Demystifying SIOP Fellowship: A Practitioner’s Path To Recognition

Being named as a SIOP Fellow is one of the highest honors an industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologist can achieve. It signifies that a SIOP Member has made sustained, outstanding, and meaningful contributions to the field of I-O psychology. Becoming a SIOP Fellow means an individual has gone above and beyond simply attending the annual conference or leading a fulfilling career; it’s about impact, influence, and leadership in advancing I-O psychology.

However, despite SIOP’s philosophy of being the premier organization for both I-O academics and practitioners, there exists a substantial gap in practitioner representation in SIOP Fellows. According to the SIOP membership dashboard, practitioners make up nearly two thirds of all nonstudent SIOP members but only approximately one third of SIOP Fellows.

SIOP’s eligibility criteria to be considered for Fellowship are as follows:

• Must be a current SIOP Member for at least 2 years prior to the nomination
• Must have accumulated 10 years of professional membership in SIOP
• Must be nominated by a current SIOP Fellow
• Must demonstrate evidence that the individual’s contributions have had a meaningful, sustained, and unusual impact on the field of industrial and organizational psychology

To best embody a true scientist–practitioner organization, we should strive for equal representation of scientist and practitioner SIOP Fellows. The current imbalance among SIOP Fellows means there are fewer SIOP Fellow practitioners to serve as role models for other aspiring practitioners, fewer to seek guidance from on the application process, and fewer to nominate other qualified practitioners.

To help bridge the gap, we sat down (virtually) with a practitioner SIOP Fellow to hear their experiences so other practitioners may learn from them and may even begin their own path to becoming a SIOP Fellow. Jeff Facteau, current SIOP Fellow and chief I-O psychologist at HackerRank, graciously agreed to provide his perspective for this piece.

Read the details from our interview below to get a sense of the following:

• How a practitioner might know they are ready to pursue Fellowship
• Insights and strategies about the Fellowship application process
• Advice for practitioners who want to pursue Fellowship in the near or long term

Q1. Please introduce yourself, your work, and your career as an I-O psychology practitioner

Sure. I got my start attending a terminal master’s program at Illinois State University. I attended during a very exciting time, which led to me getting immersed in research and conceptualization on the topic of assessment validity, which in turn led to the decision to pursue my PhD at the University of Tennessee.

Once I finished my PhD, I pursued an academic career for several years before deciding to transition into practice. There were a number of reasons for wanting to make the switch, but it really came down to my own personal preferences and really enjoying the consulting work I was doing.

After I transitioned to practice, I primarily got involved in roles focusing on pre-employment selection procedures and all the related activities, including job analysis, test development, validation, and ongoing maintenance. I was also fortunate to work in companies going through mergers and acquisitions, which exposed me to not only the practice of I-O psychology but also the realities of the business side of these organizations as well.

Now, as the chief I-O psychologist at HackerRank, I’m doing a lot of similar things, working with our customers to implement large-scale technical hiring assessments, providing mentorship and guidance to our team of I-O psychologists, and supporting our product development process.

Q2. Please describe what led you to apply to become a SIOP Fellow and what you felt the value of becoming a SIOP Fellow would be.

So for me, it wasn’t self-initiated; rather, I was approached by a colleague who asked me if they could nominate me. It’s not that I had any reason for not pursuing it; it just wasn’t something I was inclined to initiate for myself. In terms of the perceived value, it really was mostly about the honor of being a part of such a celebrated and recognized group and feeling like inclusion means that I’ve done important and valuable things for our field and community.

Of course, it’s also a great line item to add to your resume or CV and include in your personal bio; it promotes credibility and helps with quickly gaining the professional trust of others.

Q3. Why do you think it is the case that there are so few SIOP practitioners who go on to become SIOP Fellows?

I have some hypotheses. For example, there may be the perception that Fellowship is still primarily a vehicle for academic recognition, so it could be a matter of awareness.

Beyond this, though, I think it may be because it can be more difficult for I-O practitioners to effectively quantify the impacts they’ve had on the field through their work. For those who are primarily based in academia, contributions are often quantified by the number of publications, book chapters, citations, and other similar data points.

The criteria to become a Fellow for practitioners are the same, but there’s less availability of objective or quantifiable metrics of success or impact, which might cause people to conclude it is harder to demonstrate.

Q4. Given that, what advice would you have for the I-O practitioner who maybe wants to be a SIOP Fellow one day or for the I-O practitioner who is currently pulling together their submission packet? How would a practitioner even know when they’ve made a contribution substantial enough to consider applying?

In terms of knowing when or if they should apply, I think it begins with an understanding of the selection criteria and asking oneself, “Have I met most or even just some of these through my work, service, or teaching?”

Specifically for applied practice, I think a good indicator of readiness is when you’ve developed deep experience and expertise, and you are sharing guidance and best practices through outlets such as LinkedIn, trade journals, or the SIOP annual conference—and they are actually being adopted by other members of the field.

Another helpful practice could be to see who is being awarded Fellowship each year, looking at their accomplishments, and seeing if you have had a similar level of impact and contribution.

For those who are early in their career and would like to become a SIOP Fellow one day, I still think it starts with having a deep understanding of the selection criteria and reflecting on how your work can help you make an impact. Perhaps it might drive you to take on a project or initiative where you can have that kind of outsized contribution or have the opportunity to develop outside of your specific areas of strength. I often reflect on my career, and I’m really grateful to the many people who stretched me beyond what I thought were my capabilities, because I am where I am today because of them. I also think it would be smart to have Fellowship as an outwardly stated career goal so that others are aware of your interest and think of nominating you when the time is right.

Finally, for those who may be going through the process right now, I would say to be really strategic about your application. What are the core areas of focus that you want to highlight in your submission? What are the key contributions you can focus on that will demonstrate that you have had the depth and breadth of impact befitting a SIOP Fellow? Then, you should be very intentional and specific with your letter writers about what you’d like them to write about and represent on your behalf. Since becoming a Fellow, I’ve been asked to write endorsement letters for others, and I always appreciate this proactive guidance.

Through this interview, we hope to have shed some light on the process and value of becoming a SIOP Fellow for practitioners. We hope to see an increase in practitioner Fellowship applications as well as practitioners who are ultimately awarded SIOP’s highest honor. To further learn about the eligibility criteria and submission process, please visit SIOP’s Fellowship eligibility page. The full list of current SIOP Fellows is also available on the SIOP Fellows page. All application materials are due by September 30, 2025. New SIOP Fellows will be announced during the Open Plenary session at the SIOP annual conference in New Orleans next April.