Tanglewood Case 4
Memorandum
To: Marilyn Gonzalez and Daryl Perrone
From: Maggie Jones
Date: 6 February 2012
Subject: Tanglewood Case 4: Measurement and Validation
Below is an analysis of the potential new selection methods for hiring the Store Associate position. The study of 10 Seattle-based stores resulted in an adequate sample size of 832 applicants. New selectors being evaluated are the retail market knowledge exam, Marshfield customer service biodata questionnaire and essay, Marshfield applicant exam, and personality exam. All stores, including those employing the traditional selection method, collected on education, work experience and interview score correlation to the four indicators of success: citizenship, absence, performance, and promotion potential.
Assessment of the practical and statistical significance of a proposed set of hiring tools and recommendations regarding how adopting these new hiring methods might benefit stores
It is important that any set of hiring tools adopted reliably predict predicts future employee performance. Based on descriptions and test data, the proposed hiring tools have varying degrees of practical and statistical significance as described below:
• Retail Knowledge Exam measures basic knowledge of marketing principles and factors responsible for Tanglewood’s competitive advantage. The exam was developed in-house and is this low-cost. There is a statistically significant moderate correlation between success on this test and promotion potential.
• Biodata exams are questions for significant life experiences that are potentially associated with performance at work. This has been developed using a wide response network in similar job settings. This helps to determine the similarity in skills and performance. It is relatively expensive with either a $10 per applicant fee or substantial fixed start-up costs for the computerized version but has a statistically significant moderate correlation with successful
To: Marilyn Gonzalez and Daryl Perrone
From: Maggie Jones
Date: 6 February 2012
Subject: Tanglewood Case 4: Measurement and Validation
Below is an analysis of the potential new selection methods for hiring the Store Associate position. The study of 10 Seattle-based stores resulted in an adequate sample size of 832 applicants. New selectors being evaluated are the retail market knowledge exam, Marshfield customer service biodata questionnaire and essay, Marshfield applicant exam, and personality exam. All stores, including those employing the traditional selection method, collected on education, work experience and interview score correlation to the four indicators of success: citizenship, absence, performance, and promotion potential.
Assessment of the practical and statistical significance of a proposed set of hiring tools and recommendations regarding how adopting these new hiring methods might benefit stores
It is important that any set of hiring tools adopted reliably predict predicts future employee performance. Based on descriptions and test data, the proposed hiring tools have varying degrees of practical and statistical significance as described below:
• Retail Knowledge Exam measures basic knowledge of marketing principles and factors responsible for Tanglewood’s competitive advantage. The exam was developed in-house and is this low-cost. There is a statistically significant moderate correlation between success on this test and promotion potential.
• Biodata exams are questions for significant life experiences that are potentially associated with performance at work. This has been developed using a wide response network in similar job settings. This helps to determine the similarity in skills and performance. It is relatively expensive with either a $10 per applicant fee or substantial fixed start-up costs for the computerized version but has a statistically significant moderate correlation with successful