[bitL]

I'll bite: Isn't using scientific methods in HR similar to stock trading? I.e. you need to predict how well a given person would fit within a company; you can't really capture significant soft abilities like who-knows-whom, which might have significantly bigger impact on profitability of the project than any individual/technical contribution if you purely optimize for profit. You also need to take into account company's strategy, environment that is changing etc.

[dsacco]

> I'll bite: Isn't using scientific methods in HR similar to stock trading?

As it happens, stock trading is a bad example of something scientific methods do not improve :)

[bitL]

Alright :) But it won't help you detecting emerging trends until it's late already, and in hiring you likely cut away people like Steve Jobs if you measure them scientifically. But if your goal is predictability, hiring replaceable corporate drones, then maybe...

[aeling]

You still do an on-site with the hiring company, which in my experience is the best place to evaluate soft skills anyway.