Episode 330 - Patrick Dunlop, organisational psychologist and Future of Work professor, shares what he learned from studying recruiters, what’s overhyped, what’s still painfully manual, and how experienced candidates can move with confidence through modern selection processes.

Spend enough time around job seekers and you will hear the same diagnosis: “Hiring is broken.”

Spend enough time around recruiters and you will hear a different one: “We’re drowning.”

Both can be true. What has changed in the last few years is not simply the technology inside recruitment. It’s the volume, the noise, and the mismatch between what candidates think is happening and what is actually happening inside organisations.

In my conversation with Professor Patrick Dunlop, an organisational psychologist at Curtin University, one theme kept resurfacing: the biggest misunderstanding is not about AI. It’s about realism. Hiring varies wildly from one organisation to the next, and much of what candidates assume is “automated” is still surprisingly manual, uneven, and dependent on human judgement.

What follows is a structured, evidence-informed way to think about modern hiring if you are an experienced professional, particularly in your 40s and beyond.

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Timestamps to guide your listening:

1. 00:00 Understanding Assessment Tools
2. 00:52 The Importance of Job Analysis
3. 03:48 Designing Effective Assessment Processes
4. 06:53 The Role of Simulations and Case Studies
5. 09:59 Concerns About Psychometric Testing
6. 12:56 Faking in Assessments and Its Implications
7. 15:50 Cultural Differences in Assessment Responses
8. 26:44 Cross-Cultural Assessment in Personality Testing
9. 30:57 Candidate Experience and Recruitment Processes
10. 36:10 The Impact of AI on Job Applications
11. 39:04 Adapting to New Technologies in Job Search
12. 49:19 Future Trends in Recruitment and Assessment

Links mentioned in this episode:

1. Patrick Dunlop's LinkedIn Profile

About the host, Renata Bernarde

Hello, I'm Renata Bernarde, the Host of The Job Hunting Podcast. I'm also an executive coach, job-hunting expert, and career strategist. I teach corporate, non-profit, and public professionals the steps and frameworks to help them find great jobs, change, and advance their careers with confidence and less stress. 

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