Psychological tricks when applying for a job. Interview, questioning, testing

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Any employer wants to see exceptionally reasonable, hardworking, responsible and prudent people in his staff. Successful completion of various tasks requires not only specific skills and abilities, but also special personal qualities. However, in order to find out such a volume of information about a candidate for a vacant position, you need to observe him for a long time. For this purpose, newcomers are given probationary periods. And yet, despite the possibility of an employer in case of disappointment in an employee to say goodbye to him in a matter of months, most managers want to create a stable staff with a minimum turnover of workers. To conduct a competent and successful personnel policy, many bosses have in their arsenal such weapons as psychological techniques when hiring. Let's consider what their essence is, what information they will help to reveal about the candidate and in what forms they exist.

Wishes of leaders

To begin with, let's clarify the wishes of employers regarding the composition of their staff, namely, to determine what qualities they use psychological techniques when hiring. Firstly, it is, of course, the competence of the individual, his professional suitability for the vacancy. Despite the fact that for certain positions it is unconditional to have diplomas of relevant education, employers want to know both the level of intelligence and the possibility of applying the received theoretical bases in their activities.

Secondly, the right 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 applying for a job, reveals both the professional and personal qualities of his potential workers.

Main impacts

In order to get to know a job candidate better, many methods are used. The issues of competent selection of personnel are de alt with by departments or centers specially formed in organizations. The main methods used by personnel are a variety of questionnaires, tests offered for applicants to pass, and interviews. It is necessary to consider each of them in detail.

A little about the survey

There are a number of questionsto which the candidate is invited 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. Questioning 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 wants to ask candidates for vacancies.

Professional Questions

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

Firstly, the employer is interested in learning about the applicant's education. The questions that are present in the questionnaires of almost all organizations relate to the place, time and form of education, the name of the speci alty, qualifications, the topic of the diploma, academic degrees and titles, additional education, knowledge of foreign languages.

Secondly, it is important to determine the experience of the candidate. In order to get the appropriateinformation, the questionnaires indicate periods of work, positions held, duties, salary levels, reasons for leaving companies. Answers to this range of questions clarify for the employer how often and for what reason a person left previous jobs, how the duties assigned to him changed.

Thirdly, the employer is certainly interested in versatile and easily trained people, so the questionnaires often include questions regarding the availability of not only narrow-profile skills, but also other professional skills. These include, for example, the degree of ownership of a PC and other office equipment, the presence of a driver's license.

Questioning help in establishing psychological qualities

In order for the head of the company to have a complete and versatile opinion about a candidate for a vacancy, psychological questions are asked in the questionnaires when applying for a job. They relate, firstly, to the motivation and incentives that drive a person when applying for a job in a particular organization. What exactly influenced a person's choice of a company: a good team or the prestige of the company, the level of wages, the possibility of self-realization, gaining new knowledge or career prospects, stability, proximity to the place of residence? What are the goals of the candidate for the coming years? All of this information will certainly be appreciated 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 employerknowing how a person prefers to spend their free time seems strange. However, it is the answer to this question that clarifies the activity of the individual, his versatile development, thirst for life and ability to relax.

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

Pros and cons of surveys

Questioning is the most common technique used by employers to get to know their potential employees. Its undoubted advantages are simplicity, the ability to indicate many diverse questions in the questionnaire, speed, ease of use, as well as the completeness of the information reflected in it. However, there are also serious drawbacks to this technique. So, when filling out a questionnaire, it is easiest for a candidate to deceive a potential employer by indicating only positive information about his personality, which the employer wants to see. In addition, compiling a list of questions is a responsible matter. In order to obtain complete 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 compiling questionnaires - lawyers, psychologists, sociologists.

Psychological tests for employment

Answers to the questions contained in the questionnaires, the person gives consciously. This means that the reliability of the information received cannot be defined as unconditional, because there is always the opportunity to embellish the true state of things. Therefore, in order to get a real characterization of candidates, firms use psychological tests when hiring. A person performs their tasks unconsciously, which means that the results obtained can be interpreted as corresponding to reality. In addition to psychological tests, tests can also be used to determine the level of intelligence and assess the professional qualities of a person.

IQ test

Nowadays, it is very common for job candidates to complete tasks that will indicate the degree of development of logical and spatial thinking, the ability to memorize several facts at the same time, 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 completing this kind of tasks will give a more detailed answer about the candidate's quick wit, in particular, in comparison with the questionnaire, where the subject describes himself on his own.

Tests that reveal personality traits

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

The first one is the definition of a favorite color. A potential employee is offered to arrange 8 multi-colored cards in order from the most pleasant shade to the most disliked. To pass a psychological test when applying for a job competently and to please the head of the company, you need to know the essence of this experiment. Here, the colors represent specific human needs. As a rule, red is activity, a thirst for action. The yellow card symbolizes determination and hope. Green color indicates the need for self-realization. Blue is liked by permanent and often attached people. Gray color describes a state of fatigue and a desire for peace. The purple color of the card indicates the desire to escape from reality. Brown symbolizes the desire to feel secure. And finally, the choice of a black card indicates that the applicant is in a state of depression. Of course, the first 4 colors are the most favorable, and therefore they are at the beginning.

The second example of testing is drawing. On a sheet of paper, applicants are invited to depict a house (a symbol of the need for security), a person (the degree of obsession with one's personality) and a tree (characterizes a person's life energy). It should be remembered that the elementsdrawings must be proportional. Do not forget about such compositional elements as the path to the house (sociality), the roots of the tree (spiritual connection with people, the team), the fruits (practicality).

Advantages and disadvantages of testing

The advantages of this technique in determining the personal, as well as professional qualities of the applicant are surprise, interest, the possibility of obtaining the correct result. But not everything is so clear. It should be remembered that when passing these types of tests, the results can be affected by a person's mood. In addition, everyone evaluates the elements of reality differently. For example, for one, black certainly indicates depression, and for another, it indicates superiority, sophistication and courage.

Psychological job interview

Direct communication between the head of the company and a potential employee is also an important step in assessing the personality of a candidate for a vacancy. 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 the personal and professional characteristics of potential employees.

Interview: pros and cons

Of course, this way of getting to know a candidate for a vacancy is to the liking of employers, because in this way they can evaluate not only the internal qualities of a person, but also hisappearance. Unfortunately, there is a lot of subjectivity here, because managers often have stereotypical ideas about the ideal employee, and if the appearance of the candidate was not appreciated by the employer, then he will not want to learn about his inner qualities.

Exposure beyond hiring

Psychological techniques, in addition to the initial stage of communication with potential workers, are 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 workers 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 determine the reasons for his unethical behavior. Employers, in turn, also use psychological methods of working with violations of discipline. As evidenced by various sociological surveys, people and their productivity are more influenced by encouragement and favorable relationships, but not by any censure from the authorities.