Biodata

Biodata is a commonly used term in Industrial and organizational psychology for biographical data. Biodata surveys genmatelywhat determine predictive relationships with criteria (in order to be legally used in most countries, the questions must be demonstrated to be linked with job performanceFact|date=August 2008). The use of biodata is questionable as it tends to lead to the selection of people that are similar to those high performers already in the organisation,Fact|date=August 2008 even though the characteristics these high performers hold (e.g. they are white, or short, or like soccer) may not be what is truly responsible for their performance—this may be one reason why the validity of biodata (how predictive it is of performance) tends to diminish over time. [Wood & Payne, 1998. Competency based recruitment and selection. Chapter 5 Application form design and sifting. New York: John Wiley & Sons]

A Biodata instrument is scored and to make the scoring standardised, most Biodata instruments are in the form of multiple choice questions or Likert scale items.

In the South Asian community (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), a biodata is essentially a resumé. The purpose is similar to that of a résumé, to eliminate some candidates from the pool of prospective suitors before meeting others. The biodata generally contains the same type of information as a résumé (i.e. objective, work history, salary information, educational background), but may also include physical attributes, such has height, weight, hair/skin/eye color, and a photo.

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