Employment personality testing provides insights into candidates' personality traits, working style, behaviors, communication preferences, and more, making it an excellent tool when adding a new person to the team. These assessments are designed to analyze a person’s core tendencies and traits, which remain fairly constant throughout their lives. Through these insights, employers can use personality tests to picture better a candidate’s soft skills or their cultural fit and how they might respond in different situations in the workplace.
Personality tests such as DISC, which measure how a person might think, act, react, and behave in a work environment, are powerful resources to ensure that you choose candidates who embody certain role-specific traits. When you can identify job candidates’ personality types and behaviors, you stand a better chance of hiring the right person for the right role.
What is employment personality testing?
A personality test used for employment will identify a candidate's behaviors, characteristics, and traits to better understand them during the hiring process. These tests will typically measure traits like extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism to help employers determine whether or not a job applicant is aligned with the position. Learning about an employee through personality testing can help you place them in roles where they will thrive, rather than in energy-draining positions. While there are various personality tests for employers available, they are generally all formatted as questionnaires, making them an easy addition to making more informed hiring decisions.
Why use pre-employment personality tests?
When hiring managers use employment psychological tests or personality testing, they can gain valuable insights into a potential new employee's personality type. A hiring manager can better understand whether or not a candidate's personality is a good job fit through this information. Information found from tests such as the DISC assessment, a well-trusted personality test for hiring employees, can help employers understand their employees' motivations, conflict resolution, communication style, and potential weaknesses and strengths. Here are some other reasons to use pre-employment personality tests:
Reduce turnover
With a more informed hiring decision, there is less risk of hiring someone who isn’t aligned culturally or with the job duties. When a candidate is placed in the wrong role, they may be unhappy, less productive, and more likely to experience burnout. When the right new hire is placed in the right role, they will be happier and more productive in their position and less likely to leave the company.
Improved communication
When employers understand the job candidate's communication style, they will have more efficient and positive interactions. For example, if the candidate had a DISC C-type personality, they'd appreciate more formal communication, whereas a DISC I-type personality would do better with more casual correspondence. Communicating with candidates in a way that resonates will help them feel more comfortable and more inclined to accept an offer.
A better understanding of job candidates
The personality test results will allow employers to gain a deeper analysis into candidate's behaviors, motivations, stressors, and more. While a candidate may possess the hard skills and experience needed for a position, soft skills and cultural fit should never be neglected when making a hiring decision. Insights, such as those from personality assessments, allow employers to pick candidates best suited for job fit and cultural fit.
Most common pre-employment personality tests
There are many personality tests for employment that will allow you to understand job applicants and employees better. While they all offer their benefits to understanding people, DISC is most popular amongst professionals thanks to its ability to predict behavior, tendencies and preferences in professional and leadership scenarios. Here are the most common types of personality tests for employment:
DISC
DISC is a trusted personality assessment that sheds light on the test taker's unique personality, behaviors, conflict resolution, communication style, and more. The DISC personality model is one of the most effective and widely used personality frameworks. “DISC” represents four primary behavioral styles: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. As unique individuals, we are all a combination of these styles. While DISC will measure a candidate's working style patterns to improve productivity and communication, it will not measure their ability to perform specific skills. This test is most commonly used in the workplace due to its ability to predict communication, leadership, and working styles. Get started using DISC throughout your interview process by clicking here.
MBTI
The MBTI, or The Myers-BriggsType Indicator test, measures personality type, preferences, and strengths. The test measures four categories: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, judging or perceiving. This test is most popular for personal use due to its ability to predict more introspective insights. Like most assessments, this test is unable to predict job performance or give perfectly accurate results. This test is beneficial because it allows employers to understand how they can support their team members in their roles and maintain a productive and efficient work environment.
Big Five
The Big Five personality test, also known as OCEAN or the Five-Factor Model, is a test that measures the five main personality traits rather than determining a personality "type.” This personality assessment measures five key traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Using this five-factor model, a personality profile is curated to discover a person's strengths and weaknesses. These traits are arguable the most accurate predictors of personalities, as this method is backed by psychological personality research. Because of its scientific backing, this test is most popular amongst psychologists.
Current employee personality testing benefits
Using an employment personality test throughout your hiring process can prove to be a valuable tool in hiring and retaining the best candidates for cultural and job fit. Using personality tests for your current employees is also vital for an efficient and healthy culture. Employee personality tests can also help employees better understand their working and communication styles, making it more likely for them to thrive in their role. Here are some other benefits of personality assessments:
Improve team communication
Using an employee personality assessment for your team will help existing employees better understand their communication styles and interact more productively with one another. While one person may prefer face-to-face and informal communication, another may favor formal email correspondence with plenty of details. When they understand how to speak to each other in a way that will resonate, team members can lead more effortless and more effective conversations.
Increase leadership effectiveness
Learning your personality type and leadership style will help you better understand your strengths and potential blind spots as a leader. Once you gain these leadership insights, you can optimize your strengths and avoid certain pitfalls. You will also better understand how your employees need to be supported and interacted with to do their best work.
Better conflict resolution
A person's personality type can directly affect how they handle conflict; understanding personality types can drastically improve the way conflicts are resolved. While one person may favor direct and blunt conflict resolution, another person may be non-aggressive and require a softer approach. Once someone's personality is identified, you can better understand how to lead a productive conflict resolution with them.
Higher productivity
When you place people in the right roles, there's no doubt they will perform better. Information from employee personality tests can show how a person is motivated, energized, and what tasks may stress them out or lead to burnout. Learning to take advantage of energizing tasks and eliminating draining tasks can significantly impact team productivity, while placing people in the best-suited roles will help them feel more engaged and happy in their position.
Personality testing for employment: Key takeaways
Taking advantage of the valuable tool that is personality assessments is a sure way to enhance your hiring process and better your odds of hiring the right people onto your team. Personality guides our behaviors and preferences along with other factors such as environment, personal goals, and experiences. Learning about the personality of yourself and others is extremely helpful when looking to have more effective, productive, and mindful interactions.
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