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PSHRA-CP practice questions

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Question 1Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, how long must an employer retain payroll records such as wage rates, hours worked, and deductions?

  1. Two years
  2. Five years
  3. One year
  4. Three years Correct answer.

Explanation

FLSA recordkeeping regulations require payroll records to be kept for three years. Supplementary records such as time cards and wage computation sheets must be kept for two years. A shorter schedule would violate federal recordkeeping rules.

Question 2Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

An employer must retain a completed Form I-9 for the later of three years after the date of hire or:

  1. Two years after separation
  2. Six months after separation
  3. One year after the date employment ends Correct answer.
  4. Indefinitely

Explanation

Form I-9 retention runs from the later of the hire date plus three years or the termination date plus one year. The rule ensures the form remains available for inspection during the period most likely to be reviewed.

Question 3Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

To be eligible for Family and Medical Leave Act leave, an employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and for at least:

  1. 1,250 hours in the previous 12 months Correct answer.
  2. 500 hours in the previous 12 months
  3. 2,080 hours in the previous 12 months
  4. 1,000 hours in the previous 12 months

Explanation

FMLA eligibility requires 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked in the 12 months preceding the leave. The hours threshold captures roughly part-time and full-time employees who have a substantial work attachment.

Question 4Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects individuals who are:

  1. 55 and older
  2. 40 and older Correct answer.
  3. Any age
  4. Under 40

Explanation

The ADEA covers employees and applicants who are at least 40 years old. Younger workers are not protected by the ADEA, though state law may differ.

Question 5Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to private employers with at least how many employees?

  1. 15 Correct answer.
  2. 20
  3. 100
  4. 50

Explanation

Title VII's employer coverage threshold is 15 or more employees. Other statutes use different thresholds, such as the ADEA at 20 employees, so the numbers are often confused.

Question 6Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A supervisor wants to document a pattern of tardiness. Which entry best meets accepted documentation standards?

  1. Employee is habitually late and has a poor attitude about punctuality in the unit.
  2. The employee was late again, as everyone in the department already knows.
  3. Coworkers report that the employee is unreliable and often arrives late to work.
  4. Late 14 minutes March 3, 22 minutes March 7, and 9 minutes March 11. Correct answer.

Explanation

Defensible documentation records specific dates, times, and observable facts rather than conclusions or hearsay. Concrete detail allows the employee to respond and supports any later disciplinary action.

Question 7Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A public transit agency wants to expand its drug testing program. Random testing is most defensible when applied to:

  1. new hires only, during their first year of employment
  2. employees who have recently filed grievances or complaints
  3. employees in safety-sensitive positions Correct answer.
  4. all employees regardless of their duties or assignments

Explanation

For public employers, random testing raises Fourth Amendment concerns and is generally upheld for employees whose duties directly affect public safety. Testing must not be used in a way that penalizes protected activity such as filing grievances.

Question 8Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Which practice best ensures that employees know and understand a newly issued HR policy?

  1. Filing it in the HR office for reference upon request
  2. Posting the policy on the bulletin board in the break room
  3. Distributing it with a signed acknowledgment and training Correct answer.
  4. Mentioning it briefly during a busy all-staff meeting

Explanation

Effective policy rollout combines delivery, explanation, and a documented acknowledgment that the employee received and understood the policy. The acknowledgment is what the agency can later rely on to show notice.

Question 9Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

An employee submits physician notes about a disability and a request for accommodation. Where should the agency keep these documents?

  1. In the supervisor's desk with other performance documentation for the year
  2. In the personnel file, with a note that an accommodation was requested
  3. In a confidential medical file separate from the personnel file Correct answer.
  4. On the division's shared drive so the team can plan coverage

Explanation

The ADA requires medical information about employees to be maintained in confidential files separate from the general personnel file. Supervisors and coworkers may be told only what is needed to implement an accommodation, not the underlying medical details.

Question 10Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A member of the public requests the personnel file of a former employee. The agency's best response is to:

  1. Provide the file only if the former employee gives written consent
  2. Provide the entire file, because personnel records are public documents
  3. Refuse the request because personnel records are always confidential
  4. Release the file after redacting information exempt under public records law Correct answer.

Explanation

Public records laws generally favor disclosure while allowing specific exemptions, such as medical data, Social Security numbers, and certain personal information. The agency must review the record and redact exempt material rather than refuse disclosure outright or release the file unredacted.

Question 11Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A grievance policy specifies a five-day filing deadline. Which design choice makes the procedure most defensible and workable?

  1. Leaving deadlines undefined so managers can handle each case individually
  2. Setting deadlines only in the collective bargaining agreement for union staff
  3. Stating deadlines clearly, defining how time is counted, and logging receipt dates Correct answer.
  4. Allowing supervisors to decide case by case when a grievance may be filed

Explanation

A grievance procedure must give employees clear notice of deadlines and the method for computing time. Recording the date each grievance is received creates the documentation needed if timeliness is later disputed.

Question 12Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A whistleblower protection policy primarily protects employees who:

  1. refuse to sign an annual acknowledgment of the ethics policy
  2. file grievances about their own working conditions
  3. report suspected violations of law or misuse of public funds Correct answer.
  4. share confidential records with the media without authorization

Explanation

Whistleblower statutes protect employees who report illegal conduct, waste, fraud, or abuse to designated bodies. The protection attaches to the disclosure of wrongdoing, not to unrelated refusals or to ordinary personal grievances.

Question 13Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Which feature is most important in an anti-harassment policy for a public agency?

  1. Several reporting avenues beyond the employee's supervisor Correct answer.
  2. A requirement that employees first confront the person accused of harassment
  3. A statement that only written complaints submitted to HR will be investigated
  4. A single point of contact who is the affected employee's supervisor

Explanation

Because the harasser is sometimes the supervisor, effective policies provide multiple routes for reporting, including a second-line manager, HR, or an ethics hotline. Policies that funnel all reports through one person risk leaving victims with no safe path.

Question 14Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

During the ADA interactive process, the employer's documentation should primarily record:

  1. the number of sick days the employee has taken in prior calendar years
  2. the supervisor's opinion about whether the employee seems genuinely disabled
  3. the employee's complete medical history and diagnosis from the physician
  4. the options considered and the rationale for the accommodation chosen Correct answer.

Explanation

Documentation of the interactive process should show what was discussed, what alternatives were evaluated, and why the selected accommodation was reasonable. Detailed medical records should be kept to the minimum necessary and held confidentially.

Question 15Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A promotion test produces a substantially lower pass rate for one protected group and is not shown to be job-related. This practice is best described as:

  1. Disparate impact Correct answer.
  2. Reverse discrimination
  3. Disparate treatment
  4. A bona fide seniority system

Explanation

Disparate impact arises from a neutral policy or test that disproportionately excludes a protected group without being job-related and consistent with business necessity. Intent to discriminate is not required for a disparate impact claim.

Question 16Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

To classify an employee as exempt under the FLSA white-collar exemptions, the agency generally must show that the employee is paid:

  1. a salary plus overtime for hours beyond the standard workweek
  2. on a salary basis meeting the threshold and pass a duties test Correct answer.
  3. an hourly rate above the federal minimum wage
  4. a salary set by the governing board each fiscal year

Explanation

Exemption requires both the salary-basis test at or above the regulatory threshold and satisfaction of the duties test for executive, administrative, or professional work. Meeting only one prong is not enough.

Question 17Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

HR receives notice of a discrimination charge naming a supervisor. What should happen to that supervisor's emails, notes, and calendar entries?

  1. They are purged under the normal 90-day schedule
  2. They are preserved under a litigation hold Correct answer.
  3. They are returned to the supervisor for review and possible deletion
  4. They are archived only if the supervisor agrees in writing

Explanation

Once litigation or an administrative charge is reasonably anticipated, the agency must suspend routine destruction and preserve potentially relevant records. Failing to do so can result in sanctions for spoliation of evidence.

Question 18Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

An agency uses a consumer reporting agency for background checks and is considering denying employment based partly on the report. Before taking adverse action, the agency must:

  1. wait 30 days to see whether the applicant files a complaint
  2. notify the applicant only after the decision has been finalized
  3. give the applicant a copy of the report and a summary of rights Correct answer.
  4. obtain the applicant's notarized waiver of any claims

Explanation

The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a pre-adverse action notice, including a copy of the report and the CFPB summary of rights, so the applicant can review and dispute inaccurate information. A separate post-adverse action notice follows if the agency proceeds.

Question 19Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A member of a hiring panel learns that a close relative has applied for the vacancy. The best practice is to:

  1. ask the other panel members to monitor the relative's scores closely
  2. let the panel member participate but disclose the relationship at the end
  3. remove the panel member from that selection and document the recusal Correct answer.
  4. deny the relative an interview to avoid any appearance of favoritism

Explanation

Conflict-of-interest rules call for the conflicted individual to step out of the decision and for the recusal to be documented. Excluding the applicant instead would penalize someone for a relationship they did not choose.

Question 20Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Which approach best keeps an agency's HR policies current and legally defensible?

  1. Revising policies only when an employee files a complaint about them
  2. Adopting a new policy manual every ten years and archiving the old one
  3. Scheduling periodic legal review and version control with effective dates Correct answer.
  4. Allowing each department to adapt the policy text to its own preference

Explanation

Policies drift out of compliance as statutes, regulations, and case law change, so a scheduled review cycle is essential. Version control with effective dates allows the agency to prove which rule applied at a given time.

Question 21Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

In a Garrity-type situation, a public safety officer is ordered to answer questions in an internal investigation under threat of dismissal. The result is that:

  1. the statements may be used in any later criminal prosecution of the officer
  2. the statements cannot be used against the officer in a criminal case Correct answer.
  3. the officer forfeits all rights to appeal any discipline that follows
  4. the agency may not use the statements in deciding whether to discipline

Explanation

When a public employer compels statements from an employee under threat of job loss, the Fifth Amendment prohibits use of those statements in a subsequent criminal proceeding. The statements remain usable for administrative discipline and for impeachment in limited circumstances.

Question 22Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

An agency treats an employee as exempt but deducts pay for partial-day absences. The likely consequence is:

  1. a fine limited to the amount of pay that was improperly deducted
  2. loss of the exemption, making the employee overtime-eligible Correct answer.
  3. automatic conversion of the employee to a temporary appointment
  4. no effect, because public agencies are exempt from salary-basis rules

Explanation

Improper partial-day deductions violate the salary-basis test and can cause the employee to lose exempt status, exposing the agency to overtime liability. The agency's remedy is to reimburse the improper deductions and correct its practices.

Question 23Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Under USERRA, an employee's cumulative period of uniformed service with a single employer is generally protected for up to:

  1. Ten years
  2. Three years
  3. One year
  4. Five years Correct answer.

Explanation

USERRA generally provides reemployment protection for cumulative service of up to five years with a given employer, subject to specific exceptions that do not count against the limit. The five-year measure is cumulative rather than per deployment.

Question 24Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Under Title VII as clarified in Groff v. DeJoy (2023), denying an employee's religious accommodation request is justified only when the burden is:

  1. something the agency's managers subjectively believe is too costly
  2. more than a trivial or de minimis cost to the agency's operations
  3. any inconvenience to the scheduling of other employees
  4. substantial in the overall context of the agency's business Correct answer.

Explanation

Groff rejected the long-used de minimis standard and held that undue hardship means substantial increased costs in relation to the conduct of the particular business. The employer must show the impact with specificity, not merely assert inconvenience.

Question 25Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

In a Title VII retaliation claim, the employee must ultimately show that the protected activity was:

  1. the sole cause of the adverse action
  2. a motivating factor in the adverse action
  3. a substantial factor behind the adverse action
  4. a but-for cause of the adverse action Correct answer.

Explanation

The Supreme Court held in Nassar that Title VII retaliation claims require but-for causation, meaning the adverse action would not have occurred without the protected activity. This is a higher standard than the motivating-factor test used for status-based discrimination claims.

Question 26Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Under federal law, how long must an employer retain a completed Form I-9 for an employee who has separated from the agency?

  1. Three years after the date of hire or one year after separation, whichever is later. Correct answer.
  2. One year after the date of hire, with no further retention obligation after separation.
  3. Five years after the date of hire, with no further retention obligation after separation.
  4. Three years after the date of separation, counted from the employee's final day of work.

Explanation

Federal rules require an employer to keep each Form I-9 for the longer of three years after the date of hire or one year after the date employment ends. The retention clock therefore runs differently for each employee and must be tracked from both dates.

Question 27Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Which statement correctly describes the federal FLSA recordkeeping periods for payroll and time records?

  1. Payroll records for two years and time records for three years.
  2. Payroll records for five years and time records for five years.
  3. Payroll records for three years and time records for two years. Correct answer.
  4. Payroll records and time records for one year each.

Explanation

FLSA regulations require payroll records such as wage rates, wages paid, and deductions to be kept for three years, and supplementary records such as time cards and work schedules for two years. The longer period applies to the records from which pay is computed.

Question 28Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

Which set of elements makes a written HR policy most usable and enforceable?

  1. A statement of the director's personal expectations and a list of past violations.
  2. Purpose, scope, responsibilities, procedure, and effective date. Correct answer.
  3. A general statement of values with no procedural detail, to preserve flexibility.
  4. A summary of related court decisions and a glossary of legal terminology.

Explanation

A defensible policy states why it exists, whom it covers, who is accountable, what steps must be followed, and when it takes effect. Those elements let supervisors apply it consistently and let employees be held to a known standard.

Question 29Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

An employee reviews her personnel file and disputes a written reprimand she says contains factual errors. What is the most defensible agency response?

  1. Review the disputed entry with the employee and either correct it or attach her written statement of disagreement. Correct answer.
  2. Refuse any change because a supervisor's written entry is final once it is signed.
  3. Remove the reprimand from the file entirely so the dispute disappears.
  4. Add a notation that the employee is being insubordinate for raising the issue.

Explanation

A record-accuracy process lets the employee challenge an entry, lets the agency verify and correct genuine errors, and preserves the employee's position when the agency stands by the entry. This keeps the file reliable as evidence and reduces later claims about inaccurate records.

Question 30Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

An agency receives a subpoena duces tecum demanding an employee's personnel file in a private lawsuit between two coworkers. What is HR's best first step?

  1. Route it to legal counsel to validate the subpoena and determine the scope of production required. Correct answer.
  2. Remove the confidential portions of the file and produce the remainder.
  3. Send the complete file to the requesting attorney before the response deadline.
  4. Notify the employee's supervisor and let the supervisor decide what may be released.

Explanation

Records should be produced only in the manner the legal process requires, and counsel must confirm the subpoena's validity, its scope, and any notice or objection obligations. Supervisors and HR staff should not decide unilaterally what to disclose.

Question 31Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

An agency replaces its leave policy with a revised version. Which practice best preserves a defensible record of which rules applied on a given date?

  1. Overwrite the old policy file so only the current version remains available.
  2. Rely on the date the policy was first created, since the subject matter has not changed.
  3. Keep each version with its number and effective dates, and log when old versions were retired. Correct answer.
  4. Announce the change verbally at staff meetings without issuing a written version.

Explanation

Version control ties each rule to a specific number and effective period, so the agency can show exactly which standard governed a past decision. Retaining superseded versions prevents gaps when conduct is reviewed months or years later.

Question 32Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A newly issued attendance policy conflicts with a provision of the collective bargaining agreement covering the same bargaining unit. What is the most defensible course of action?

  1. Implement it immediately because management rights clauses always override the contract.
  2. Apply whichever of the two rules is stricter to each employee on a case-by-case basis.
  3. Address the conflict through the agreement's bargaining or grievance process before enforcing the new terms. Correct answer.
  4. Apply the policy only to employees who are not union members.

Explanation

Where a policy and a collective bargaining agreement conflict, the agreement generally controls and changes to mandatory subjects must be handled through bargaining. Resolving the conflict through the contractual process avoids unilateral-change allegations and inconsistent enforcement.

Question 33Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

HR learns that an employee has filed an EEOC charge, and the agency's retention schedule calls for purging closed investigation files after one year. What should HR do?

  1. Purge only the files of coworkers so the charging party's file remains available.
  2. Move the records into the supervisor's personal files to keep them out of the agency system.
  3. Suspend scheduled destruction of records relevant to the charge and preserve them until the matter is resolved. Correct answer.
  4. Follow the retention schedule so the agency does not appear to have singled out the charging party.

Explanation

A pending charge triggers a duty to preserve potentially relevant evidence, which overrides routine destruction schedules for those records. Destruction after notice can be treated as spoliation and can draw sanctions or an adverse inference.

Question 34Compliance, Documentation and Policy Development

A written policy requires two levels of approval for reclassifications, but for years managers have reclassified positions on verbal sign-off and HR has processed them. The most significant compliance risk is that:

  1. HR can cure the problem by backdating the missing approvals to the original effective dates.
  2. the consistent practice may be treated as a binding past practice or tacit amendment that undermines the written control. Correct answer.
  3. the written policy automatically becomes void after one year of inconsistent application.
  4. employees lose all rights under the policy because they never objected to the practice.

Explanation

Longstanding, consistent practice that the agency knowingly accepts can become an enforceable expectation, especially in union settings, and can undercut the written approval control. The agency should document the deviation, then either conform practice to policy or formally amend the policy going forward.

Question 35Recruitment and Selection Processes

Which HR activity establishes the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a position together with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform it?

  1. Succession planning
  2. Performance appraisal
  3. Job evaluation
  4. Job analysis Correct answer.

Explanation

Job analysis is the systematic process of gathering and documenting information about a job's duties, working conditions, and the KSAs needed to perform it; it is the foundation for job descriptions, selection criteria, and test validation. Job evaluation compares the relative worth of jobs for pay purposes and does not define duties.

Question 36Recruitment and Selection Processes

After completing a job analysis, which document states the minimum education, experience, licenses, and KSAs an applicant must possess?

  1. Job description
  2. Job specification Correct answer.
  3. Position control register
  4. Staffing plan

Explanation

The job specification (often presented as the qualifications or minimum requirements section of a posting) is derived from job analysis and states what the person must bring to the job. The job description describes duties and responsibilities of the position rather than the qualifications of the applicant.

Question 37Recruitment and Selection Processes

A recruitment effort produced 200 applicants, of whom 50 met minimum qualifications; 10 of those were interviewed and 2 were hired. What is the yield ratio from qualified applicants to hires?

  1. 20 percent
  2. 25 percent
  3. 4 percent Correct answer.
  4. 1 percent

Explanation

A yield ratio expresses the percentage of candidates at one stage who advance to the next stage. Going from 50 qualified applicants to 2 hires gives 2 divided by 50, or 4 percent. Such ratios help recruiters identify which stage of the process is losing the most candidates.

Question 38Recruitment and Selection Processes

A selection procedure produces a selection rate of 40 percent for one group and 30 percent for another. How should this be interpreted under the Uniform Guidelines four-fifths rule?

  1. No adverse impact exists, because both rates exceed 20 percent.
  2. The ratios cannot be evaluated without a sample of at least 1,000 applicants.
  3. Adverse impact exists, because 0.75 falls below 0.80. Correct answer.
  4. Adverse impact exists, because the lower rate is below 50 percent.

Explanation

Under the four-fifths (80 percent) rule, adverse impact is indicated when one group's selection rate is less than 80 percent of the rate for the group with the highest rate. Here 30 divided by 40 equals 0.75, which is below 0.80 and therefore signals adverse impact.

Question 39Recruitment and Selection Processes

Which practice is the defining feature of a highly structured selection interview?

  1. Reviewing the résumé with the candidate before starting
  2. Allowing the interviewer to follow up freely on any answer
  3. Asking every candidate the same job-related questions Correct answer.
  4. Using a single interviewer for all candidates

Explanation

Structure is defined by standardization: identical job-related questions asked in the same order, consistent probing rules, and the same anchored rating criteria applied to every candidate. Standardization increases reliability and validity and reduces the influence of interviewer bias.

Question 40Recruitment and Selection Processes

A city wants a test whose content reflects the actual tasks performed on the job, with items developed by subject-matter experts from the job analysis. Which validation strategy does this describe?

  1. Construct validity
  2. Criterion-related validity
  3. Test-retest reliability
  4. Content validity Correct answer.

Explanation

Content validation demonstrates that test content is representative of the job's tasks, duties, and requirements, usually through job analysis and expert judgment, and it does not require a statistical criterion measure. Criterion-related validation instead correlates test scores with a measure of job performance.

Question 41Recruitment and Selection Processes

Which question is the best example of a behavioral (experience-based) interview question?

  1. Tell us about a time you resolved a conflict with a coworker. Correct answer.
  2. Why do you want to work in public service?
  3. What would you do if your supervisor gave you conflicting assignments?
  4. How would you describe your management style?

Explanation

Behavioral questions ask candidates to recount a specific past situation, their actions, and the outcome, based on the premise that past behavior predicts future behavior. Situational questions pose a hypothetical scenario instead, and self-descriptive questions ask for general opinions.

Question 42Recruitment and Selection Processes

In most U.S. civil service systems, veterans' preference primarily means that:

  1. veterans must be hired before all other applicants regardless of qualifications.
  2. veterans are exempt from taking selection examinations.
  3. veterans receive higher starting salaries than other employees.
  4. eligible veterans get added exam points or preferred list placement. Correct answer.

Explanation

Veterans' preference statutes generally add points to a passing examination score or place eligible veterans ahead of non-veterans on referral lists, while preserving merit and fitness requirements. Eligibility must be documented according to the applicable statute or rule.

Question 43Recruitment and Selection Processes

A selection test reports a reliability coefficient of 0.90. This most directly indicates that the test:

  1. gives consistent scores on repeated administrations Correct answer.
  2. predicts job performance with 90 percent accuracy in all settings
  3. measures every required KSA without error
  4. may be used for any job classification in the agency

Explanation

Reliability refers to the consistency or stability of measurement, such as similar scores across repeat administrations or equivalent forms. A high reliability coefficient says nothing by itself about whether the test predicts performance; that is a question of validity.

Question 44Recruitment and Selection Processes

A police department restricts a dispatcher job to applicants under age 35, arguing that older workers cannot keep up with the pace. How should this requirement be characterized?

  1. It is a permissible bona fide occupational qualification for public safety jobs.
  2. It is permissible because dispatchers are not sworn officers.
  3. It is lawful as long as the rule is applied to every applicant.
  4. It is unlawful unless age is a bona fide occupational qualification. Correct answer.

Explanation

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act permits an age limit only where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the business, and such claims are construed narrowly. Generalized assumptions about stamina or pace do not meet that standard.

Question 45Recruitment and Selection Processes

A realistic job preview is intended mainly to:

  1. portray the job accurately, including its negative features Correct answer.
  2. shorten the average time required to fill a vacancy
  3. attract a larger applicant pool by emphasizing benefits
  4. replace the probationary period for new employees

Explanation

A realistic job preview gives candidates balanced information about duties, working conditions, and downsides so they can self-select into or out of the process. This reduces unrealistic expectations and early turnover.

Question 46Recruitment and Selection Processes

Which is a common advantage of filling a vacancy through internal promotion?

  1. It brings new ideas and outside perspectives into the agency.
  2. It eliminates the need for a formal selection process.
  3. It always produces a more diverse applicant pool.
  4. It lowers onboarding costs and rewards current employees. Correct answer.

Explanation

Internal promotion reduces recruiting and onboarding costs, shortens time to productivity, and signals career opportunity that motivates staff. Its trade-offs include less fresh outside perspective and the need to backfill the vacated position.

Question 47Recruitment and Selection Processes

The principal diversity risk of relying heavily on employee referrals in a largely homogeneous workforce is that referrals tend to:

  1. mirror the existing demographic makeup of the workforce Correct answer.
  2. increase the cost per hire compared with advertising
  3. reduce the retention rate of new hires
  4. produce applicants who are poorly informed about the job

Explanation

Referral programs are inexpensive and generally produce well-informed, higher-retention hires, but they draw from employees' existing networks, which can reproduce the current demographic profile. This network homogeneity can limit outreach to underrepresented groups and raise affirmative action or adverse impact concerns.

Question 48Recruitment and Selection Processes

An assessment center using in-basket exercises, role plays, and leaderless group discussions is best suited to evaluating:

  1. managerial and supervisory competencies Correct answer.
  2. job knowledge acquired through formal training
  3. clerical speed and accuracy
  4. physical fitness standards

Explanation

Assessment centers use multiple simulation exercises observed by trained assessors to measure competencies such as leadership, judgment, and interpersonal skill, and they are most often applied to supervisory and managerial selection. Clerical speed, physical fitness, and job knowledge are better measured by tests or work samples.

Question 49Recruitment and Selection Processes

Which recruitment metric measures the number of days from approval of a requisition to acceptance of an offer by the selected candidate?

  1. Time to fill Correct answer.
  2. Yield ratio
  3. Selection ratio
  4. Cost per hire

Explanation

Time to fill measures elapsed days from requisition approval to offer acceptance (or to start date, depending on the definition adopted). It is a process-efficiency measure that identifies delays in sourcing, screening, or approval.

Question 50Recruitment and Selection Processes

Which practice best controls bias in a structured panel interview?

  1. Changing the scoring criteria to match each candidate's background
  2. Panelists record ratings before discussing the candidate Correct answer.
  3. Permitting each panelist to ask a different set of questions
  4. Sharing impressions verbally before panelists record ratings

Explanation

Independent ratings recorded before discussion prevent the most senior or vocal panelist from anchoring everyone else's judgment. Discussion then focuses on documented evidence behind any discrepancies in scores.