The usefulness of pre-employment psychological testing: Can a self-report measure actually distinguish between a thief and a Chief?

Pre-employment psychological testing is used by many employers to screen applicants for various attributes. Some testing assesses personality traits such as leadership styles, interpersonal skills, or self-confidence; others assess cognitive abilities such as problem solving, speed of mental processing, or verbal memory; and, still others assess negative traits such as the potential for substance abuse, internal theft, or deceit. But do most of these tests actually assess what they say they assess? Are they backed up by peer-reviewed (not vendor-sponsored) research that looks at their validity and reliability? Are there other tests that may be more suitable for the intended objective? The use of psychological tests in the pre-employment process also raises ethical and legal issues for the employer, with an obligation to show, for example, that the tests do not create a hiring bias against a particular group and that the tests do not ask for information that may identify an applicant’s medical status. Further, a misunderstanding of the limits of self-report testing may cause employers to miss out on hiring suitably qualified applicants. This session will explore a wide range of pre-employment tests, giving advice on how to measure the effectiveness of testing, how to select the most appropriate tests, and how to combine test results with other sources of information when making informed, appropriate hiring decisions.

Learning objectives

Attendees should be able to:

1. Define validity and reliability as relating to psychological tests and identify legitimate statistical supports for these elements.
2. Identify strengths and limitations of tests already being used in pre-employment psychological testing – and how to address those limitations.
3. Identify potential ethical and legal concerns with the use of testing – and how to address those concerns.

To be updated shortly..