Last week we started evaluating the methods and processes used in making hiring decisions. We looked at the cost of hiring mistakes and the impact on issues like employee theft. We examined the role of resumes, interviews and reference checks. This week we will continue the analysis.

Criminal History Checks
When an individual with a criminal history applies for a position of trust, criminal history checks can alert an employer to this background information. The drawbacks to criminal history checks are primarily that they are costly and sometimes difficult to obtain. The information gathered may also be incomplete or misleading.

Pre-employment Polygraph Exams
 The purpose of pre-employment polygraph exams is to determine an individual's suitability for employment based on the verification of answers to job-related questions. While a polygraph exam conducted by a qualified examiner can yield useful information for a prospective employer and are gaining popularity in Jamaica, these exams have been banned in many countries.

Handwriting Analysis
Real handwriting experts are known as Forensic Document Examiners, not as graphologists. They examine handwriting to detect authenticity or forgery.  Claims that handwriting samples can be used to measure personality traits and predict person-job fit are at best questionable.  There is no empirical evidence that graphological characteristics significantly correlate with personality traits. In properly controlled, blind studies where handwriting samples contained no content that could provide non-graphological information upon which to base a prediction, graphologists do no better than chance at predicting personality traits. (The Use of Graphology as a Tool for Employee Hiring and Evaluation, from the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.)

Psychological Inventories
Psychological inventories are an effective means of obtaining information about an applicant. Psychological inventories used for pre-employment screening are generally designed and validated in accordance with legal requirements and professional guidelines. A major advantage of a well-validated inventory, as shown through research, is that many of these instruments can effectively predict job-related behavior, a function most other pre-employment screening techniques cannot perform.
What Works?
In a predictive validity study, job applicants are interviewed, or take a test, or are assessed in some other way, and their scores recorded. Later, once in the job, their job performance is measured and scored numerically; these scores are then correlated with their scores on the assessment method. When such studies are carried out, psychometric tests typically show a much higher correlation with later job success than interviews and other traditional assessment tools, usually only being surpassed by assessment centres (which are of course multi-method assessments which themselves contain psychometric tests).
Some researchers have used a process called meta-analysis to combine the results of many individual studies in order to show a typical picture. One much reported set of findings is that of Dr. Mike Smith, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Manchester Business School.

No one method can perfectly predict later job success, although some assessment centres can be very good at this. The best single methods however are psychometric tests such as work sample tests and ability tests.  Personality questionnaires, another form of psychometric instrument, can also be very effective.  Interviews tend to be less effective, especially the typical biographical interview.  Other methods, such as astrology or graphology (handwriting analysis) seem to be no better or worse than chance.
The state of the art today is to benchmark the profile, traits, attitudes, skills and competences of your best performers and to design assessment procedures to scientifically select more staff like your best people.

Dr. Semaj is a frequent facilitator for Strategic Planning Retreats, Cultural Alignment and Organizational Restructuring. He conducts Staff Selection and Development Programmes for many sectors (Hospitality, Finance, Gaming, Telecommunications, Security, Agriculture, Shipping, Distribution, Manufacturing and Government) across the Caribbean. Dr. Semaj helps companies and individuals prepare for the New Work Order by monitoring international trends in the world of work.

Dr. Semaj is a frequent facilitator for Strategic Planning Retreats, Cultural Alignment and Organizational Restructuring. He conducts Staff Selection and Development Programmes for many sectors (Hospitality, Finance, Gaming, Telecommunications, Security, Agriculture, Shipping, Distribution, Manufacturing and Government) across the Caribbean. Dr. Semaj helps companies and individuals prepare for the New Work Order by monitoring international trends in the world of work.

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