Justin Hess

Director, Talent Assessment
Capital One

Q: Are there specific skills or qualities you believe are essential for success in this field? 

A: Speaking more from the practitioner side of the scientist-practitioner spectrum, I think two skills are absolutely invaluable when you're working with business partners and stakeholders: First, general business acumen. You have to understand how the business runs, the value it drives (and where YOU create value inside of that), and where the business priorities and constraints lie. Without this basic understanding of the business, it'll be near impossible to properly consult with your stakeholders or advocate to tackle large, impact-driving initiatives. Second is a product mindset. As an I/O practitioner, you should be building solutions for your stakeholders, not just one-off tools. To do this, you need to understand your client's problem statements, conduct proper research/discovery, and think about how you build, iterate, and ultimately "go to market" with your solution. 

Q: What are some common challenges faced by I/O psychologists today, and how do you approach overcoming them? 

A: Honestly, it's selling the value of I/O. I've been in the industry now for over 16 years (mostly in selection) across vendor start-ups, consultancies, and internal to organizations. In every single role I've been in, I've had to educate the business, my partners, and my stakeholders on the value that I/O drives for them and the broader business, as well as how to plug into the work my teams and I do. It's the classic (but extremely valuable), "What's in it for them?" Even today, most conversations still start with, "Oh, what is I/O?" The most important thing here though is not to simply spout off a list of things you can do for them, but rather to show them in a very tangible way the value that you drive. Any time I do a meet and greet with a new stakeholder or partner, I always start by asking. "What are the biggest challenges you're facing now and that you anticipate you'll face 2 years in the future?" Then, I give little nods to how my teams and I can help them problem solve those challenges in ways that create direct value for them. 

Q: How do you see the field of I/O psychology evolving in the coming years? 

A: I'm extremely excited for the applications of artificial intelligence, not only to our field, but for the partners with whom we work closely. I honestly think this could be as big as the internet becoming mainstream in terms of how it'll change our day-to-day interactions with our jobs. What that looks like for I/O is really being thought leaders on how to architect jobs, organizations, and selection and development processes to take full advantage of these technologies and make sure that the KSAOs are being understood, measured, and coached appropriately. Think about it: What will our selection process for software engineers look like in 2-3 years with all of the assistive coding platforms? How will you measure coding "skill" at that point?