In this article, we highlight why and how industrial and organizational psychologists can take advantage of research on 21st century skills and their assessment. We present vital theoretical perspectives, a suitable framework for assessment, and exemplary instruments with a focus on advances in the assessment of human capital. Specifically, complex problem solving (CPS) and collaborative problem solving (ColPS) are two transversal skills (i.e., skills that span multiple domains) that are generally considered critical in the 21st century workplace. The assessment of these skills in education has linked fundamental research with practical applicability and has provided a useful template for workplace assessment. Both CPS and ColPS capture the interaction of individuals with problems that require the active acquisition and application of knowledge in individual or group settings. To ignite a discussion in industrial and organizational psychology, we discuss advances in the assessment of CPS and ColPS and propose ways to move beyond the current state of the art in assessing job-related skills.

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Abstract. Recent advancements in the assessment of Complex Problem Solving (CPS) build on the use of homogeneous tasks that enable the reliable estimation of CPS skills. The range of problems featured in established instruments such as MicroDYN is consequently limited to a specific subset of homogeneous complex problems. This restriction is problematic when looking at domain-specific examples of complex problems, which feature characteristics absent from current assessment instruments (e.g., threshold states). We propose to utilize the formal framework of Finite State Automata (FSA) to extend the range of problems included in CPS assessment. An approach based on FSA, called MicroFIN, is presented, translated into specific tasks, and empirically investigated. We conducted an empirical study (N = 576), (1) inspecting the psychometric features of MicroFIN, (2) relating it to MicroDYN, and (3) investigating the relations to a measure of reasoning (i.e., CogAT). MicroFIN (1) exhibited adequate measurement characteristics and multitrait-multimethod models indicated (2) the convergence of latent dimensions measured with MicroDYN. Relations to reasoning (3) were moderate and comparable to the ones previously found for MicroDYN. Empirical results and corresponding explanations are discussed. More importantly, MicroFIN highlights the feasibility of expanding CPS assessment to a larger spectrum of complex problems.

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