ABSTRACT
P sychological assessment for the purposes of determining suitability for employment has become an important part of personnel selection in recent years, particularly for jobs that require considerable responsibility or onthe-job stress. Examples of such occupations include air traffic controller, airline pilot, firefighter, nuclear power plant operator, emergency medical technician (EMT), correctional officer, and police officer (Graham, 2006; Roberts, Thompson, & Johnson, 2004; Weiss, Weiss, & Gacono, 2008). The purpose of this screening is to identify individuals who either exhibit psychopathology that would interfere with job performance, or who possess personality characteristics shown to be associated with poor performance at that particular job (Weiss, Hitchcock, Weiss, Rostow, & Davis, 2008). This type of screening has become especially popular (even mandated in many jurisdictions) for the hiring of law enforcement officers (see for example Super, 2006; Weiss, Weiss, & Gacono, 2008). Personnel selection procedures involving psychological assessment with law enforcement officers have been more extensively researched than for any other occupation. As a result, the guidelines presented in this chapter are drawn largely from procedures typically used by psychologists to select law enforcement officers.
