Hiring Made Easy: Streamline your Recruitment Process with Personality Tests

Have you ever wondered why some individuals are more sociable than others? Or why some people are more creative while others are more analytical? These are all examples of personality traits that often differ from one person to another. These characteristics have an important impact on an individual's work style and performance. Understanding these traits can be crucial when evaluating a candidate's suitability for a role.

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Personality tests can be a useful tool in work assessment. These tests adopt a wide range of scientific approaches to measure personality characteristics. Employers can use these approaches to make more informed hiring decisions and to estimate the likelihood of a candidate's long-term success.

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Personality traits and work style can be just as important as skills and experience. Personality traits are consistent and stable which makes them an accurate reflection of a person’s inner qualities. For example, if you're hiring for a role that requires a lot of teamwork, you'll want to look for someone who is a good collaborator with strong communication skills. If the role requires a lot of independent work, you'll want to find someone who is self-sufficient, attentive and determined.

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Fast, easy, and bias-free. Our job-specific candidate assessments help you find the candidates who fit the job the best.

Types of Personality Tests

There is a wide range of available personality tests, each one uses a unique set of criteria for a successful candidate overview. Understanding the differences between these tests can help employers select the most relevant tool for their hiring needs.

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So let's take a look at some of the most popular personality tests that can help you make a more effective evaluation of potential candidates.

Enneagram

The Enneagram is a popular typology system that describes personality on nine primary types, it also describes three interconnected centers which are action, feeling and thinking. The Enneagram can be implemented in the workplace to improve team building, employee motivation, and interpersonal communication.

16 Types

Also known as The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory that identifies a person's personality type, strengths and mindset. It comprises four different scales, each with a set of questions that ultimately categorizes an individual as having one of 16 personality types. It's a great tool for employees who want to know more about a candidate's strengths and skills at performing a particular task.

Big 5 (OCEAN)

From a scientific perspective, a personality test like the Big Five Inventory is quite accurate and reliable. It's often used by employers to gain insight into a candidate's behavior, job performance and work ethic. The five traits that are measured are neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.

DISC

DISC is a model of behavior that assigns individuals to one or a blend of four personality attributes (Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C)), the DISC can be a very helpful tool in building successful interpersonal skills in the workplace and also in assigning each individual to their proper tasks

Hexaco Deep Dive

The HEXACO Inventory is highly beneficial for employees since it allows for a proper comprehension of a candidate's unique qualities. It comprises 25 models and uses a 240 likert scale rating to measure six primary domains: (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience)

How to Use Personality Tests in Hiring

Using personality tests in the hiring process can be quite efficient as they can directly assess the fit between candidates and the job requirements. Here are some useful tips on how to properly use personality tests for choosing your next candidate:

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Determine which personality traits and work styles are most important for the role and select a personality test that evaluates those traits. Different personality traits work better in specific roles. For example, a sales manager may need to be more outgoing, assertive, and work well under pressure, while a software engineer may need to be a skilled problem-solver with an analytical mindset. 

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Use the test results as a starting point for interview questions and further evaluation. Personality tests can provide valuable insights into how a candidate's unique characteristics and qualities correspond with his work ethic. Test results can help generate the interview questions and to further evaluate the candidate’s suitability for the job. For example, if a candidate scores high in extraversion, ask about their interpersonal skills and ability to handle stressful situations.

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But remember, there is no such thing as a perfect personality test, we need to be aware of potential biases and limitations of each given test. For example, some tests may not be culturally sensitive while others may not be reliable predictors of job performance or success. 

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For a well rounded and nuanced view of a potential candidate, it's best to use them with other assessment tools like reference checks, soft skills, culture add and cognitive ability tests.

Best Practices for Implementing Personality Tests

Here are some important practices to keep in mind when implementing personality tests in the workplace:

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1. Ensure that the test is administered in a consistent and standardized manner to all candidates, by administering the test under the same conditions and providing the same instructions to all candidates, this consistency helps ensure equal opportunities and reliable test results for further evaluation.

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2. Provide clear explanations of the purpose and use of the personality test to candidates and employees, and its importance in the hiring process, these explanations can ensure verbal consent and diminish any concerns and misunderstandings about the test 

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3. Test results should stay confidential, it is vital to keep them private and limit access to only those involved in the hiring process. The results should only be used for their intended purpose of assessing the candidate's suitability with the job profile and not for other objectives like performance assessment or dismissal.

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4. Employers should ensure that their use of these personality tests complies with the laws and regulations, particularly concerning anti-discrimination laws and equal opportunity. Employers should know ethical guidelines like invasion of privacy by third parties or bias so that they can take the necessary steps to minimize potential damage.

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With HiPeople Assessments, hiring teams can assess candidates across soft skills, personality, culture fit, cognitive abilities, and hard skills.

Benefits of Using Personality Tests in Hiring

Personality tests can help employers make more informed hiring decisions and gain insight into a candidate's personality traits, strengths and work style. This information can help determine whether a candidate has got what it takes to succeed in the job and if his characteristics are suitable for the role and company culture.

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Personality tests can also help employers identify candidates who are a good fit for the company culture, for example, if a company values teamwork and creativity, they may look for candidates who score high on agreeableness, extrovertedness, and intellectual curiosity.

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Personality tests can also help build teams and employee development. By helping employees understand their strengths and weaknesses, they can identify areas where they excel and areas where they need to improve. This ultimately helps them set better goals, and identify potential sources and causes for conflict.

Use personality tests in your next hiring process

Personality tests are a valuable asset in employment assessments, providing hiring managers with significant insights into a candidate's personality traits, work style, and ethics. By using personality tests, employees can identify the right candidates for the role and who can adapt well to the company culture. They can also help with team building, conflict resolution and employee development to ultimately boost the productivity and success of their organization.

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Use HiPeople Assessments to create hundreds of role-specific assessments such as the Big 5 in seconds!

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