Talent by Design: Using Individual Differences in Recruitment and Selection

Introduction

Please note that this is a preliminary course description. The final version will be published in June 2027.

This course explores how knowledge of individual differences—such as personality traits, general mental ability (GMA), and other psychological characteristics—can inform and improve personnel decisions. Students will learn to apply psychological theories and evidence-based approaches to recruitment, selection, leadership development, and job analysis. The focus is on using individual differences as a foundation for effective talent acquisition and strategic human resource decisions. The course also includes self-tests that stimulates self-knowledge and growth.

Course content

• Introduction to individual differences and recruitment
• Personality, broad and narrow traits.
• Intelligence and emotional intelligence
• Person-organization fit, integrity, dark traits, values and motivation.
• Job analysis as the foundation for recruitment and selection
• Structured and unstructured selection methods
• Legal and ethical considerations in personnel decisions
• Noise and bias in selection decisions—and how to reduce them
• Scoring, weighting, and structured evaluation in candidate assessments
• Using individual differences for leadership identification, team composition and development planning