| > The research article you linked confirmed that job experience (years in a similar job) has positive predictive validity for job performance. Job performance does improve with experience up to a point (evidently six months), so this factor will have some predictive validity just for that, but this does not support comparing five years vs ten years. > Can a hiring manager improve their hiring decision by excluding a factor known to have positive predictive validity? Yes, if the manager had given undue weight to that factor (say, by rejecting applicants with little experience, regardless of performance on job knowledge tests), which is precisely what happens whenever managers consider employment history. > This roughly matches how a lot of hiring is done in practice No, what happens in practice is that managers say "no unemployed need apply" or ask for the applicant's "most recent résumé" (with dates, of course) and then exercise the sort of prejudice against the unemployed that you displayed earlier. > What concrete change should a manager of a small business make tomorrow to improve their hiring? The manager should filter applicants using GMA tests, job knowledge tests and integrity tests, which are inexpensive and have high validity, and then pay the candidates to take work-sample tests. The manager may consider experience (up to six months), but as no more than 5% of each candidate's grade, and this should be monitored by the business owner. |