Applied I/O Project (I/O Portfolio) Professor Anja Wertag 06/03/2019

Applied I/O Project

Ines Eškić

RIT Croatia
Applied I/O Project (I/O Portfolio) Professor Anja Wertag 06/03/2019

Part 2: Selection System

As I decided for the job analysis of the clinical psychologist, I found these as the clinical psychologist’s most

important tasks to perform.

One of the most important task for performing this job in my opinion is conducting therapy with the clients and

identifying their psychological and emotional problems and diagnosing their disorders by talking to them or

obtaining data from some other source like, for example, tests. This is very important because the psychologist

does this most frequently if he or she is working with patients and they have to make the right diagnoses,

otherwise the patient will be given the wrong treatment.

Another, most important is accessing the patient’s background because from looking at their medical records,

employment records, talking with family members or similar, the psychologist will get the best insight in what

was happening before in someone’s life and might find what trigger the behavior. This is important because

whenever you conduct a therapy, you have to check the background and you have to find all the relevant

information in order to provide the right treatment.

Then, very important thing is to design a treatment plan and to provide the right methods, the right duration and

the right approach to the patient. When taking in to account consequences which would occur if the treatment is

wrong, this is a crucial task for a psychologist, because if you treat someone wrong, their psychical state could

get even worse and more problems might occur.

After, it is important to evaluate is there any progress within the patient, how the treatment is going, whether it

needs to be changed, should something be added and is patient’s well being better. This is important because

every psychologist would want to be successful in their job and help the patient of course, so without progress

with the patient, the psychologist cannot know whether he or she is doing their job right.

I also find usage of various treatments, or, other words, psychologist’s specter of knowledge and creativity very

important. That is because a good psychologist has to know different kinds of treatment, for example, hypnosis,

stress reduction therapy or play therapy, in order to give each individual what he or she exactly needs. This is

important because the whole psychological practice relies on therapies and without knowing how to implement

them, a psychologist is not helpful.

Applied I/O Project (I/O Portfolio) Professor Anja Wertag 06/03/2019

Regarding the KSAO’s, here a few very important in this job.

Knowledge: College degree in a field psychology (individual differences, personality, abilities and skills,

disorders, methods for assessment of a physical state). Therapy training (methods for assessment of a person’s

mental state, providing the right diagnoses). Law (conducting research or therapy in a proper and ethical

manner). Management (knows how to allocate people and resources). Public safety (protects personal data and

is familiar with state policies). Medicine (familiar with medical principles in order to better diagnose and treat

human conditions).

Skills: Listening and understanding, understanding how other might react and why is that so, awesome

communication ability and being very comprehensible, thinking in all directions and being able to look problem

from all perspectives, understanding all new information and applying them for future practice, good judgment

of pros and cons for a patient or a group of people.

Abilities: Seeing ahead if something might go wrong with a person during the therapy, with a training, etc.,

good oral and writing abilities in order to present everything clearly, without double meaning, ability to apply

knowledge and principles into practice, creativity to always comes up with a solution especially appropriate for

a certain problem.

Other characteristics: A constant wish to develop and to make progress regarding themselves as an individual,

maintain positive relationships with others, always looking new information and learning, helping others,

contributing to the society, solving conflicts and giving advices.

Applied I/O Project (I/O Portfolio) Professor Anja Wertag 06/03/2019

Now, how can we assess if a person possesses all of the KSAO’s and is suitable for the job?

First, he or she sends us the CV and the motivational letter. From that we can exactly see their past experience,

education and background. Then, if a person satisfies our standards, we schedule an interview where we can put

an applicant through some tests and find out more. Below are some examples:

Regarding knowledge, every psychologist would have to solve a general knowledge test and then the licensing

test, also we can use a screen-in test to assess their personality when employing. Now, when he or she has the

license we can check their background, experience, has he or she published something, is there any scientific

work or similar. Also, we would have to check their background and grades.

Regarding, skills and abilities, a situational test (a patient is having a mental breakdown) or a work-sample test

(simply observe them giving a therapy to a few people with different diagnoses) might be the most appropriate.

Also, interviews are essential in order to understand a person’s character and intensions fully, we could use a

structured interview. We also have to assess their emotional ability and stability.

Regarding other characteristics, we can first gain access to bio data in order to understand a person and their

affinities better, we can observe him or her during their probation time and conduct an individual assessment.

Regarding the reliability of assessment, knowledge and personality tests are the most reliable because then we

can compare the results with all other people, also, the test has criterion which we stick to, so they are valid,

meaning we can asses the applicant properly. Interviews and work sample test might be subjective because they

are supervised by other human being and we are quite subjective in or judgment sometimes and we can make

false positive results. However, when we are doing situational test, we would look for certain patterns and

performance measures which would lead us to reliable results in the long run.
Applied I/O Project (I/O Portfolio) Professor Anja Wertag 06/03/2019

When it comes to staffing model, I would go with comprehensive staffing model. There is not much to think

about it because a good psychologist has to be successful in every demanded area of their domain. Another

thing is that they work with patients and they take care of their mental health, and I do not think that there is a

way to make up for a wrong treatment or misleading diagnoses. But, it is not just about the therapy it self, it is

about overall performance as a human to another human and psychologist have to be very strong and stable

persons to help another human being.

Making final decision might be hard when having a couple of candidates who satisfy our demands and whose

performance is excellent. However, I would first check their background to see what the person’s affinities are

and what have they done up to now or if we are hiring a young psychologist, I would check their grades and

practice up to now. Then, I would compare knowledge test results and personality test results, because a person

has to fit in in a company culture, and we are trying to make the work atmosphere the best possible. Then I

would compare situational test results and see who approached the patients better. In my opinion, even if the

knowledge test results are more reliable and valid, when it comes to working with people, I would probably

focus more on the practical part because the psychologist will not explain to the patient about this or that model

but he or she will apply a treatment and be with a person all the time.
Applied I/O Project (I/O Portfolio) Professor Anja Wertag 06/03/2019

Resources:

19-3031.02 - Clinical Psychologists. (n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2019, from

https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-3031.02

(n.d.). Retrieved March 8, 2019, from https://mycourses.rit.edu/d2l/le/content/729333/Home