Occupational & Organizational Testing and
Assessment
Screening, Selection, Classification, and
Placement
• In the context of employment,
screening refers to a relatively superficial
process of evaluation based on certain
minimal standards, criteria, or requirements.
For example, department may screen on the
basis of certain minimal requirements for
height, weight, physical health, physical
strength, and cognitive ability before
admitting candidates to a training program
for firefighters.
• Selection refers to a process whereby
each person evaluated for a position will be
either accepted or rejected for that position
• Placement need not carry any
implication of acceptance or rejection.
Placement is a disposition, transfer, or
assignment to a group or category that may
be made on the basis of one criterion. If, for
example, you took a college-level course
while still in high school, the score you
earned on the advanced placement test in
that subject area may have been the sole
criterion used to place you in an appropriate
section of that college course upon your
acceptance to college.
• Businesses, academic institutions,
the military, and other organizations
regularly screen, select, classify, or place
individuals. A wide array of tests can be
used as aids to decision making.
The Résumé and the Letter of Application
• There is no single, standard résumé;
they can be “as unique as the individuals
they represent”
• Typically, information related to
one’s work objectives, qualifications,
education, and experience is included on a
résumé
• The Application Form: Application
forms may be thought of as biographical
sketches that supply employers with
information pertinent to the acceptability of
job candidates.
• Letters of Recommendation:
Another tool useful in the preliminary
screening of applicants is the letter of
recommendation Such letters may be a
unique source of detailed information about
the applicant’s past performance, the quality
of the applicant’s relationships with peers.
• Interviews: whether individual or
group in nature, provide an occasion for the
face-to-face exchange of information. Like
other interviews, the employment interview
may fall anywhere on a continuum from
highly structured, with uniform questions
being asked to all, to highly unstructured,
with the questions left largely to the
interviewer’s discretion. Portfolio
Assessment
• In the context of
industrial/organizational assessment,
portfolio assessment entails an evaluation
of an individual’s work sample for the
purpose of making some screening,
selection, classification, or placement
decision. A video journalist applying for a
position at a new television station may
present a portfolio of video clips, including
rehearsal footage and outtakes
Testes used in organizations
• Performance Tests: As its name
implies, a performance test requires assesses
to demonstrate certain skills or abilities
under a specified set of circumstances. The
typical objective of such an exercise is to
obtain a job-related performance sample.
For example, a word-processing test as a
prerequisite for employment as a word
processor provides a prospective employer
with a job-related performance sample
• A commonly used performance test
in the assessment of business leadership
ability is the leaderless group technique.
Communication skills, problem-solving
ability, the ability to cope with stress, and
other skills can also be assessed
economically by a group exercise in which
the participants’ task is to work together in
the solution of some problem or the
achievement of some goal.
• Another performance test frequently
used to assess managerial ability,
organizational skills, and leadership
potential is the in-basket technique. This
technique simulates the way a manager or an
executive deal with an in-basket filled with
mail, memos, announcements, and various
other notices and directives.
Physical Tests
Physical test may be defined as measurement
that entails evaluation of one’s somatic health
and intactness, and
observable sensory and motor abilities. General
physical fitness is required in many jobs, such
as police work, where successful candidates
might one day have to chase a fleeing suspect
on foot or defend themselves against a suspect
resisting arrest.
The tests used in assessing such fitness might
include a complete physical examination, tests
of physical strength, and a performance test that
meets some determined criterion with respect to
running speed and agility.
Drug testing Beyond concerns about traditional
physical, emotional, and cognitive job
requirements lies great concern about employee
drug use. Personnel and human resource
managers are increasingly seeking assurance
that the people they hire and the staff they
currently employ do not and will not use illegal
drugs.
