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Psychological Assessment for Specialists

HRS Advisors identifies the strongest specialists for your needs.

We assess approximately one thousand specialists each year.

The best specialists are found when there is a clear understanding of the criteria for success in the role. For example, an agile product owner, a mechanical designer, and a legal professional require very different competencies and characteristics to perform well in their work.

A psychological assessment provides an objective view of an individual’s capabilities, strengths, and development areas — insights that cannot be obtained through other methods.

How do you evaluate a specialist’s suitability?

Successful specialist recruitment is a well‑researched process. It can be summarised as follows: the best outcome is achieved when you know what kind of person succeeds in the role, attract qualified applicants, and select the strongest candidate from that group.

Success factors must be measurable in order to distinguish between candidates. Reliable tools and methods must be used, since decisions based solely on intuition are not advisable. This also helps prevent biases from influencing the selection.

A hiring manager or an expert in the team is usually the best person to evaluate role‑specific expertise, such as software skills or technical know‑how. During the first interview round, it is often beneficial to ask candidates to complete a task that demonstrates their competence. No matter how experienced they are, a psychological assessment consultant cannot reliably evaluate occupation‑specific technical skills.

Research shows that combining a work sample with a personality assessment significantly improves the validity of the selection process (Schmidt 2016).

It is also important to consider what the person is like to work with. Would they be a good fit for your culture and ways of working? Even the most technically skilled specialist may struggle if they do not fit the team or share the organisation’s values.

If a candidate meets these criteria, they should be invited to a psychological assessment. In the assessment, a psychologist examines the candidate’s motivation, working style, and competencies. These insights are gathered using questionnaires and ability tests that offer an objective point of comparison and reveal factors that cannot be identified in an initial interview alone. The psychologist then conducts an in‑depth interview and compiles a written summary evaluating the candidate against the role requirements and providing a recommendation.

This approach yields a high level of predictive validity for job performance (e.g. Salgado 2017). A specialist who is both capable and motivated can be up to twice as productive as someone who is not well suited for the role (Cook 2009). This is why specialist assessments are worth doing carefully.

Sources:

Cook, M., 2009. Personnel Selection: Adding Value Through People. 5th edition. Wiley-Blackwell.

Salgado, J., 2017. Personnel Selection. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology.

Schmidt, F. L., 2016. The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 100 Years of Research Findings