Assessing Candidate Fit for the Job

The assignment content discusses the concept of conscientiousness, emotional intelligence (EQ), openness to experience, neuroticism, self-efficacy, and IQ. It highlights Mrs. A's strengths in these areas, making her a suitable candidate for an independent job. The study also explores ethics, relevance, and validity, including informed consent, confidentiality, and authorization. Furthermore, it discusses self-efficacy measurement using the MSLQ test and its correlation with IQ and math test scores, revealing differences between boys and girls.

4PSYC006W.1: Individual Differences
Portfolio Coursework
Student ID: [your ID number]
Semester 1 2017/18
Word count: [add word count]

Part 1
Enter Below your scores from Blackboard. (not included in word count)
TB-FFI Scores:
Factor I (E) II (A) III (C) IV (N) V (O)
Mrs A 39 33 33 11 40
Mr B 28 28 35 21 33
Mrs C 22 28 34 23 32
PRT Scores
Factor Verbal Numerical
Mrs A 16 10
Mr B 12 12
Mrs C 10 17
1.1. Narrative Report
For A- TB-FFI Score interpretation
Mrs. A has a higher score in extroversion factor which is falling in “Very high’ category. The woman
is found to be more social. At times, she can be assertive in nature. This is also indicating the
enthusiasm and energy which she can bring in job. She is also found to be outgoing. In matter of
agreeableness, she is trustworthy, modest, compliant, tender minded and generous to a larger extend.
She is also self-disciplined, dutiful and not impulsive in nature which we can find from her
conscientiousness score. The neuroticism score is very low so it is indicating that she is less anxious,
shy, moody, under confident etc. She scored high in openness which is telling her unconventional and
imaginative nature. [Barrick, M. R.et.al1991]

PRT Score
Her verbal ability score is high which is indicating she has good command over reading, writing,
speaking and vocabulary use in English. She is quite average in numbers and logical relationships.
For B- TB-FFI interpretation
Mr. B has scored average in extroversion which is indicating us that he is quite enthusiastic, assertive,
gregarious but not much outgoing or outspoken. In case of agreeableness, he scored average again
which means he is trustworthy, modest and straightforward to a certain extent. He seems to be
dutiful, organized, efficient, self-disciplined as he scored pretty high in conscientiousness. His
neuroticism score is falling under very low which means he is not moved by emotion and stress. He
seems to be open minded towards education, culture and change.
PRT Score
His verbal ability score is above average which means he is quite good at communication skill. He
may not be fluent but his understanding and verbal reasoning ability seems good. In case of
numerical, he is an average person regarding calculation, mathematical skill application in work.
[Hurtz, G. M.,et.al2010]
For C
TB-FFI interpretation
Mrs. C is scoring average in extroversion thus she can be bracketed in those category people who
speaks only when they are expected to or said to speak. She may be enthusiastic and assertive but not
much outgoing. She seems to be not much social as she scored average in agreeableness that means
she is more of herself and takes decision on her own instinct. She may be modest and trust worthy but
straight forward. She has a high conscientiousness which means she is methodical, organized and
dutiful. Her neuroticism score is low thus she is emotionally strong and able to face stress. She is
quite average in openness to new experience, knowledge, skill, culture etc.
PRT score
She scored average in verbal proficiency so she may be at writing and verbal reasoning but not
outspoken in nature. Her numerical ability is above average which indicated she is good at calculation
and solving logical reasoning.
1.2. Job Analysis

For the job profile- Data Analyst
Job description- Analyse large and complex data sets and write monthly reports. The person will be
responsible for providing input to management. This will include roles like quality of health care,
efficacy of various types of medication and patient satisfaction. Deadline and detailing of
performance is must.
Suitable candidate characteristics-
 The individual must be having keen interest to take up this job mentally.
 The person must be curious to know the changes and improvement in this respective field.
 The person must be self-motivated in all circumstances of this job profile. He must possess the
motivation to search and explore meaning and with diligence.
 The person must carry modesty and tender-mindedness in his/her approach.
 He/she must be dutiful, organized and competent of healthcare and medicine knowledge and
services.
 He/she must not be dragged by emotion or stress when it comes to detailing and deadlines.
 He/she must be a good at numeric and logical reasoning, verbal competency will be bonus point
for us.
 He/she must not be outspoken or excitement seeking type person.
For the Job profile- Fashion journalist
Job Description- Lots of outgoing and meeting open-minded women, covering fashion shows in
places like Milan and Paris, doing research on new fashion trends and life styles, meeting with
leading designers and showstoppers.
Suitable candidate characteristics-
 Be passionate about latest fashion and trends going around.
 Able to work independently and also in team.
 He/she should possess a greater skill of verbal and written communication skill.
 He/she should be willing to go places like Milan, Paris to catch up various fashion shows to know
the latest arrival.
 He/she must be gregarious, energetic and aesthetic in nature.
 She should be possess high EQ than IQ and self-motivated.
 He/she should bring his/her own ideas to work for making writing content better.
 He/she should accept the change constantly i.e. flexible with working culture.
1.3. Decision

For the post of Data Analyst
If we look at job profile, data analyst job seems to be technical and more of IQ required job. The
person will deal with complex information and reporting thus here numerical skill and logical
reasoning skill will be needed. From the PRT test, we found that Mrs. C is the only candidate whose
numeric skill is stronger as compared to Mrs A and Mr B. so in this criteria, Mrs. C has edge.
The person needs to be self-motivated, interested and curious about change in technology or
environment. All three are fulfilling the criteria of “Openness to experience” but Mrs. A scored very
high in this, she is looking perfect for this post.
In case of “Agreeableness” like modesty and tender-mindedness, all three are almost on same range
but yes Mrs. A is scoring slightly high.
In case of Conscientiousness factors like self-discipline and dutiful attitude, both Mr. Band Mr. C are
standing tall.
For this most, less emotional and less stressful person is needed for this post thus Mrs. A who has
lower neuroticism is seemed preferable but the rest two can’t be ignored as they have average
neuroticism.
Overall, it seems like Mrs. A and Mrs. C are suitable for this post. The one factor that is more
important for this post is numeric ability and organized work which Mrs. A doesn’t have much.
So Mrs. C is better candidate for this post in comparison to those two.
For the post of Fashion Journalist
If you look at job profile, it is the job where there is no such rules, laws, organized working method
etc. It is mostly a job where the person needs to show flexibility. Since it is a job related to journalism
where verbal skill is more important. Thus the person should be good at communication skill. This job
involves outgoing, thus the person needs to be sociable.
Now coming to the point, the probable candidate, we have scores of two test which will help to find
the suitable candidate. [Maltby, J et.al2010]
The first aspect we will take for this job is “Verbal ability”. Among the three, the verbal ability of
Mrs. A is much better than rest two. So her chance of becoming journalist is high. But this shouldn’t
be the sole criteria.
Extraversion is one of the important aspect which carries the attributes like assertiveness, warmth,
excitement seeking. In this aspect, again Mrs. A has scored higher.
The journalist needs to be trustworthy, modest and straight for which we are considering the score of
agreeableness. Here again Mrs. A has taken slight edge over rest.
Despite it is an independent job, still some duties and responsibilities are to be followed and this
attributes are called “Conscientiousness” where Mr. B has more score.

Journalist needs to be emotionally strong i.e. EQ and able to take stress thus the lowest score in
neuroticism will be preferable. Here Mrs. A has the lowest score so we can assume, she has strong EQ
and stress handling.
In case of ready to experience new thing, like bringing new ideas, interest in art, music, fashion etc.
the person with high score in “Openness to experience” will be suitable for this post and again Mrs. A
has scored high in this aspect.
Overall out of 7 scores criteria, Mrs. A has scored higher in 5 criteria, thus without any doubt, she
seems to be perfect for this job.
What more tests can be conducted?
Simulation of work-
Personal Interview
Panel interview-
These three can be used for finding the best possible candidate for both the post.

Part 2
2.1. Ethics
Relevance and Validity- The research study is about adolescents’ self-efficacy for which MSLQ test
was used. The results obtained from each of 84 respondents were needed to be verified with use of
statistical analysis. The validity of the study can be verified from MSLQ test itself. To ensure validity
for this study, both independent and dependent variables are studied under strict condition i.e.
avoidance of external influence and biasness.
The relevance of this is to identify how far the adolescents are cable of mathematical intelligence
development from self-efficacy. The study is useful for society to know the IQ of children so that
education system reformation can be reformed.
Informed consent- The participants in this test has given the answers from their own consent i.e. they
have knowledge, intelligence and independence regarding giving responses. No pressure has been put
at any stage of research and they were informed about use and relevance of the responses.
Confidentiality- The responses of each respondent has kept confidential. No information has taken
from the respondents outside the topic area. The responses are stored in a secured network and each
respondents were given ID and password so that they can check the data security. No information is
used for the purpose of study without permission of respondent.
Authorization- Since our respondents are minors thus before we took hem for study, we have taken
permission from parents and school authority to allow for taking responses.
2.2. Self-Efficacy
Self-Efficacy refers to the belief of one to execute performance or behaviour which is necessary
attainment of specific goal. It plays a major role in determining the chances of success. Some
psychologists believe that it is above talent as one can do better if he or she is determined. The theory
was first originated by Albert Bandura. According to him, the self-efficacy originates from- direct
experience of mastery in order to increase efficiency like doing a task regularly gives mastery in that
which increases self-efficacy. There may be other factors like vicarious learning, verbal persuasion,

emotional and psychological states, imagination etc. which act as input to self-efficacy. [Bandura,
A.,et.al1980]
Self-efficacy measurement using MSLQ
Self-efficacy is about the people’s judgement about the capability to organize and execute the course
of action. In this theory, self-efficacy is a prominent concept of adolescents’ expectations and also the
inter beliefs for executing or succeeding in math and intelligence test. The strength of one’s efficacy is
determined by previous performance and accomplishments and all other factors discussed above.
[Bandura, A. (1977)]
In this test, we can come to know whether the participant’s efficacy level is high or low.
In this test, the questions were about study habits, skill and motivation of work in class. There will be
a 7 scale rating system which candidate has to pick one for each statement. The number-1 is “not at all
true” and number-7 is “Absolutely true”.
This is basically to test the intelligence and mathematical ability of adolescents. The statements were
taken are- [Schunk, D. H. (1991)]
 I believe I will receive an excellent grade in this class;
 I’m certain I can understand the most difficult course material presented in the readings
for this course;
 I’m confident I can understand the basic concepts taught in this course;
 I’m confident I can understand the most complex material presented by the instructor in
this course;
 I’m confident I can do an excellent job on the assignments and tests in this course;
 I expect to do well in this class.
 I’m certain I can master the skills being taught in this class; and
 Considering the difficulty of this course, the teacher, and my skills, I think I will do well
in this class.
Scoring calculation will be done as per the total score they got in the test.
2.3. Interpretation of Findings
From the Table 1 which is showing the means of scores in boys and girls, we found that the boys
under the MSLQ test are having more self-efficacy than girls. In matter of IQ both boys and girls are
on same page but again when it comes to mathematics, the boys are far better to solve mathematical
problems than girls. This can be due to the fact that girls are more emotional thus their EQ is high but
for boys IQ high as they may not be much emotional. [Sherer, M.et.al1982]

In table 2, the correlation between self-efficacy, IQ and math test scores is established.
For the purpose of study, the level of significance has taken as 5% and 1%.
From the table, we can find that there is a lower correlation exist between self-efficacy and IQ among
girls but in case of boys the correlation is relatively higher than that of girls. Both the correlation is
falling under lower positive section thus we can conclude that the relation between self-efficacy and
IQ is lower.
In case of self-efficacy and math test, for girls the correlation is highly positive but the correlation is
stronger in case of boys as compared to girls. Both the correlation is indicating high correlation thus
we can conclude that there is a highly positive correlation exist between self-efficacy and math.
The last correlation is between IQ and Math, where the relation of both girls and boys are less than
50%. In boys case the correlation is little higher.
The conclusion can be drawn that there is a little correlation exist between IQ and math for both boys
and girls.

References
1- Bandura, A., Adams, N. E., Hardy, A. B., & Howells, G. N. (1980). Tests of the generality of
self-efficacy theory. Cognitive therapy and research, 4(1), 39-66.
2- Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological
review, 84(2), 191.
3- Sherer, M., Maddux, J. E., Mercandante, B., Prentice-Dunn, S., Jacobs, B., & Rogers, R. W.
(1982). The self-efficacy scale: Construction and validation. Psychological reports, 51(2), 663-
671.
4- Schunk, D. H. (1991). Self-efficacy and academic motivation. Educational psychologist, 26(3-4),
207-231.
5- Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The big five personality dimensions and job
performance: a meta‐analysis. Personnel psychology, 44(1), 1-26.
6- Hurtz, G. M., & Donovan, J. J. (2000). Personality and job performance: The Big Five
revisited. Journal of applied psychology, 85(6), 869-879.
7- Maltby, J., Day, L., & Macaskill, A. (2010). Personality, individual differences and intelligence.
Pearson Education.