What is mean by selection science in hiring?

Answer 1

Mike Hudy is an Industrial/Organizational (I/O) psychologist and principal of Shaker Consulting Group. He began designing custom simulations for pre-employment testing in 1997. His work is marked by innovation in developing high-fidelity, on-line work samples and interactive evaluation experiences that expand the science and art of the profession.

In what ways have simulations for pre-employment assessments changed the way I/O psychologists think about measurement science for the hiring process?

Psychologists have to apply traditional psychometrics to a more complex playing field. In developing a simulation you have to capture core elements of the job in a manner that is not overly complex yet still accounts for traditional psychometric principles. Now I/O psychologists have an opportunity and challenge to be better at balancing art with selection science.

Tell me more about the Art.

The art is the process through which we gain an understanding of a job and devise a way to represent or recreate aspects of the job in an internet delivered simulation. Simulations collect a work sample through an informative and interactive candidate experience. This method captures a level of data a traditional Likert scale or multiple-choice assessment can never achieve. The art is to capture some of the complexity without making it overly intricate. The candidate needs to be able to proceed with minimal instruction to complete the exercises. And the exercise needs to be clearly job relevant.

Is that where the power of face validity comes into play?

Yes, it is the goal is to invite the candidate to step into the role and perform elements of job which measure attributes critical for success and do job. We create and deliver candidate evaluation in a way that the individual does not feel like they are being tested. They know what is going on, however,the link to the job is so strong and clear. Feedback we get from candidates strongly suggests they appreciate being afforded the opportunity to complete the Virtual Job Tryout. They come away with a better understanding of the career opportunity they are considering. Exposure to the role through well balanced realistic job preview and concrete elements of job demands puts the candidate in better position to decide if the job is right for them. When we accomplish that, we know the art has achieved its purpose.

The psychometric challenge is to still get good reliable measurement of the construct you are trying to tap into without introducing too much noise into the exercise. What I mean by that is simulations can introduce many more moving parts into the measurement experience. With that the risk is the moving parts or elements of the simulation could have an unintended impact on what it is you are actually trying to measure.

Can you give me an example of this?

A good example is we developed simulations for two different call center jobs. One of them more closely resembled the actual problem solving on the job. It simulated searching for, finding and using information to solve problems by looking for information in a multi-layered data base.

The second problem solving simulation was much simpler. It eliminated the need to search for and find information and dealt exclusively with the ability to use technical information to address customer issue and resolve problems.

While the first simulation more closely resembled the actual job, we achieved better results predicting on-the-job performance with the simpler, second simulation.

By introducing the searching and identification task, it became a distracter and we limited our precision in assessing the actual problem solving ability.

How does that difference in complexity impact the way the candidate responds?

Candidates appreciate engaging, interesting and interactive exercises. Not all applicants appreciate increased complexity in their candidate experience. And, they le