HR 6.1

Which of the following is a permissible question for job applications and interviews?

Can you meet the requirements of the work schedule?

Aptitude tests assess a person's existing knowledge and skills.

False

Gary, the new human resource manager at Alchemy Corp., proposes using automated systems for screening résumés of applicants. Gary claims that automated systems are better than humans at picking the right profiles. Which of the following statements weakens Gary's claim?

Automated systems arbitrarily reject highly qualified people who submit a creatively worded résumé.

How can individuals acting as references for job applicants minimize the risk of being sued for defamation or misrepresentation?

By only giving information about observable, job-related behaviors

To test the validity of a selection test for advanced widget designers, Techspark Inc. administers the test to its current widget designers. The test results are then compared with the employees' latest performance appraisal scores. In this instance, what type of validation is being used by Techspark?

Concurrent validation

An international car manufacturing company wants to hire new employees for its new assembly unit. As part of the selection process, the applicants are required to assemble a mini model of one of the company's products. They are judged on their speed, ability to follow a set of instructions, and coordination skills. What type of validity is being established in this scenario?

Construct validity

Buildtron Inc., a construction firm, is in need of a construction superintendent, whose primary responsibilities involve organizing, supervising, and inspecting the work of several subcontractors. Buildtron administers a construction-error recognition test, where an applicant has to enter a shed that has 25 construction errors and has to record as many of these errors as can be detected. What type of validity is being established in this case?

Content validity

Identify the traits that are found in a conscientious person.

Dependable, organized, persevering, and achievement-oriented

Which of the following is NOT a rule for drug testing?

Drug test reports should not be sent to applicants.

Identify the detail that needs to be asked in an application form to gather information about suitable candidates.

Educational background

Irene is filling out an application form for the position of an elementary school teacher. While she is filling it out, she comes across a section that asks for information about her high school, college, courses, and grades. Which of the following sections of the application form is being referred to here?

Educational background

Which of the following statements is true of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1991?

Employers are required to make reasonable accommodation to disabled individuals.

Which of the following is a requirement under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986?

Employers must verify and maintain records on the legal rights of applicants to work in the United States.

A predictive criterion-related validation strategy establishes consistency between the test items or problems and the kinds of situations that occur on the job.

False

Content validation is most suitable for measuring abstract qualities such as intelligence or leadership ability.

False

Most organizations check references as soon as they receive a candidate's application form.

False

Predictive validation is less time consuming and the easiest to administer.

False

The Civil Rights Act of 1991 encourages the use of sex norming as a selection tool.

False

The Polygraph Act legalized the use of polygraph tests for employment screening in most organizations.

False

The process of selecting employees remains constant for all organizations and for all jobs.

False

Which of the following exemplifies a generalizable test?

Intratel Inc. uses the same test for selecting candidates for different job profiles in two different countries.

Which of the following is an accurate feature of a job application form?

It ensures that certain standard categories of information are obtained.

Which of the following best describes the multiple-hurdle model of personnel selection?

It is a process of arriving at a selection decision by eliminating some candidates at each stage of the selection process.

Which of the following is true about content validity?

It is usually measured on the basis of expert judgment.

Identify the correct statement regarding predictive validation.

It uses the test scores of all applicants and looks for a relationship between the scores and future performance.

Identify the limitation of cognitive ability tests.

Legal issues related to administering the tests

The HR department at Buckworth Consulting recently developed and employed a certain test in the selection process for managers. After observing a certain trend in the organization, the HR department concluded that the test being used was not a valid selection criterion. Which of the following most likely led to that observation?

Managers who performed well on the tests performed poorly in their roles.

Which of the following is true about medical examinations of job candidates?

Medical examinations are conducted after a candidate has been given a job offer.

Emma, a manager at Synergy Inc., conducted an interview with Sean for a job as regional sales manager. During the course of the interview she conducted a test to assess the Sean's integrity by asking him about his attitude toward robbery and his own experiences with robbery, if any. Which of the following tests was conducted by Emma?

Paper-and-pencil honesty test

Which of the following tests is a legal means to test the integrity of job applicants and generally involves asking applicants directly about their attitudes toward theft and their own experiences with theft?

Paper-and-pencil honesty test

Francisco Holt had applied for the position of an emergency direct care worker at the City Medical Center. In the last round of the selection process, he had to take part in a testing procedure that simulated an emergency situation. He had to run a half-mile on the treadmill, followed by a step test, a posture test, a squat test, and a weight-lifting test. His performance was timed and his heart rate was monitored throughout the tests. Which of the following tests is exemplified in this case?

Physical ability test

While filling out an application for the position of administrative assistant, Rachel was asked to provide the name and phone number of her previous supervisor. She was also provided the alternative of presenting a letter from her previous supervisor vouching for her performance on the job. Which of the following tools used in the initial selection process is illustrated in this case?

References

Nathaniel believes that assessing the reliability of a selection method is the only requirement for predicting the success of the selection method. Which of the following statements weakens his argument?

Reliability cannot clarify if something that matters is being measured.

Which of the following laws requires employers to make "reasonable accommodation" to incapacitated individuals?

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991

Rigatel Corp., an investment bank, was in the final stage of its selection process for a business analyst. Rob was one of the desired candidates for the position. As part of background checks, the bank wanted to look at his credit history. Which of the following requires them to obtain Rob's consent before using a third party to check his credit history?

The Fair Credit Reporting Act

Numex, an equities firm, requires its employees to be highly analytical. The company's HR department develops a series of tests to be used in the preliminary rounds of interviews to gauge the candidates' analytical skills. Before using it in the selection process, the HR department got some of the best analysts in the firm to take the test on different days of the week. Surprisingly, each of their scores was highly inconsistent on different days. After an evaluation, the test was found to be unreliable. Which of the following assumptions would lead to such a conclusion?

The skills of the analysts remain constant over a week.

Why do organizations typically review applicant résumés?

They are used as a basis for deciding which candidates to investigate further.

Identify the correct statement regarding job performance tests.

They provide fair evaluations for applicants.

Which of the following statements is true of selection decisions?

They should be based on which candidate best fits a job position.

Equal employment opportunity laws affect the kinds of information an organization may gather on application forms and in interviews.

True

In a behavior description interview, a candidate is asked by the interviewer how he or she handled a type of situation in the past.

True

In an organization, a supervisor usually makes the final employee selection decision.

True

Which of the following exemplifies a high utility selection procedure?

Tywell Capital, an international investment firm, spends close to a million dollars to hire a renowned economist as its new CEO.

Along with 50 other candidates, Rita applied for the position of analyst at Mechalium Inc. Because Rita's profile stood out from other candidates' profiles, she was called for an interview in which she performed well. In the context of the steps involved in the selection process for recruitment, which of the following would most likely be the next step taken by the recruiter?

Verifying Rita's qualifications through background checks

Marianna Baxter attends an interview for the position of a paralegal at one of the biggest law firms in the country. During the interview, she is asked a particular question which she refuses to answer. Frustrated by her behavior, the interviewer repeats the question. She refuses to answer it again and says that it violates her rights under equal employment opportunity law. Which of the following is most likely the question she was asked?

What is your ancestry

Which of the following is a permissible question to ask in job applications and interviews?

Will you need any reasonable accommodation for this job position?

Generally, an organization checks references:

after it has determined that an applicant is a finalist for a job.

During an interview for medical assistants at the Haleview Medical Center, all the candidates were asked to talk about a situation in the past when they had to empathize with an emotionally unstable person and help that person make rational decisions. This was to test if the candidates would be able to assist a frantic patient and help him or her make informed decisions while on the job. This is a(n) ________ interview.

behavior description

For tests that measure abstract qualities such as intelligence or leadership skills, validity would best be established by ________ validation.

construct

Marshall, a 33-year old unemployed software engineer, applied for a job at Bluetel Inc., a Florida-based software company. In his résumé, he gave his former project manager as a reference. But he was rejected soon after the HR specialist at Bluetel called his former manager and learned that Marshall was accused of racial discrimination against another employee. Sensing this to be the reason for his rejection at Bluetel, Marshall can sue his former manager on charges of ________.

defamation

A test that is valid in other contexts beyond the context in which the selection method was developed is known as a(n) ________ method.

generalizable

David Carr is the HR manager of Witherspoon Inc., a publishing company. He wants to know if a certain test of cognitive ability, used in the advertising industry, can be successfully used in his organization. This scenario suggests that he wants to know if this test is a(n) ________ method of personnel selection.

generalizable

A typing test for an administrative assistant's job is an example of a(n) ________ test.

job performance

In-basket tests are examples of ________ tests.

job performance

A ________ interview allows interviewer's discretion in choosing the questions to be asked and generally includes open-ended questions about the candidate's strengths, weaknesses, career goals, and work experience.

nondirective

Grace is the HR manager of Trelsoft Inc., a software company located in Boston. She wants to establish the validity of a test designed for computer technicians using a predictive criterion-related validation strategy. According to this validation, Grace must administer the test to ________.

people applying for computer technician jobs in Trelsoft

The ________ of a type of measurement indicates how free that measurement is from random error.

reliability

During an interview for a sales position at Lock-Spark Inc., all job candidates are asked about what they would do to regain business with a client whose products were damaged during a business transaction with Lock-Spark. This is an example of a(n) ________ interview.

situational

A correlation coefficient of -1.0 between two sets of numbers indicates ________.

that when one set of numbers goes up, the other set goes down

The ________ of an employment test is indicated by the extent to which the test scores relate to actual job performance.

validity