Selection Criteria

Selection decisions are all about predicting which applicants will be the most successful on the job. Since no two individuals are exactly the same, the selection process is used to determine how those differences might affect job performance. There is a great deal of science and a little bit of art to these decisions.

A selection criterion is a characteristic that a person must possess to successfully perform job duties. Humans tend to be creatures of habit; therefore, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Of course, past behavior is not an absolute predictor, but it tends to be a good indicator of how an individual will respond in the future. Selection methods and measures attempt to capture past behavior to help predict the future.

To determine whether candidates possess certain selection criteria (such as ability and motivation), employers use predictors of selection criteria, which are measurable or visible indicators of those characteristics (or criteria). Choosing appropriate predictors is not an easy task, but if done well, the organization can make better hiring decisions and improve overall performance. Prediction decisions aren’t perfect, so we try to reduce the number of errors by using high- quality predictors.