The most interesting topic that we covered over the course of the quarter to me was the unit on cognitive and non-cognitive predictors. Specifically, I think going over the various utilizations of personality, integrity, testing and the questions of its validity, the potential of applicants faking results, is intriguing in their applications.
Where cognitive tests cover things like one’s maximal ability and how one comprehends their surroundings, non-cognitive predictors look more to the big 5 personality traits one has. Those being extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. Another version of this measurement is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which while finicky in its own right, can be a nice tool for team building exercises, instead of being used as a tool for selection and decision making regarding hiring processes.
While these tests are not that reliable, and should definitely not be the deciding factor when it comes to choosing whether or not you should hire a specific applicant, there are some more interesting tests and predictors that come about through this module, namely the integrity tests. It’s predictors and theories like these that can then be implemented into interview questions that act as disqualifiers questions or barometers for companies to get a rough idea about the likelihood an applicant might be willing to commit theft or fake being sick to get off work.
To an extent, the big 5 personality types and integrity can potentially go hand and hand when predicting certain aspects of integrity. Namely, individuals with a high score of neuroticism are more likely to have lower integrity, by contrast, those with a high level of conscientiousness will have a significantly higher sense of personal integrity.
These were interesting concepts to explore and was a module I went back to often when going over the hiring system critique project with my group, as I felt that the implementation process should either consider some of these predictors or at least explain why we weren’t going to include them in our system.
