The Psychology of Personnel Selection

This engaging and thought-provoking text introduces the main techniques, theories, research and debates in personnel selection, helping students and practitioners to identify the major predictors of job performance as well as the most suitable methods for assessing them. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Adrian Furnham provide a comprehensive, critical and up-to-date review of the constructs we use in assessing people – intelligence, personality, creativity, leadership and talent – and explore how these help us to predict differences in individuals' performance. Covering selection techniques such as interviews, references, biographical data, judgement tests and academic performance, The Psychology of Personnel Selection provides a lively discussion of both the theory behind the use of such techniques and the evidence for their usefulness and validity. The Psychology of Personnel Selection is essential reading for students of psychology, business studies, management and human resources, as well as for anyone involved in selection and assessment at work.

Part I. Methods of Personnel Selection: 1. Early, unscientific methods; 2. The interview; 3. Letters of recommendation; 4. Biodata; 5. Situational judgment tests and GPA; Part II. Constructs for Personnel Selection: 6. General mental ability; 7. Personality traits; 8. Creativity; 9. Leadership; 10. Talent.

An engaging and thought-provoking textbook introducing the main methods and constructs used to assess people at work. A wide range of the approaches underlying personnel selection are summarized and critically evaluated, with particular emphasis on identifying and measuring the psychological variables (traits, attitudes, abilities) that determine differences in individuals' performance.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, Research Fellow at UCL and Visiting Professor at NYU in London. He is a world-wide expert in personality, intelligence and psychometrics and makes frequent media appearances providing psychological expertise on these issues.
Adrian Furnham is Professor of Psychology at UCL. He is also a consultant on organizational behaviour and management, and a writer and broadcaster. His columns have appeared in management magazines such as Mastering Management and Human Resources, as well as the Financial Times, Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph.