NINE ASSESSMENT TYPES:

Practical Tips for Selecting the Types that are Right for You

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

NINE ASSESSMENT TYPES

COGNITIVE SKILLS AND

ABILITY KNOWLEDGE

PERSONALITY INTEGRITY

VALUES BIODATA

360-DEGREE STRUCTURED
FEEDBACK INTERVIEWS

SITUATIONAL
JUDGMENT

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

COGNITIVE USE CASES FOR COGNITIVE ABILITY TESTS

ABILITY DEDUCTIVE REASONING

GOAL
Assess abilities involved in thinking
critically (e.g., reasoning, perception,
memory, verbal and mathematical ability,
and problem solving)

EXAMPLE
Which of the following words is an
antonym to the word theory?
A. calculation
B. guess
C. ideology

ADVANTAGES
Easy to use off-the-shelf; strong predictor SPATIAL/VISUAL APTITUDE
of job performance for a wide variety of
jobs

DISADVANTAGES
Applicants might feel that some
tests have low face validity and job-
relatedness; can often produce racial/
ethnic differences

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR SKILLS AND

SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE TESTS
KNOWLEDGE MEDICAL ROLES

GOAL
Evaluate what a person knows at the
time of taking the test

EXAMPLE
What does the acronym PAN mean?
A. Performance Assessment Network
B. Performing Assessments Nationwide
C. Performance and Networking

ADVANTAGES
Knowledge areas tested are designed to
be very representative of the knowledge
areas and skills required to perform
the job, which means they should be ACCOUNTING
predictive of high performance

DISADVANTAGES
Can inform employers what an applicant
currently knows, but not whether the
individual can be relied on to master
new material in a timely manner; may
require frequent updates to ensure the
test is current

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENTS
PERSONALITY
SALES ROLES

GOAL
Designed to systematically elicit
information about a person’s
motivations, preferences, interests,
emotional make-up, and style of
interacting with people and situations

EXAMPLE
I find it easy to influence others (Agree to
Disagree Likert-rating scale)

ADVANTAGES
Good for when you need applicants
who possess strong interpersonal skills
or other job-related specific personality SERVICE ROLES
traits; more difficult to fake because
there’s no “wrong” type of personality

DISADVANTAGES
Can be time intensive to complete;
candidates may engage in creating a
profile that is socially desirable

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR INTEGRITY TESTS

INTEGRITY
WORKPLACE SAFETY & COMPLIANCE

GOAL
A specific type of personality test
designed to assess an applicant’s
tendency to be honest, trustworthy, and
dependable

EXAMPLE
How justifiable is the following situation?
“Avoiding paying the fare on public
transit”

ADVANTAGES
Limit counterproductive workplace
behaviors; inform candidates that
integrity is an important organizational HONESTY & CONFIDENTIALITY
value

DISADVANTAGES
May seem unnecessary and invasive;
some items are highly transparent,
making it easy to fake

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR

VALUES ASSESSMENTS
VALUES
CULTURE FIT

GOAL
Compare applicant personality,
interest, value, or organizational
culture preference information to the
characteristics of the job or organization

EXAMPLE
“In my spare time I like to go to museums
or attend orchestra concerts” (Agree to
Disagree Likert-rating scale)

ADVANTAGES
Good for selecting individuals who will fit
well in the organizations (i.e. decreasing
voluntary turnover); taps into what LEADERSHIP
someone wants to do rather than what
they may do

DISADVANTAGES
Lower predictive validity than other
assessment tools

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR BIODATA

BIODATA UNDERSTAND SOMEONE’S INTEREST IN
DIFFERENT INDUSTRIES

GOAL
Inquires about past events and behaviors
that reflect personality attributes,
attitudes, experiences, interests, skills,
and abilities

EXAMPLE
In the past, how often have you needed
to communicate complex information to
people unfamiliar with technical details?
• Frequently
• Usually
• Occasionally
• Rarely
• Never
MITIGATE ADVERSE IMPACT

ADVANTAGES
Have been shown to be effective
predictors of job success in numerous
settings and for a wide range of criterion
types

DISADVANTAGES
Makes the assumption that past behavior
is the best predictor of future behavior;
can be transparent and easy to fake

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR

360-DEGREE 360-DEGREE FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK DEVELOPMENT

GOAL
Evaluations gathered about a target
participant from two or more rating
sources, including self, supervisor, peers,
direct reports, internal customers,
external customers, and vendors or
suppliers

EXAMPLE
This person shares information widely
and does not withhold information from
others (Agree to Disagree Likert-rating
scale)

ADVANTAGES ADMINISTRATIVE DECISIONS

Multiple viewpoints can increase
reliability and validity; gives a fuller
picture of performance; calls attention
to performance dimensions that would
otherwise be neglected

DISADVANTAGES
Can be costly in terms of monetary
resources as well as employee time;
organizations sometimes fail to
explain purpose of 360 feedback or to
adequately debrief employees on their
ratings

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR

STRUCTURED STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEWS COMMUNICATION-RELATED ROLES

GOAL
Interviews that employ structured rules
for eliciting, observing, and evaluating
responses, thus limiting the amount of
discretion the interviewer is allowed

EXAMPLE
Tell me about a time when you tried to
encourage someone to take action and
had to change your communication style
to effectively meet that person’s needs

ADVANTAGES
Helps to ensure candidates have equal
opportunities to provide information DETAILED INFORMATION IS DESIRED
and are assessed accurately and
consistently; can evaluate competencies
that are difficult to measure using other
assessment methods

DISADVANTAGES
Even though it is a standardized process,
we’re only human, so it’s still possible for
bias to creep in; can be time-consuming

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 NINE
ASSESSMENT
TYPES

USE CASES FOR

SITUATIONAL SITUATIONAL JUDGMENT TESTS
JUDGMENT LEADERSHIP POSITIONS

GOAL
Present applicants with a description
of a work problem or critical situation
related to the job they are applying
for and ask them to identify how they
would handle it

EXAMPLE
You have been assigned to work with
members of another department. You
normally complete your work alone,
but the project demands that you work
as a team. Rate the effectiveness of the
following actions.

CUSTOMER SERVICE ROLES

ADVANTAGES
Perceived as very fair (high face
validity); tasks and activities are very
representative of the tasks and activities
found on the job (high content validity)

DISADVANTAGES
Can be costly to custom build;
heterogeneity such that a single item
can measure many constructs and
competencies

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