Practice Exchange
Ilene Gast, Associate Editor
This column highlights innovative assessment programs of interest to assessment professionals. If you are conducting a project that would interest the ACN readers, or if you know someone who is, please let me hear from you. I can be reached by phone at (202) 305-0590, fax at (202) 305-3664, or electronic mail at ilene.f.gast@justice.usdoj.gov.
Minimum Qualifications 2000
by Lance W. Seberhagen
Seberhagen & Associates
Vienna, VA
Are minimum qualifications (MQs) obsolete? Employers have traditionally used MQs to screen applicants before administering more time-consuming and costly tests. However, in recent years, many employers have placed less emphasis on MQs for a variety of reasons. Traditional MQs (e.g., college degrees, years of experience, occupational licenses) have had an adverse impact, attracted lawsuits, been hard to validate, and provided only a very rough assessment at best. As more employers have converted to computerized or Internet-based testing, it has also become more practical to administer more rigorous written tests to every applicant, with little or no pre-screening on MQs.
MQs are not obsolete but need a "makeover" for 2000 and beyond. MQs can still provide a useful way to screen out applicants who are obviously unfit for the job, regardless of whether the applicants take any other tests. MQs can also provide a vehicle for giving applicants a realistic job preview so that applicants who decide that the job is not right for them can withdraw voluntarily, without becoming an official applicant.
The key to MQ assessment is the use of a supplemental application blank (SAB) which contains MQs in the form of job-specific questions, with a separate SAB for each job or job group. SAB questions may be in any format (e.g., multiple-choice, short answer, short essay) but should be designed to screen out obviously unfit applicants, rather than to identify the best qualified applicants. SABs are appropriate for any kind of job (e.g. manager, professional, technical, clerical, trades), but the content and format may vary according to the particular needs of the job and the SAB user. SABs are best used in the first stage of the selection process to facilitate the employer's review of resumes and/or standard application blanks.
SABs are normally developed by content validation. One conducts a detailed job analysis (including direct observation of the work, if possible) to identify important job duties, worker characteristics, and working conditions. Then one drafts a preliminary set of SAB questions for evaluation by job experts. The job experts (i.e., people very familiar with the job) rate the relevance of each SAB item to the job and indicate whether the item measures a quality which new employees must have on Day One. The final SAB should be limited to items which measure Day One qualities which are critical to job performance. Then the SAB will provide a sound basis for rejecting any applicant who fails even one question.
For SAB purposes, questions about education beyond high school should focus more on specific courses taken (e.g., accounting, English composition, statistical analysis), rather than degrees received (e.g., AA, BA, MA). Questions about experience should focus more on the quality of the experience (i.e., the performance of specific tasks), rather than length of experience. A SAB can also provide a content valid measure of personality (e.g., willingness, interest), as well as mental ability, provided that each question is phrased in terms of observable behavior.
A typical SAB might contain 40-60 Yes-No questions, where "Yes" is always the right answer (for ease of scoring) and space is provided for applicants to explain each "No" answer. Examples of some SAB items for hourly production and maintenance jobs are:
1. Are you at least 18 years of age?
2. Have you graduated from high school or received a GED?
3. Do you have a valid driver's license?
4. Can you measure items with a ruler?
5. Have you ever used a computer to enter data or look up information?
6. Are you willing to climb 40-foot ladders?
7. Are you willing to work in rotating shifts?
8. Are you willing to work on any day of the week, including weekends?
9. Are you willing to wear protective safety glasses at work?
10. Are you willing to keep your work area neat and clean?
11. Are you willing to work with any employee, regardless of race or sex?
12. Are you willing to work as a member of a team?
13. Are you willing to refrain from using tobacco on the job, except where permitted?
14. Are you willing to take a drug test as part of the employee selection process?
Ideally, unqualified applicants will withdraw and not even submit a completed SAB. If an applicant does submit a completed SAB, one "No" answer is enough to disqualify him/her from further consideration, unless the applicant can give an acceptable reason for the "No" answer. For example, an acceptable "No" answer to Item #8 above might be, "I'd rather go fishing on weekends, but I will work weekends if I have to." Give benefit of the doubt to the applicant at this stage because the applicant will still have to pass more rigorous tests. Of course, applicants can also fake their answers to the SAB, but sooner or later they will have to work weekends or climb 40-foot ladders. If a new hire refused to work weekends, climb 40-foot ladders, or comply with other critical job requirements, the employer could use the SAB to show that the employee falsified his/her application, which by itself is normally sufficient grounds for termination.
Some employers ask SAB-type questions in a computerized telephone interview in which applicants listen to recorded questions and give responses by pushing buttons on their telephone. Such interviews are normally limited to five or six questions and are rather tedious for the applicant. Technical glitches in the telephone system are also frustrating. Even so, computerized telephone interviews can be acceptable for some purposes. However, paper-and-pencil, computerized, or Internet-based SABs generally provide more reliable measurement, as well as more flexibility in the format and content of questions. Be creative!
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