Psychological methods when hiring. Interviewing, questioning, testing

Any tenant wishes to see in his staff employees of exceptionally intelligent, hard-working, responsible and forward-looking people. Successful performance of various tasks requires not only specific skills and skills, but also special personal qualities. However, to find out about the candidate for a vacant post such a volume of information, you need to watch him for a long time. To this end, the probationary period is set for beginners. And yet, despite the employer's opportunity, in case of disappointment in the employee with him, to say goodbye in a matter of months, most managers want to create a stable staff with a minimum turnover of workers. To carry out a competent and successful personnel policy, many superiors have in their arsenal such weapons as psychological methods when hiring. Let's consider what is their essence, what information they will help to disclose about the candidate and in what forms they exist.

Wishes of leaders

To begin with, we will clarify the wishes of employers regarding the composition of their staff, namely, to determine what qualities they use psychological methods when hiring. First, it is, of course, the competence of the individual, his professional compliance with the vacancy. In spite of the fact that the availability of diplomas for the relevant education is unconditional for the employment of certain positions, employers want to know both the level of ingenuity and the possibility of applying the theoretical bases obtained in the activity.

Secondly, the correct personal characteristics of applicants are important. These include such qualities as diligence, accuracy, sociability, stress-resistance, purposefulness, rationalism, honesty and courtesy. Thus, the employer, using a variety of psychological techniques when hiring, reveals both the professional and personal qualities of their potential workers.

Main types of impact

In order to get a better idea of the candidate for a position, a lot of methods are used. The issues of competent recruitment are dealt with by specially formed departments or centers in organizations. The main methods used by cadres are a variety of questionnaires, tests offered for applicants, interviews. Each of them should be considered in detail.

A bit about the questionnaire

There are a number of questions that the candidate is asked to answer independently. As a rule, the questionnaire is a fixed list of questions about the main characteristics of the applicant. These include the date and place of birth of a potential worker, his education, attitude to military duty, address, contact phone numbers, marital status, citizenship. The questionnaire is a salvation for the personnel service due to the convenience of its use and the completeness of the information received. However, not only the above questions the employer wishes to ask candidates for vacancies.

Questionnaire questions about professional qualities

Information on the education received by the applicant, as well as other information related to the level of competence of the potential employee, is established first. If the candidate does not possess the necessary knowledge, and in certain cases, and relevant experience, then, despite his, perhaps, outstanding social qualities, the employer will not be interested in cooperating with such a person. To be able to assess the professional compliance of an individual with a vacant position, a number of questions are prescribed in the questionnaires.

First, the employer is interested in learning about the applicant's education. Questions that are present in the questionnaires of almost all organizations relate to the place, time and form of training, the name of the specialty, qualifications, diploma topics, academic degrees and titles, additional education, knowledge of foreign languages.

Secondly, it is important to determine the candidate's experience. In order to receive relevant information, the questionnaires indicate the periods of work, positions held, duties, salary level, reasons for leaving the companies. The answers to this range of questions clarify to the employer how often and for what reason the person left previous jobs, how the duties assigned to him have changed.

Thirdly, the employer, of course, is interested in versatile and easily trained people, that is why the questionnaires often include questions concerning the availability of not only narrow profile skills, but also other professional skills. These include, for example, the degree of possession of PCs and other office equipment, the availability of a driver's license.

Assistance in the questionnaire in establishing psychological qualities

In order to obtain a full and diverse opinion about the candidate for the position of the head of the company, the questionnaires ask psychological questions when applying for a job. They relate, first, to the motivation and incentives that drive a person in the organization of a particular organization. What exactly influenced the choice of the company's man: a good team or prestige of the firm, the level of pay for work, the possibility of self-realization, gaining new knowledge or career prospects, stability, closeness to the place of residence? What goals does the candidate have for the coming years? All this information, of course, will be evaluated by the employer.

Secondly, the psychological questionnaire when applying for a job contains a number of questions about the hobbies of applicants. At first glance, the desire of the tenant to know how a person prefers to spend his free time seems strange. However, it is the answer to this question that clarifies the activity of the individual, his versatile development, the thirst for life and the ability to rest.

Thirdly, psychological methods for hiring are designed to determine information about a person's self-esteem. At present it is not uncommon to meet in the questionnaires requests to indicate their best and worst characteristics, their main personal traits. The answers to all these questions are subsequently evaluated by the head of the enterprise.

Pros and cons of the survey

Questioning is the most common technique that employers use to get to know their potential workers. Unconditional advantages are simplicity, the ability to indicate in the questionnaire a variety of diverse issues, speed, ease of use, as well as the completeness of the information reflected in it. However, there are serious drawbacks of this technique. So, when filling out a questionnaire, the candidate is most easily deceived by the potential employer, indicating only positive information about his personality that the tenant wants to see. In addition, drawing up a list of issues is a responsible matter. In order to obtain full information about the applicant and avoid possible double interpretation of the candidates' answers to the questions posed, firms have to involve a wide range of specialists in the drafting of questionnaires - lawyers, psychologists, and sociologists.

Psychological tests when applying for a job

Answers to the questions contained in the questionnaires are given by the person knowingly. This means that the reliability of the information obtained can not be defined as unconditional, because there is always the opportunity to embellish the true state of things. Therefore, in order to obtain a real characteristic of candidates, firms use psychological tests when hiring. A person does their job unconsciously, and therefore, the results can be interpreted as corresponding to reality. In addition to psychological tests can be used to determine the level of intelligence and assess the professional qualities of a person.

IQ test

Nowadays it is very common to offer candidates for vacancies to perform tasks that will indicate the degree of development of logical and spatial thinking, the ability to memorize several facts simultaneously, the ability to compare and generalize certain knowledge. The most famous and well-written is the IQ test, which was compiled by Eysenck. The result of such tasks will give a more detailed answer about the candidate's intelligence, in particular, in comparison with the questionnaire, where the subject describes himself.

Tests that reveal personal qualities

Not only does the level of intelligence of a potential employee want to know employers. Currently, psychological testing is also used in hiring. Representatives of the personnel service offer the candidates to perform certain heterogeneous tasks, in which there is no correct answer in the traditional understanding of it. In this case, the subjects act unconsciously, so the percentage of deception is extremely low. Here are some examples of a psychological test when applying for a job.

The first of these is the definition of a favorite color. A potential worker is offered to arrange 8 different colored cards in order from the most pleasant shade to the most disliked. To pass a psychological test when hiring a competently and like the head of the company, you need to know the essence of this experiment. Here colors mean specific needs of a person. As a rule, red is an activity, a thirst for action. Yellow card symbolizes purposefulness and hope. Green color indicates the need for self-realization. Blue likes constant and often attached people. Gray color describes the state of fatigue and the desire for peace. The violet color of the card indicates the desire to escape from reality. Brown color symbolizes the desire to feel protected. Finally, the choice of a black card indicates a finding of a job seeker in a state of depression. Of course, the first 4 colors are the most favorable, and therefore they are in the beginning.

The second example of testing is drawing. On a sheet of paper, applicants are asked to portray a house (a symbol of security needs), a person (degree of fixation on their personality) and a tree (characterizes the vital energy of a person). It should be remembered that the elements of the picture must be proportional. Do not forget about such elements of the composition as the path to the house (sociability), the roots of the tree (the spiritual connection with people, the collective), fruits (practicality).

Advantages and disadvantages of testing

The advantages of this method in determining the personal as well as professional qualities of the applicant are unexpectedness, interest, the possibility of obtaining the right result. But not all so unambiguously. It should be remembered that when passing this kind of tests on the results can affect the mood of a person. In addition, each differently evaluates the elements of reality. For example, for one, black color certainly indicates depression, and for another - to excellence, sophistication and courage.

Psychological interview during employment

Direct communication between the head of the company and the potential worker is also an important stage in assessing the personality of the candidate for a job. During the conversation, you can ask clarifying questions, also assess the interviewee's speech skills, his self-control, self-confidence, and reaction. In the process of communication you can find out information about both personal and professional characteristics of potential employees.

Job Interview: Pros and Cons

Of course, such a way to get acquainted with the candidate for vacancy is to the liking of employers, because they can thus assess not only the internal qualities of a person, but also his appearance. Unfortunately, there is a lot of subjectivity here, because managers often have stereotyped ideas about the ideal worker, and if the candidate's appearance has not been evaluated by the employer, he will not want to know about his internal qualities.

Impact outside the recruitment framework

Psychological methods, in addition to the initial stage of communication with potential workers, are also used by employers in the process of joint labor activity. In addition, they are used not only by company executives, but also by other categories of employees in their professional activities. For example, there are various psychological methods of working with children. The child is not always frank with his parents and teachers, so sometimes various tests or questionnaires are used to establish the reasons for his unethical behavior. Employers, in turn, also use psychological methods of working with violations of discipline. According to various opinion polls, the people and the productivity of their work are more influenced by incentives and favorable attitudes, but not by the censure of the authorities.