The Role of Personality Tests in Recruitment

First, it is important to realize that the Hiring Process can be the most important job that a business owner or manager has. There also are so many factors to consider in the hiring process, that the use of personality testing should be viewed as just another” tool” that managers have at their disposal.

However having said that, let’s look at some of the other items in the “tool chest” that play key roles in this process.

Resume:

The resume is supposed to communicate essential information about the person being considered for employment (the candidate).

Therefore most candidate resumes, just convey basic information as to the educational facts, the job history, personal data. Plus personal and professional references, all of which should be present.

But a professional Human Resources (HR) person will suggest that there are some other things that a resume communicates. Such as: proper formatting, attention to details, correct and complete sentences, spelling, typos, and general appearance.

Interview:

The interview is of course a critical part of this process and like the resume there are subtle messages passed between the parties that can strengthen or weaken the overall interview.

Personality Testing In The Hiring Process:

Which brings us to the subject at hand regarding the use of Personality Tests in the considerations involved in the hiring process.

Some experts, Doshi for one, maintain that personality tests are best as a motivational tool after employment, rather that as a preemployment tool. He speaks of “safe conversations about your natural preferences at work”. Feb 23, 2018.

But Doshi, goes on to suggest that candidates tempted to “game” personality tests in an effort to answer test questions the way they believe the employer will favor.

Another possible problem is that these tests we can use as employers to “pigeonhole” an employee. Thus depriving someone of an opportunity for advancement or for a certain responsibility based on the results of earlier testing.

Also many propose such testing as a way to eliminate or reduce “Bias”. However Doshi again suggests just the opposite view. That is, that personality traits are unsuccessful at certain types of work may through Bias cause an employee to be overlooked for certain tasks. Causing a loss to the employee and to the company as well.

Conclusions:

The question is still: should we use personality tests in the hiring and on-boarding process?

Another problem is the myriad of available tests, which leads to the selection of a test that possibly will forever be the guide to acquiring new employee and assigning types of work.

As suggested earlier, we must be cautious when evaluating an employee’s potential to succeed at certain work types which may or may not seem to fit that person’s personality traits.

Therefore, we offer just a word of caution so as not to cast out Personality Tests. Rather that we can use them as just one of the tools in this process, but one we can use thoughtfully and carefully.

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