Employee Selection System, Personality Test, Cognitive Test, Interview Questions

Home • Employee Assessments • Talent Management • Performance Management • Training and Development • PR & Media • Bookstore • About Us

FirstView Job Fit Resource Center

Resource & test drive center:

A suggested model for a selection process
Unacceptable Questions for Interviews and Employment Applications
Examples of Acceptable and Unacceptable Questions
Download FirstView™ sample reports

A Suggested Model for a Selection Process

This is a suggested selection system that will work for almost any position in any business, large or small. It is economical and it is efficient.
Such a system will increase the effectiveness of most recruiting processes.

Initial Quick Screening

This can be done by reviewing résumés, by telephone, or by e-mail. If the job requires a particular certification, a particular set of experience, a particular preexisting skill, a particular schedule, definite degrees of flexibility, specific travel demands, particular transportation, or something else that is essential and specific, confirm that the candidate meets that qualification before spending any more time or money.

Brief Interview

This is a 5-15 minute face-to-face greeting. This may also be a brief telephone interview in some cases, where appropriate. With a high volume of candidates, this should be done by administrative staff after obtaining the necessary application paperwork from the candidate. With more select positions, this would be done by the initial decision maker for the hiring. This might be the owner in a small business or a personnel staff member in a large company or anyone in between. The purpose of this brief meeting is simply to verify that the candidate's initial attitude, grooming, and verbal skills are acceptable to the existing company standards for that job. Specific experience can be explored but in depth questions should be held until later.

Quick Job Match Assessment

If the Brief Interview is satisfactory, the next step in the process is for the candidate to complete a quick job fit assessment to evaluate how well their behavioral traits match those required by the job. FirstView™ requires about 10 minutes and has an affordable cost of about $15 per use (based on volume discount). It accurately assesses core behavioral traits relative to various jobs and also measures the candidate's reasoning speed. Since it requires no special training or expert interpretation, FirstView's information allows you to assess whether the candidate is a good match for your particular job. FirstView also provides a unique Summary Sheet enabling the employer to organize information from different parts of the selection process

Drug Testing and Integrity Testing

If appropriate for the jobs in question, these should be done at this point. This is because
these are usually the next least expensive and accurate part of the process. Also, since a positive drug test or a poor score on an honesty/integrity test will usually cause an exit from
the candidate pool, expensive interview time should not be invested until those issues are settled. The Counter-Productive Behavior Index, for example, costs about $15 and takes 15 minutes or less to complete. Drug testing varies according to the type of test. There are inexpensive and simple options, such as chemical strips, that allow for quick reads while a candidate is on site. More detailed results can be acquired if necessary, after conditional job offers are made.

Special Note

When companies are faced with low unemployment rates and strong competition for skilled workers, they are sometimes challenged to find enough candidates of any quality to fill the open positions. The concept of screening out any of them may seem unwise. However, the liabilities posed by employees who fail to meet minimal standards are potentially huge. It is important to temper the urgent need to fill positions with a conservative caution to protect the overall business.

Behavioral Event-Based Interview

At this point in the process, the focus changes from screening out unsatisfactory candidates
to selecting the best candidate from those that remain. If few candidates are available, this process focuses on understanding how best to use the employees that are hired. This includes understanding how to compensate for those behaviors that may not match the demands of the job.

Interviews should always be planned in advance. FirstView provides behavioral interview questions that are tailored to each candidate and to the job. This saves the interviewer from having to prepare questions and standardizes the process for each candidate.

Comprehensive Job Fit Assessment

Depending upon the nature of the position being filled, it may be desirable to obtain a deeper level of information about candidates for key jobs. This may be because the jobs are at a
high level; because they have high salaries; because they involve complex responsibilities;
or because they are critical to the profitable operation of the business. The recommended procedure for candidates at this point, is to administer a more sophisticated assessment instrument that is designed for this purpose. These kinds of instruments have detailed cognitive scales of measurement, which can reveal the candidate's ability to think strategically; think tactically; solve problems quickly; express ideas at an executive level; think creatively; deal with abstract concepts; visualize data flows; and more. The TotalView™ Assessment is excellent for this purpose.

In-Depth Interview for Key Positions

At this point, all remaining candidates should be acceptable for the job, although each may possess a different set of strengths and weaknesses. It is the purpose of this stage of interviewing to determine which set of strengths and weaknesses, coupled with different sets of skills and experience, is best matched to the immediate needs of the business.

Contingent Job Offer

If a job offer is made at this point, it should be contingent upon Background Checks, Reference Checks, Driving Record Checks, and/or Drug Testing Results

Background Check and Reference Checks

For any job that involves customer contact, driving company vehicles, safety issues, handling money or valuables, or critical functions of any kind within the company, background checks are absolutely necessary. Failure to conduct background checks can be deemed to be a negligent practice in some cases. The cost is minimal compared to the liability. All references should be verified also.

Once this assessment information is available, an in-depth interview is advised. The focus
now centers on how the candidates various talents, abilities, experience, and behavioral competencies can be used within the company. It should also be the forum for exploring the candidate's own understanding of particular weaknesses and how those weaknesses could be handled constructively in the position in question.

Contingent Job Offer

As mentioned earlier, if a job offer is made at this point, it should be contingent upon Background Checks, Reference Checks, Driving Record Checks, and/or Drug Testing Results.

This Selection Process is a general recommendation. Each company should consider its own particular needs and its own situation when devising its Selection Process. It is important to secure the advice of professional legal counsel when making these decisions.

Unacceptable Questions for Interviews and Employment Applications

The basic principle in determining the acceptability of any applicant questions is, can the employer demonstrate a job-related reason for asking the question? In asking an applicant questions, the interviewer should decide whether or not the information is really necessary in order to evaluate the applicant's qualifications, level of skills and overall competence for the job in question?

Problem areas are those discriminatory questions that inquire about the applicant's gender, race, age, national origin, or religion. Other problems arise when female applicants are asked different questions than male applicants, or married applicants are asked different questions than unmarried applicants.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued its Pre-employment Inquiry Guidelines in 1981 and it’s Enforcement Guidance: Pre-employment Disability-Related Questions and Medical Examinations in 1995. These address the issue of interview questions which, if used in making a selection decision, have a discriminatory effect by screening out minority applicants, female candidates, and older applicants and individuals with a disability, etc., for the particular job in question.

The following are areas that are deemed to be discriminatory for most questions:

Race—There are no job-related considerations that would justify asking an applicant a question based on race.
Religion—There are no job-related considerations that would justify asking about religious convictions, unless your organization is a religious institution, which may give preference to individuals of their own religion.
Gender—Generally, there are no appropriate questions based on the applicant's gender during the interview process. Specifically:

Women are no longer protected under state wage/hour laws re: number of hours worked, lifting restrictions, etc.
It is unlawful to deny a female applicant employment because she is pregnant, or planning to have a child at some future date.
Questions on marital status, number of children, child care arrangements, etc. are not appropriate.
Questions as to availability to work should be job-related:

What hours can you work?
What shift(s) can you work?
Can you work on weekends and/or holidays?

Sexual Preference—Under certain state and municipal laws, there are no permissible questions regarding an applicant's sexual preferences.
Height and/or Weight—These questions may support gender or national origin discrimination claims unless their relationship to specific job requirements can be demonstrated.
Age—Under the EEOC's Age Discrimination Interpretive Rules issued in 1981, as amended, a request for date of birth on the employment application is permissible, with an appropriate disclaimer shown. In practice, this is not asked on applications. Any recruiting effort that is age-biased such as "recent graduate", or any question during the interview process that deters employment because of age is unlawful. The Age Discrimination Act of 1967 bars discrimination against persons age 40 or over.
Arrest and Conviction Records—Questions relating to an applicant's arrest record are improper, while questions of an applicant's conviction record may be asked, if job related. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and many states prohibit use of arrest records for employment decisions because they are inherently biased against applicants in protected classes. The EEOC has issued a Revised Policy Statement covering the use of conviction records by employers in making employment decisions:

The employer must establish a business necessity for use of an applicant's conviction record in its employment decision. In establishing business necessity, the employer must consider three factors to justify use of a conviction record:

Nature and gravity of the offense for which convicted
Amount of time that has elapsed since the applicant's conviction and or completion of sentence
The nature of the job in question as it relates to the nature of the offense committed

The EEOC's Revised Policy Statement eliminated the existing requirement that employers consider the applicant's prior employment history along with rehabilitation efforts, if any. The Revised Policy Statement requires that the employer consider job-relatedness of the conviction, plus the lapse of time between the conviction and current job selection process.

National Origin—You may not ask an applicant where they were born, or where their parents were born. You may ask if the applicant is eligible to work in the United States.
Financial Status—An interviewer should not ask if the applicant owns or rents a home or car, or if wages have been previously garnished, unless financial considerations for the job in question exist. Any employer who relies on consumer credit reports in its employment process must comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 and the Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996.
Military Record—You may not ask what type of discharge the applicant received from military service. You may ask whether or not the applicant served in the military, period of service, rank at time of discharge, and type of training and work experience received while in the service.
Disability—You may not ask whether or not the applicant has a particular disability. You may only ask whether or not the applicant can perform the duties of the job in question.

Although federal EEO laws do not specifically prohibit any pre-employment questions, the EEOC does look with "extreme disfavor" on questions about age, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, gender or veteran status. Many state fair employment laws do expressly forbid certain types of questions. Following is a list of some examples of unacceptable and acceptable questions. This list is not inclusive. All interview questions should be reviewed by labor and employment counsel before use.

Examples of Acceptable and Unacceptable Questions

Attendance and Reliability
Unacceptable:

How many children do you have?
Do you have children that are not in school?
Who looks after your children for you?
Where do you go to church?
What religion are you?
Do you have a car?
What kind of car do you have?

Acceptable:

What days and hours can you work?
Are there any specific times that you cannot work?
Do have any responsibilities other than work that will interfere with specific job requirements such as traveling?

National Origin
Unacceptable:

What country are you from?
Where are your parents from?
What kind of name is that?
What is your maiden name?
What is your native language?

Acceptable:

Are you legally eligible to work in the United States?

Language Skills
Unacceptable

What is your native language? (You may not inquire into how an applicant acquired the language skills.)

Acceptable

What languages do you speak and write fluently (only if the job requires additional languages).

Reference Checking
Unacceptable

What is your father's surname?
What are the names of your relatives?

Acceptable

None

Arrest and Conviction
Unacceptable

Have you ever been arrested?

Acceptable

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? If yes, what was the disposition of the case?

Disabilities
Unacceptable

Do you have any physical disabilities?
Are you being treated for any illnesses?

Acceptable

Can you perform the necessary functions of this job? (You can also ask for a demonstration of that ability.)

Emergency Contact Information
Unacceptable

What is the name and address of the relative to be notified in case of an emergency?

Acceptable

What is the name and address of the person to be notified in case of an emergency? (REQUEST THIS ONLY AFTER THE PERSON HAS BEEN HIRED.)

Credit Record
Unacceptable

Do you own your own home?
Have your wages ever been garnished?
Have you ever declared bankruptcy?

Acceptable

None (Credit information may be used if it is acquired in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 and the Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act Of 1996.)

Military Record
Unacceptable

What type of discharge did you receive?

Acceptable

What type of education, training, and work experience did you receive while in the military?

Organizations and Clubs
Unacceptable

What clubs, societies or lodges do you belong to?

Acceptable

The company may inquire into an applicant's membership in organizations which the applicant considers relevant to their ability to perform job.
Do you belong to the union?