The article analyzes the traditional and modern technologies of personnel selection used in Russian organizations. Its content solves the problem of substantiating the need to implement psychological selection of applicants for employment along with functional selection. The article gives examples of different types of interviews used in the selection of candidates during recruitment. The paper presents the technology of psychological selection through the use of semi-standard metaprogram interview, which is considered as a way to assess the socio-personal competencies of the applicant, the peculiarities of his motivation and decision-making. The article considers the most relevant types of patterns of thinking (metaprograms), diagnosed in the course of the interview: «mode of reference*, «the desire - avoidance», «activity - reflexivity», «common - private», «single - manager - team player»; examples of diagnostic questions aimed at identifying relevant metaprograms based on linguistic analysis of the speech statements of the interviewee.