“A brief period of training improved the accuracy of student rater to be as accurate as experienced recruiters”
Personality traits are important in the workplace as they relate to job performance and satisfaction. Thus, accurate judgment of the personality of interviewees during the employment interview is important. Previous studies have shown that personality judgment accuracy increases the longer people know each other. However, the luxury of time is not possible during job interviews, making accurate judgment especially difficult. In this study, we examined whether personality judgments can be made more accurate through training. We found that, compared to a control group, a brief period of training in utilization of behavioral cues improved the accuracy of student raters to similar levels as experienced recruiters. In addition, we found that training in detection of personality-related cues alone did not increase rating accuracy. This demonstrates that the type of training is important. Furthermore, we also found that certain traits of raters are linked to rater accuracy. Overall, the findings of this study can be applied to improve interviewer training.
Summary of Powell, D.M., & Bourdage, J.S. (2016). The detection of personality traits in employment interviews: Can "good judges" be trained? Personality and Individual Differences, 94, 194-199.
