Reliability & Selection Activity Validity…

Interviewer Reliability

Much of a job candidate’s success in an interview is determined by the interviewer. When the personal bias of an interviewer enters into the decision making process, there may be low intra-rater reliability. If there are several interviewers that are biased due to their personal (not work-related / unprofessional) opinions of a job applicant, there may be low inter-rater reliability.

Both types of reliability come into play whenever a interviewer’s or group of interviewer’s personal opinions begin to hold weight in the decision of who is going to be hired.

Detailed explanations of interviewer reliability bias’ as well as other reliability topics related to interviewing job applicants can be found at the following web link:

SocialReseachMethods.net: Types of Reliability

Validity

Validity is when a test measures what it claims to measure. There are several types of validity, but the concept of validity within an employment interview has to do with how fairly a job candidate is being assessed in comparison to other job candidates, current employees, and possibly other interviewers experiences with other job candidates as well. The idea is that the interviewing process needs to be as standardized as possible including any tests or interaction with the candidates for the job position in order to attain the highest amount of validity possible. There are several areas of validity to be aware of:

1. Content Validity: This requires that a test measure the full scope of data that it is intended to measure. Tests that do not cover a range of data broad enough to produce an accurate understanding of a job applicant’s qualifications for a position lack content validity.
2. Criterion-related Validity: This requires that a test demonstrates effectiveness in predicting whether a candidate will be good at a position and reinforces their abilities. There are two types of criterion-related validity: Concurrent Validity and Predictive Validity. Concurrent Validity would require a test to measure criterion that are present when the test is being administrated. An example of this would be a test that measured the amount of anxiety experienced by the test taker. Predictive Validity would measure criterion that would likely be present in the future for the test taker, such as an aptitude test.
3. Construct Validity: This is when a test demonstrates an association between test scores and a theoretical trait such as loyalty or propensity towards violence.

A job candidate can take an inventory of the apparent fairness and reliability of the interviewer as well as validity of any employment-related questions or testing that is completed in order to establish what type of organization they may be entering into. It is often the first real interaction that a applicant will have with an organization and the organization’s employment practices can be an excellent indicator of what the larger organization will be like if they are eventually hired.

What are your thoughts, comments, experiences regarding the reliability of interviewers that you have encountered or the validity of employment tests that you have taken?