Fast Paced
& Outspoken
JOB SEARCH
D
Personality
Tests on the
Job Search
Dominance
i
Influence
Questioning
& Skeptical
Accepting
& Warm
C
In a tight job market, employers
want to know what makes a candidate tick. Personality assessments
are one way to predict how you’ll fit;
here’s what to expect if you’re put
to the test.
Conscientiousness
S
Steadiness
Cautious
& Reflective
By Debra Donston-Miller
See PERSONALITY Page 2
Reading My Own Tea Leaves
By Matthew Rothenberg, Editor-in-Chief, TheLadders.com
A
TheLadders has periodically tion of the kind of work I do She spoke to a variety of prothe world of publishing, offered my colleagues and me — finding answers to questions fessionals who administer these
joining TheLadders has been the opportunity to take stan- that vex our readers — and tests, and she presents their ada great chance to shake off dardized tests that measure our it’s stimulating to bring those vice on how best to approach
the cobwebs and learn new personality traits and how best skills to the table when work- a personality assessment.
ing with colleagues who are
things: creating new products, we handle challenges.
Among its other uses, it’s
driven more by logic, process
working in a dynamic start-up
Not too surprisingly, my tests
or other factors.
environment, and collaborata great way to understand
reveal that I’m wired for eming with a very different set
more clearly how others may
pathy; I’m highly sensitive to
In this week’s package,
of professionals from the
the feelings of individuals and Debra Donston-Miller takes a see you — including your fueditors and publishers of my
groups, and I seek solutions look at employers’ increasing ture boss. The clearer your
earlier career.
that people can relate to emo- use of personality testing to view in the mirror, the more
One important tool in this tionally as well as intellectually. quantify the fit between a job effectively you can polish your
process of self-assessment: That’s a pretty good descrip- seeker and an open position. personal brand.
FTER MANY YEARS in
IN THIS PACKAGE:
• Top Personality Tests
Page 3
What did you think of this package? Got a story of your own to tell? Have ideas for future coverage? Please write Editor-in-Chief
Matthew Rothenberg at [email protected].
© Copyright 2009, TheLadders. All rights reserved.
Page 1
Personality Tests on the Job Search
JOB SEARCH
4PERSONALITY
W
HEN YOU ARE BEING CONSIDERED FOR A JOB,
your potential employer evaluates myriad factors: your
education, your experience and your successes, to name just a
few. How about your personality?
Increasingly, organizations are turning to personality assessments to hire more effectively and avoid expensive and
potentially embarrassing hiring errors, especially at the
executive level.
“Testing is the application of science to the prediction of fit
and success to the job,” said John Fennig, a licensed psychologist and managing partner of DRI Consulting, a management
and organization consulting firm that administers pre- and
post-hire testing. “There are two issues: Is the person the best
fit, ideally, to the pool of other candidates — and how likely
are they going to succeed at the job?”
Fennig said that in today’s tight job market, job seekers can
expect closer scrutiny in the form of personality testing, as
well as behavioral and cognitive testing. “Especially with the
pools being bigger — it’s a buyer’s market, not a seller’s market, right now — job seekers are going to see more scrutiny,
and they have to be cool with that.”
Deblauwe
Tony D. Deblauwe, a workplace expert
and founder of consulting firm HR4Change, said there are certain types of
jobs that lend themselves to personality
testing, including sales and customerservice positions — jobs that tend to
draw on personality as well as a certain
skill set. Companies often administer
personality tests for positions that require strategic thinking and complex
decision-making.
According to experts interviewed for this article, some of the
most commonly used tests on the hiring side of the house are
the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF); Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness (DISC); Caliper Profile and California Psychological Inventory. (See Top
Personality Tests on Page 3.) Myers-Briggs, one of the most
well-known personality tests, is rarely used by hiring professionals, they said.
The overall point of performing these tests and others like
them, Deblauwe said, is to go deeper than any job interview
ever could. “If I can map exactly what I know is the gold standard for the position and what this company needs to have
done against where you the candidate naturally lean, it’s another point in the decision-making process.”
Page 2
And few if any rely solely on psychological tests to survey a
job applicant. It is just one of several data points used to make
a hiring decision.
“Testing should never weigh more than a third in the hiring
process — it is being mis-used if it is pass/fail,” Fennig said.
“What you (the job hunter) have control over is two-thirds of
the process — namely, your resume, your work history, your
interviewing skills and the performance skills the interviewing
panel may put you through to show your stuff.”
Gaming the tests
Up against stiff competition for a position, job seekers may
be tempted to try and “beat the test” to optimize their results.
That’s the wrong thing to do, according to the experts interviewed for this story.
“There’s really no way to beat the test,
or any of these tests,” said Justin Tobin,
a psychotherapist in private practice in
Chicago. “You just have to be yourself.
It’s not just one question that’s going to
figure out who you are. There are a lot
of questions and a lot of information
embedded in these questions. So you
may not even be picking up on what the
question is trying to get at.”
There’s actually very little people can
do before taking a validated, reliable assessment, said Connie Kernen, business
development manager at recruiting and
research firm JMJ Phillip.
Tobin
“The best advice is, and always has
been, to simply answer the questions
as candidly and as openly as possible,”
Kernen
Kernen said. “Generally, the first answer which ‘pops’ into the candidate’s mind is the best answer.
Lying or exaggerating on an assessment can potentially result
in two things applicants want to avoid: being dropped from
consideration or ending up in a job they hate.”
Many tests are designed to pick up on dishonesty or disingenuousness. And even if you do game a test, you’re not necessarily doing yourself any favors.
“Be honest when you’re taking (these tests),” said Abby Kohut, president and staffing consultant with Staffing Symphony.
“If you try to fool the test or to make the test think that you’re
something other than what you are, you’re not going to fool the
Personality Tests on the Job Search
JOB SEARCH
test because the test is smart.” Worse,
even if you were able to beat the test
and receive a job offer, you might end
up in a job for which you aren’t suited.
Know thyself, relax thyself
Recruiters and human-resources
managers generally prefer to perform
Kohut
psychological tests early in the selection process, and many are now conducted online, before an
initial interview.
But no matter where or when you take a test, taking stock of
yourself before you answer the first question will help you relax and present yourself as honestly and effectively as possible,
psychotherapist Tobin said.
“Before you take one of these tests, the most important
thing is to know who you are and to be in touch with your own
core values, your own strengths, your own limitations,” he said.
“That can make you feel more comfortable taking the test and
more confident to just be in the moment. A lot of these tests
take you to hypothetical questions, like, what would you do if
someone was yelling at you in the middle of a store? Don’t try
and overanalyze what you think the answer is supposed to be.
Just go with what you would really do in that situation.”
While experts say that you shouldn’t — and really can’t —
study for a personality test, some recommend using the results
from sample tests online or from past testing to add weight and
balance to discussions about your strengths and weaknesses.
“Self-awareness is one of the elements of good leadership,”
Fennig said. “Take assessments: One, (you’ll) be comfortable with the process of taking assessments; and two, more
importantly, to know yourself will make people more informed job hunters. There’s probably no downside (to taking
a sample test).”
See PERSONALITY Next Page
Top Personality Tests
The most common psychological exams used by HR managers to review job applications.
By Debra Donston-Miller
A
TO EXPERTS in the workplace but also in academinterviewed by TheLadders, ic and counseling settings.
some of the most commonly used
Dominance, Influence, Steadipre-employment personality assessness, Conscientiousness (DISC)
ments are:
The DISC assessment is based on
The Sixteen Personality Factor
a four-quadrant behavioral mod(16PF) Questionnaire
el identified by William Moulton
The 16PF is a personality inven- Marston. The test assesses the betory that measures the 16 normal- havior of individuals within certain
range personality traits identified situations. Behavior is grouped into
by psychologist Raymond B. Cattell four major personality styles, each
and fellow researchers. Later, five of which tends to exhibit specific
global (or second-order) factors characteristics common to that
were discovered. The 16PF assess- particular style.
ment scores both the broader, secCaliper Profile
ond-order traits as well as the more
The Caliper Profile is a commerspecific and precise primary traits.
The assessment is commonly used cial assessment that measures 25
CCORDING
personality traits related to job performance. The instrument is used
for hiring, performance improvement and team building and is designed to provide information on
an individual’s strengths, limitations,
motivation and potential.
California Psychological
Inventory
The items on the California Psychological Inventory produce scores
for 18 scales divided into four classes designed to measure social skills,
intellectual flexibility and interests.
Each of the 18 scales is designed to
determine what the test-taker will
say or do under certain conditions.
Page 3
Personality Tests on the Job Search
JOB SEARCH
4PERSONALITY
What type of test to expect?
Just as there are many different kinds of
tests, regulation of pre-employment testing
varies across states and industries. In general, employment law in most states requires
that testing be relevant to a position, and
must be administered consistently across
all candidates. Most states also require that
the test meet professional standards. Unlike background checks, there are no laws
entitling a job seeker to view the results of
a psychological exam, but some employers
and some tests in particular give job seekers
access to the results.
DRI Consulting, for instance, gives all
applicants copies of their results, plus
graphed reports, and invites them to
comment before the report is sent to the
hiring organization.
“It’s like a good performance review; you
get to read and sign off on the accuracy of
it,” Fennig said. “(Candidates) can’t change
the numbers, but they can add stuff, they
can comment, and then we submit that verbatim to the hiring organization. This has
been hugely, hugely popular and effective.”
Fennig added that the testing is seen as
informing not just the hiring organization but also the candidate about how and
where they fit: “It helps the job seeker to
say, ‘Oh, you know, maybe I’m not cut out
to manage, and this is a management job.’
... The hope is that the testing informs in
both directions.”
If test results are not supplied to you automatically, as they are with DRI Consulting, it’s a good idea to ask for them anyway,
as it shows you are engaged and proactive
every step of the process, Fennig said.
“The best candidates are clued into the
decision path, and they know where they
stand at each point,” he said. “So knowing
that is a sign of leadership, a sign of power,
a sign of confidence.”
“
First refusal
Can you refuse to take a personality test?
Yes, said Deblauwe, and he’s seen it done,
but just saying no is not a good idea if you
really want the job.
The law is different in every state. Generally, however, if the test meets the professional standards defined by the state and is
relevant to the job in question, it is permissible to make it a mandatory part of the
job application, according to the American
Psychological Association.
While it’s not likely to be told that you
didn’t get a job because you refused to take
a test, “unless you’re really, really good, the
last thing recruiters, HR people, etc. want is
someone who is going to be creating blocks
for them. Good economy, bad economy
— play ball,” he said.
Fennig agreed, adding, “Most execs
who we work with have come to expect
to be tested. They appreciate being tested
because they are able to put their better
foot forward.”
Career Advice from TheLadders
• Your Layoff, Your Brain: How to Get Out of Your
Own Way
Page 4
• Networking for Introverts
The best
candidates
are clued into
the decision
path, and they
know where
they stand at
each point. So
knowing that is
a sign of leadership, a sign of
power, a sign
of confidence.
— John Fennig
”