning that testing results were disclosed as a necessity of making a job-related decision.” (Mello, 625) In many cases, these two options apply and privacy laws cannot restrict an employer from exercising such testing in the workplace or in the hiring and firing process because personalities are not a protect class under Title VII. Therefore, the next question is to determine if the action by the employer to use personality testing and emotional intelligence results is a good workplace ethic and if there are any employee ramifications for partaking in the activity.

Employers that use hiring test must ensure the test is job related and consistent with business necessity as required under the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) (Maurer, R., 2016). These regulations govern how an organization uses such assessments as a way to discriminate against a potential employee’s race, religion, sex, national origin, disability, and age. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has laws that prohibit employers from discriminating against potential employees (Insureon Blog.,

All pre-employment testing should be repeatable, standardized and applicable to the job. In the interest of efficiency, pre-employment screening must focus just as much on the rate of false positives, as on the hit rate. Following are the ROC curves of several hypothetical employees (Reliable Measurements):

I definitely believe that there is a benefit to using both the personality test and the intelligence test. People argue the validity of the tests but, it’s more beneficial for an organization to use assessments rather than not. The personality assessment helps to distinguish if an individual is fit for the job. For example, an introvert might not be the best person to hire for a sales position. Not to say that they wouldn’t do well, but someone who is introverted might have to work harder in a social atmosphere. They might not bring as much profit in sales compared to an individual who is extroverted. I think that the use of these tests is a great way to filter through many applicants. It can save the organization time and money. The intelligence

Pre-employment screening is an important part of workplace violence prevention. Prior to hiring an employee, the agency should check with its servicing personnel office and legal office, if necessary, to determine what pre-employment screening techniques (such as interview questions, background and reference checks, and drug testing) are appropriate for the position under consideration and are consistent with Federal laws and regulations.

CHAPTER ONE: Chapter One starts off by discussing how important tests are, why they are useful and how formulas have been created to minimize errors of the test. Self- knowledge is one of the main reasons why tests are useful because once you learn certain traits about yourself, you can apply that to your life and how you interact with others or in other situations, like work. People are constantly wanting to know more things about themselves, especially personality, so it is important that there are standardized tests that measure what they are supposed to accurately, so people can receive the information they need. Other uses of tests are for classification, screening, diagnosis, certification and placement. Each of these uses serves a purpose to help find

I picked pre-employment and employment testing because this is a very big issue that can arise at a job and leave a potential employee the opportunity to say that they didn't get the job because of rac, color, national origin, etc. Pre-employment and employee testing is very important to company to make sure that the right personnel is implemented and in place for the right job. Preemployment testing will make selecting the right employee easier because you will know who is fit for what job in what department without running into any issues of not having any know how to do the job at hand. Pre-employment and employee testing will also make sure that employees are not doing a job they are physically or psychologically

Most interviewers have a set of the same questions that are used for all applicants to help gouge the responses that are given. This helps interviewers make the processes go smoother and faster. From the given handout, “Usefulness of typical job interview questions”, by Professor Allen Huffcutt, it is stated that most questions are useless. From the list that Professor Huffcutt has complied, I have been asked all 10 questions when being interviewed. The question that I most frequently get is, “How would you describe yourself”? This is such a general question and I personally do not think that this question is ever answered in the way an employer may want. Some individuals may use very descriptive words and some may just use generic words to please the

These tests may include assessing math skills or reading comprehension, computer skills and computer program knowledge, or other general types of skills that are needed to fill a specific job. For example, having prospective employees take a typing test if the position being filled requires someone who can type 60 wpm or faster. This particular assessment is one that focuses on maximal performance, which refers to being able to demonstrate specific abilities, as well as knowing the answer to a question that can be “right” or “wrong”. This helps hiring managers distinguish between candidates who can solve complex problems comprehensively and with precision. These candidates can show their aptitude level by problem-solving and finding solutions with speed and accuracy. An example of this type of test might involve a candidate having to repair an engine, to demonstrate his mechanical expertise.

The organization I work for just started using the DISC Plus in the hiring process. DISC stands for Decisive, Interactive, Stability, Cautious (Robbins, n.d.). The reason we are doing this is not to make an employment decision but to see where the individual fits within our organization. The DISC is a tool that can measure your preferred behavior style as well as your motivational style. I have used these results to inform myself on the most effective way to communicate with my staff. The DISC and other tests such as personality tests are becoming more and more popular in the interviewing process. There bare also integrity tests that asses a persons honesty, reliability and dependability (Kinicki & Williams, 2012). These tests ask

as the only way to access whether a person is suitable for the job is

Organizations could select one or more of these tests, but they have to be careful of the reliability and validity of all the results. Some results might be different depending on the environment of the testing area, or the relationship between the applicants and their previous employer/manager.