Should You Use Personality Tests as Part of Hiring? 5 Myths Busted
Companies are increasingly relying on personality tests for hiring to serve as a secondary reference in their hiring decisions, hoping to weed out unsavory prospective employees or even to find people who will mesh well with the already existing team.
Personality tests for hiring typically take the form of a questionnaire designed to assess an individual’s “personality,” which, among other things, is a summation of a person’s preferences, motivations, interests, and socio-emotional values.
It is appealing to HR professionals drowning in applications to reach for a perfect solution to identify individuals aligned with the company values, work ethic, and interpersonal standards. The potentially large amount of information available from these tests makes them attractive to hiring managers and recruitment teams. While these tests can be informative, entertaining, or amusing, they are not all created equal. Below are a few things to remember when using a personality test for hiring.
Myth #1: Personality tests give a complete picture of a candidate
Although the breadth of tests available can offer a wide range of input on your candidates, personality tests cannot wholly capture an entire person. These tests are mainly self-reported, meaning they will hardly give an objective picture of the person; instead, they will tell you about their perspective of themselves. Additionally, personality tests measure precisely that––personality.
These assessments don’t measure abilities and skills, behaviors, habits, problem-solving ability, or personal goals or interests. While a personality test may give insights into how an individual sees the world and some of their larger values, it cannot provide a complete picture of the person completing the test.
Myth #2: Personality tests can predict job performance
In some ways, this myth depends on the work required. If you’re looking for someone who can answer 30-item surveys, a personality test would be a great way to determine who’s compatible with the position. Unfortunately, not everyone is looking for career Buzzfeed quiz takers, and you likely need something more substantive.
As noted earlier, one of the weaknesses of using personality tests for hiring is that they are self-reported. Even if they are completed by someone close to the person, the results will be skewed toward the perception of the person answering the questions.
Additionally, a prospective employee may even fill out the test with the express purpose of looking to be marketable, so they will overplay those skills they deem helpful in the workplace and underplay those they deem as weaknesses. Apart from skewed results on their responses, many tasks that are done on the floor of a job simply need to be observed for quality and ability. For example, just because someone tests high for problem-solving and communication doesn’t mean they are a spectacular coder or project supervisor.
Myth #3: All personality tests are the same
While some personality tests for hiring borrow similar elements, a broad range of tests measure several variables and offer different insights. From VIA Character Strengths and Enneagrams to The Big Five and Myers-Briggs, other areas of personality are highlighted and explored.
Another consideration when choosing which tests to use is how they were developed and how reliable they were. For instance, some personality tests are designed specifically for hiring, like the Positive Leader’s PAT test, which creates customized assessment criteria to match specific hiring needs and organizational values. Conversely, most personality tests were not created with the nuances of organizational hiring in mind.
In fact, despite being among the most popular personality tests, the Myers-Briggs personality test has been debunked mainly in the psychological community due to its internal contradictions, lack of testability, and absence of facts and data. Taking time to find tests backed by rigorous research allows for more excellent reliability in the results and their application.
Myth #4: Personality tests lead to bias-free hiring
How personality tests can remove bias
It is easy to believe that personality tests for hiring remove bias. They let your company “meet” the person before seeing them, removing the risk of racism, ableism, and other unfortunate but all too common human errors. Having all prospective applicants fill out the same test also allows for some evaluation standardization, where you can compare applicants to one another along the same field.
This will also provide a measure of quantitative reasoning behind your hiring decisions. Using personality tests for hiring can level the playing field in many ways and on both sides of the hiring process, benefitting both applicants and employers.
How personality tests can reinforce bias
Bias-free testing, however, does require careful consideration. Like many other psychological measures, several personality tests have only been tested on specific populations (usually white, educated males). A danger in tests geared towards particular groups is that they can also reinforce stereotypes. Special care should be taken to ensure validity and reliability across populations.
Myth #5: Personality tests are 100% accurate
As stated above, several reasons limit any personality test’s accuracy. Self-reporting bias can be affected by social desirability bias, lack of self-awareness, and trying to make a good impression. Other contextual factors, such as the test-takers mood, their day’s stress, or even the weather, can affect how they answer the questions. Multiple choice tests can also limit responses, forcing participants to choose the “best” choice rather than the valid option (or they could stick to the extremes rather than using a more nuanced approach). Through these further weaknesses, we see a need for reliable tests that have proven effective.
How to use personality tests for hiring
Step 1: Clarify Purpose
As described, personality tests for hiring cannot accurately describe every attribute of a candidate. However, they can be a helpful tool in identifying key factors that are important for the role. Before posting the test as a requirement, take some time to consider what you hope to accomplish with the test and what particular attributes you are hoping to highlight.
Maybe the test can be a red-flag checker and highlight applicants to avoid, or perhaps you have a gap in your team that you’re trying to fill, so you need someone with a specific quality. Planning what you want to get out of your test will keep you from expecting the test to give a complete picture of the candidate.
Step 2: Choose the right test
Several myths associated with personality tests come from misusing or poorly validating tests. What you are looking for and how that information is gathered matters. In general, personality tests measure constructs like strengths, perspective, and values, but maybe your team wants to know something else.
Choosing your tests according to your needs is a big step in the right direction to make personality tests work for you and avoid a whole lot of information that means very little. Making sure your tests have been adequately validated is another crucial part of choosing the proper tests. Your results won’t help you if they don’t measure what you’re looking for.
Step 3: Educate hiring teams
Finally, ensuring everyone is on the same page will be extremely helpful in streamlining the hiring process. Sticking to what is popular or simple can be easy, but unfortunately, that doesn’t always lead to the best results. To hire who will meet your needs the best, your hiring team should know what you’re looking for.
Asking what your spirit animal is may be hugely significant to you, but it may as well not be on the application unless you share the secret with those deciding to hire. Ensure that HR professionals and hiring managers know how to interpret any personality tests you use in your application process and how they translate into your vision for hiring employees at your company.
Final thoughts: Use personality tests as a screening tool, not a decider
If we haven’t made it clear enough, personality tests for hiring are influential yet often misunderstood and misused tools. Choosing the correct test can make selecting the right candidate much easier, but it shouldn’t be the only factor in that decision.
Using personality tests for hiring can be very helpful in learning about someone’s values, motivations, and personalities, which can add valuable insight into the overall picture of the applicant. Moving forward, mindfully using personality tests for hiring can be a beneficial tool in the hiring process; just keep in mind that, like any tool, it has a range of uses but is ineffective and even damaging outside that range. Good luck, and happy hiring!
