Person-job matching in the eighties

Abstract

One of the major tasks of a personnel psychologist is to match persons with jobs. This industrial match-making is a dynamic enterprise which continuously strives for improvement in its psychometric methods, as well as its responsiveness to the needs of society at large.From a psychometric point of view, several recent methodological advances have greatly improved the science of test development and the utility of test-based selection decisions or person-job matching. One such methodological advance is latent trait theory 4_ a precise mathematical statement about the relationship between test performance and the underlying abilities or aptitudes of the individual. Although this particular mathematical theory has been known to measurement specialists for test-related problems, however, is a more recent development. Other recent methodological advances include improved procedures for assessing the validity and utility of selection decisions in a person-job matching enterprise.