We often hear about leaders of companies who avoid the use of assessment tools because they believe that these tools could screen out diverse candidates and could expose their organizations to lawsuits. Is this true or false?
The answer to that one is, it depends….If you utilize a tool that is not well constructed and tends to score populations or groups differently, then the answer is probably true. This is why you need to do some diligence before instituting the use of any tools within your talent management systems. Avoid the use of tools that must be hand-scored or interpreted by an individual, as these may generate rater bias. Styles inventories are fine for development and team building, but should not be used for selection purposes. Tests that are easy to fake, such as word inventories (which statement/term is most or least like you) should also be avoided, unless the test documentation can provide high reliability and validity. Read more…
