Dr John Kenworthy

“Research from the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, shows that nearly one-quarter of the people hired by the traditional methods of interviewing and reviewing resumes will fail. These tried-but- not-true methods do not predict or identify high-performance employees, so the right people are not always getting hired for the job” (Podmoroff, 2005, pp. 47).

Two major problems are being faced by many organizations today:

Personnel screening and selection methods used are based on information provided by the applicant (Cascio & Aguinis, 2005). Their CV, their choice of references and their answers to interview questions.

The information being given is prone to errors and personal bias.

Applicants can falsify information, hide information, exaggerate and everyone knows that the only time in life when we come close to perfection is when we fill out that application form!

Perhaps more unsettling is the amount of subjectivity displayed by recruiters and interviewers.

Posthuma, Morgeson & Campion (2002) found many biases that influence hiring decisions including applicant-interviewer similarity, pre-interview impressions, fashion sense and appearance. That is, biases that have nothing to do with the job or the suitability of the applicant.

The second issue is time and money. Filtering hundreds of resumes in many different formats. Numerous reference checks or conversely, no reference checks! Conducting interviews, first, second, third… coordinating senior management time, rooms, disruption to work.

With the cost of employee turnover being from 70% to 200% of salary, you need a selection system that is more efficient, less prone to error, and uses more credible, effective process (Kaye & Jordan-Evans, 2001).

To overcome these two major problems, you can use the many benefits and strengths of pre-employment screening and assessment. What will you gain?

Selection systems are more objective and less prone to selection mistakes (Blyth, 2004). Using standardized tests enables you to examine the applicant’s knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that will be required on the job. As a result, your decisions are not based on personal interpretations of the applicant’s qualifications (which is less if not at all legally defensible – something all Singapore employers need to consider in light of changing regulations and laws), but rather on job analysis data, industry research, and statistical validation.
Pre-employment screening and assessment is a more time and cost efficient method as opposed to traditional methods (Whaley, 1996). You needless staff resources and less time to complete each hire, saving you from unnecessary costs.
Pre-employment screening and assessment methods are shown to have significant positive organizational outcomes. Terpstra & Rozell (1993) show that there is a positive relationship between selection methods and organizational performance; that as organizations use more selection techniques (recruiting studies, validation studies, structured interviews, cognitive aptitude and ability tests, and BIBs/WABs), that organizational performance also increases. A recent meta-analysis study (Farrell & Hakstian, 2001) showed that when companies used personnel selection technique in hiring sales employees, they saw a 14.8% to 34.1% increase in productivity!