New at HNU: Prof. Dr. Jo­hannes Basch

Not too far away, I studied psychology at the University of Ulm for my bachelor's and master's degrees. I liked it so much that I did my doctorate there in the Department of Industrial and Organizational Psychology on the comparability of technology-mediated and classic job interviews. After the PhD, I continued to work there as a postdoc in this super department.

In addition to my scientific career, I have been a freelance diagnostician and trainer since 2015. Furthermore, in 2020 I founded the personnel consultancy "mindwise" with two colleagues, based in Ulm. Here, we work together with and for companies to develop adaptive and practical solutions based on findings from our own and international HR diagnostics research.

My research is primarily concerned with the digitization of personnel selection processes, i.e. whether it makes a difference, for example, whether job interviews are conducted in person or via Zoom (small spoiler: yes, it does!). Gamified selection processes are also becoming increasingly popular, i.e. embedding classic test procedures in a game context. Here, as with interviews, however, there are still many unresolved issues regarding comparability of applicant responses, performance, and validity. I am also interested in communication behavior via new media (e.g., zoom fatigue) or the influence of non-standard language in selection contexts (e.g., whether New Ulmers who speak Swabian have disadvantages in job interviews). However, my researcher heart beats mainly for digital job interviews. In recent years, my teaching has focused on (digital) personnel psychology as well as communication and interviewing in the HR field.

I have always enjoyed teaching and lecturing. During my studies, I then realized that scientific work is also a great thing. From my point of view, both are absolutely equal, which is why being a university professor is a perfect fit for me. Working with people, teaching them something and bridging the gap between science and practice is a particularly big concern for me.

This semester, in my seminars in the focus area "Communication and Conflict Management", students mainly learn practical knowledge about rhetoric and conversation management, i.e. how to present properly, how to deliver an exciting pitch, but also how to solve tricky conversation situations in the everyday life of business psychologists, such as termination interviews. I also get to teach the theoretical basics of personality psychology and market and advertising psychology.

Very good! Since I started on September 1 and the semester already started at the beginning of October, I had to find my way around a bit and of course there was a lot of work to do in teaching. However, I received a lot of support from my colleague from business psychology. In my first few weeks here, I've also noticed how much I enjoy teaching and how much I like it when there's a good atmosphere in the lectures.

For me, the region around Neu-Ulm means home above all. Unlike many other colleagues, I didn't have to move for my job here because I grew up here in the region - less than 40km away - and I still live here and have always worked in Ulm, with short trips abroad. What I particularly like about the region is the rural flair, the culture and the fact that we are nevertheless so well connected that we have major cities, mountains, etc. within an hour's drive.

Then I renovate my house, play drums in a band or try my hand at a triathlon again after the Corona period.