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Sense, Common Sense and Nonsense
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I’ve been wandering around the Web lately, just looking at some of the claims and counterclaims made by companies who sell “hiring solutions.” It is incredible! One vendor predicts exactly how much each hiring test adds to hiring accuracy. Does this sound good or what? How about if you knew that gathering this kind of data would require hiring 200 people using test “1”, hiring another 200 people using test “1 and 2”, hiring another 200 people using test “1,2 and 3”, and so on, until you have six groups of 200 people each. Ok, now that you have hired 1200 people for the same job using different tests, wait around six to nine months then measure the performance of each group. Ok so far? Good. Next, statistically compare personal performance to each set of hiring tools. Now, the really, really big question: Name just one business that would go to all that trouble and rigor. Don’t know any? Neither do I. (And, I think it is safe to say, neither does anyone else.) The next site claimed their job descriptions and interview guides were “ADA compliant.” I’m not exactly sure what that means. Written in LARGE PRINT? Don’t come right out and ask someone if they are disabled? Not even close, folks. ADA requires employers identify something called “essential functions” for each specific job. In practice you put this information to work by asking something like, “This job requires you lift paperclips weighing 150 pounds. Can you do that with reasonable accommodation?” A generic job description could not possibly include that kind of detail. (So, maybe the vendor’s job descriptions comply with rules of the “American Dental Association”?) Still others claim their written tests can accurately predict sales or management success (brazzzapp!). Give me a break! Since when does a written test accurately predict job skills? Skilled researchers rate a written test as a whopping success when it predicts about 4% of the variance in performance. That still leaves 96% to chance. Want to bet your salary on test results that leave 96% to chance? Test vendors seem to make some gigantic claims. It is too bad they seem to totally ignore established research on the subject and seem to think statistically valid research studies are unimportant. In the vast majority of cases, you should consider vendor test claims to be utter nonsense. Basically it all comes down to being a very informed buyer. And, as an informed buyer, you need to always remember: vendors have no responsibility for test use. Like it or not, users have full responsibility for both legal and hiring effectiveness. You need to ask, if vendors don’t know the basics of their profession, what impact it will that have on your organization? But let’s discuss why this stuff won’t go away… Take a Chance? Weed out the “bottom feeders” and flip a coin with the rest. Heads you’re hired. Tails you’re toast. Even bad systems hire good people about half the time. Think about it, you could hire people based on shoe size and still be 50% right! Combine those facts with our human nature to remember successes and forget failures, and you cover most selection success claims. Gone Fishing? Hiring professionals seldom stick around to observe first-hand their triumphs and failures. They have more people to find and more jobs to fill. New employees tend to drift away into the corporate hallways where they eventually become someone else’s problem. The consequences of a bad hire seldom turn up until months or even years have passed. By that time a lot of water has passed over the dam. Up Close and Impersonal? There is an old joke involving either a stubborn camel or a donkey. The punch line involves whacking the contrite animal using either bricks or lumber on a sensitive part of its anatomy. Trainers would call this “personal” feedback. Hiring managers would call this a “performance problem.” Bad hires seldom live side by side with hiring professionals or test vendors. They live with a hiring manager who is often reluctant to say anything bad about them because it would reflect on his or her decision-making reputation (not a good thing for climbing the corporate ladder). So good performers get trumpeted and bad performers tend to get quietly swept under the rug. What, You?re Giving Me a Test? It doesn’t take much to put up a website and start spouting nonsense – sort of like old-time hucksters rolling their wagons into a small towns and pitching snake oil to any one with a buck. The only way to avoid being snookered is to learn as much as you can about hiring tools and best-practice processes. It is a long road, but you can quickly pick up a few street smarts by pondering the following questions:
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