THE FOUNDATIONS OF

PERSONNEL SELECTION:
ANALYSING JOBS,
COMPETENCIES AND
SELECTION
EFFECTIVENESS

SAFDAR ALI SHAH

 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• A job analysis is a process used to collect
information about the duties, responsibilities,
necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment
of a particular job. You need as much data as
possible to put together a job description, which is
the frequent output result of the job analysis.
• A job description is an internal document that
clearly states the essential job requirements, job
duties, job responsibilities, and skills required to
perform a specific role. ... They are also known as
a job specification, job profiles, JD, and
position description (job PD).
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• Job Analysis:
• Process starts with job analysis to define a
job description, person specification and
competencies model, where appropriate.
• This information is used to identify the
selection and assessment criteria and may
also be used for advertising the job role.
• The job analysis information is used to decide
which selection instruments to use to access
applicant behavior related to the selection
criteria.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• The outputs from a job analysis should detail the
tasks and responsibilities in the target job and
also provide information about the particular
behavioral characteristics required of the job
holder.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• The next stage in the process is to identify
selection instruments (e.g. psychometric tests,
work simulation exercises, interviews,
application forms) that can be used to examine
whether candidates display the required
characteristics or not. These instruments are
then used to assess candidates and selection
decisions are taken.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• Here, the psychologist is focusing on how useful
(and accurate) the selection procedure was in
identifying ‘the right person for the job’. In
addition, it is important to assess the candidates’
reaction to the process too. Poorly run selection
processes are likely to result in candidates
having a negative first impression of the
organization.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• The person specification is a description of the
qualifications, skills, experience, knowledge and
other attributes (selection criteria) which a
candidate must possess to perform
the job duties. The specification should be
derived from the job description and forms the
foundation for the recruitment process.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• Two core elements in selection process:
• First, in many organizations there is no thorough
job analysis to precisely identify the key
knowledge, skills and behaviors associated with
successful performance in the target job role.
Part of the problem is that these techniques
require specialist training, and few human
resources departments have internal access to
this expertise.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION PROCESS

• Second, validation studies are rarely conducted

in organizations as they can be time-consuming
and costly. It often means tracking the
performance of new recruits over several
months. Validation studies are usually only
possible with large-scale recruitment programs
and many organizations do not recruit large
numbers of people into one specific job role. As
a result, organizations often employ work
psychologists to advise on best practice
procedures in selection.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• Job Analysis Approaches:
• Job oriented or Task oriented approach to job
analysis focus on the actual activities involved in
a job. It mainly considers duties and
responsibilities of a job. HR managers develop
task statements that state the functions of a job
in great detail. The tasks are then rated on the
basis of importance, frequency, difficulty etc.
This helps in having a greater understanding of
the requirements of a job.
 THE DESIGN AND VALIDATION
PROCESS
• Worker oriented approach: Examining human
attributes of a job is another approach of job
analysis. These attributes are classified as
knowledge, skills, abilities, and other
characteristics, collectively known as KSAO.
Knowledge refers to the information required by
an employee to perform the job. Skills are the
proficiencies needed for good performance.
Abilities refers to the attributes of employees that
are stable over time. Other attributes such as
personality factors are other characteristics.
 COMPETENCIES AND COMPETENCY
ANALYSIS
• Competency Analysis: It is a tool used to
measure knowledge, skills, and capabilities
either for analyzing a company's products,
services, human capital, or it can be used in
education in order to analyze the
core competency in student performance.
• In other words, A competency can be defined as
the specific characteristics and behavior patterns
a job holder is required to demonstrate in order
to perform the relevant job tasks with
competence.
 COMPETENCIES AND COMPETENCY
ANALYSIS
• A competency model is a framework for defining
the skill and knowledge requirements of a job. It is a
collection of competencies that jointly define
successful job performance.
• In other words, a competency model comprises a
comprehensive list of all the relevant competencies
associated with a given job role.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• The Job Components Inventory: a

new job analysis technique examining the use of
tools and equipment, physical and perceptual
requirements, mathematical requirements,
communication requirements, and
decision‐making and responsibility
requirements, is introduced.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• Sources of job analysis data may be divided into

four categories: written material, job holders’
reports, colleagues’ reports and direct
observation.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• Written Material or Existing Documents:

• Job Description
• In some organizations job holders may have
performance contracts’ that detail the broad
objectives and responsibilities for the job, to be
fulfilled within a prescribed time frame.
• Other written material such as production data,
organization charts, training manuals, job aids
and so on may also provide useful additional
information.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• Job Holder’s Report:

• Interviews in which job holders are asked,
through careful questioning, to give a description
of their main tasks and how they carry them out,
provide extremely useful information, and such
interviews are usually an essential element in
any job analysis.
• Where there are existing job holders, reports
may be obtained by asking them to complete a
diary or activity record.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• Critical incident method or critical incident

technique is a performance appraisal tool in
which analyses the behavior of employee in
certain events in which either he performed very
well and the ones in which he could have done
better. Critical incident technique is used to
collect data using a set of procedures.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• Position analysis questionnaire (PAQ) is a

job analysis questionnaire that evaluates job skill
level and basic characteristics of applicants for a set
match of employment opportunity. ... The PAQ
method involves a series of detailed questioning to
produce many analysis reports.
• The PAQ consists of nearly two hundred items
organized into six broad categories including (1)
information input, (2) mediation processes (i.e. the
mental processes of reasoning, decision-making,
etc.), (3) work output, (4) interpersonal activities (i.e.
relationships with others), (5) work situation and job
context, (6) miscellaneous aspects.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• Colleagues Report:
• It can be useful to obtain data from direct
reports, peers and supervisors. For example,
when collecting critical incident data, the views
of a job holder, a direct report and a supervisor
on the nature of such critical incidents might
provide for interesting comparisons.
 JOB ANALYSIS DATA

• Direct Observation:
• In any job analysis some direct observation of
the job being carried out is invariably helpful. It
is, of course, possible that the presence of the
researcher may alter the job holder’s behavior,
and as with the approaches described earlier
the data obtained cannot be perfect.
 USING JOB ANALYSIS INFORMATION

• A job description can be prepared from the job

analysis data to give an outline of the key
responsibilities.
• It can be used in selection procedure to give
candidates some understanding of the job,
• It can also be used within the organization to
provide information for training, job evaluation.
• The job analysis also provides information that
might be used when recruitment advertisements
and so forth are prepared to attract candidates
for the job.
 VALIDATION PROCESS

• The selection decision is key stage in personnel

selection process in which a candidate is either
offered a position or turned away. At this point
various pieces of evidence concerning the
current or past performance of candidates (e.g.
behavior at an interview, psychological test
scores or references), usually referred to as
predictors, are used to decide whether or not a
candidate is suitable for the job in question.
 VALIDATION PROCESS

• Criterion related validity:

• Criterion-related validity refers to the strength of
the relationship between the predictor (e.g.
psychological test scores or interview ratings)
and the criterion (e.g. subsequent work behavior
indicated by measures such as output figures or
supervisor’s ratings). Criterion-related validity is
high if candidates who obtain high predictor
scores obtain high criterion scores and
candidates who obtain low scores on a predictor
also obtain low criterion scores.
 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

• Reliability:
• Reliability refers to how consistently a method
measures something. If the same result can be
consistently achieved by using the same
methods under the same circumstances, the
measurement is considered reliable.
• You measure the temperature of a liquid sample
several times under identical conditions. The
thermometer displays the same temperature
every time, so the results are reliable.
 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

• Validity:
• Validity refers to how accurately a method
measures what it is intended to measure. If
research has high validity, that means it
produces results that correspond to real
properties, characteristics, and variations in the
physical or social world.
• High reliability is one indicator that a
measurement is valid. If a method is not reliable,
it probably isn’t valid.
 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

• Validity:
• If the thermometer shows different temperatures
each time, even though you have carefully
controlled conditions to ensure the sample’s
temperature stays the same, the thermometer is
probably malfunctioning, and therefore its
measurements are not valid.