Whether you are looking to hire a summer intern to help with social media or are one of many members looking for skilled workers, this article is for you.
Does your company utilize personality tests for potential hires? Considering the points below, maybe it’s time to try. Personality tests can:
Reduce subjectivity in hiring based upon interviews alone.
Help place employees in the proper position.
Determine if an interviewee is a culture fit for your organization
Sixty percent of employees have been asked to take a personality test. I’ve taken all of the personality tests below over the course of my career—some more than once. They helped me to see myself and my colleagues through a different lens. If you’re interested, you can find them online.
DiSC®
DiSC®, which stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness, is a common language that people can use to better understand themselves and adapt their behaviors with others. DiSC profiles help you and your team:
Increase your self-knowledge: how you respond to conflict, what motivates you, what causes you stress and how you solve problems
Improve working relationships by recognizing the communication needs of team members
Facilitate better teamwork and minimize team conflict
Develop stronger sales skills by identifying and responding to customer styles
EQ2 – Emotional Intelligence Appraisal
The Emotional Quotient™ (EQ) report looks at a person’s emotional intelligence, which is the ability to sense, understand and effectively apply the power of emotions to facilitate higher levels of collaboration and productivity. The report was designed to provide insight into two broad areas: Self and Others.
Personal competence → Self-awareness + Self-management
Social competence → Social awareness + Relationship management
Myers Briggs Type INdicator (MBTI®)
The underlying assumption of the MBTI is that we all have specific preferences in the way we construe our experiences, and that these preferences underlie our interests, needs, values, and motivation. The MBTI outlines 16 personality types that indicate psychological preferences in how people make decisions and perceive the world around them. These personality types are based on different combinations of four distinct preferences: extroversion/introversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judgement/perception
The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16pf ®)
16pf, a self-reported personality test, provides a measure of normal personality and can be used by psychologists and other mental health professionals to help diagnose psychiatric disorders, as well as help with prognosis and therapy planning. The 16pf instrument provides clinicians with a normal-range measurement of anxiety, adjustment, emotional stability and behavioral problems. It can also be used within other areas of psychology, such as career selection.
Predictive Index (PI)
The PI predicts primary personality characteristics and cognitive ability so you can anticipate workplace behaviors and on-the-job performance. Using PI will help you make decisions in hiring, engagement, team development and strategy.
Comprehensive Personality Profile (CPP®)
CPP helps employers efficiently and accurately determine whether a job candidate’s individual combination of personality traits is a good fit for a specific job or training program (Wonderlic).
This test measures seven primary and ten secondary personality traits, which identify candidates as one of four common personality types: Driver, Supporter, Thinker or Motivator. The CPP is especially effective for positions requiring significant client interaction, such as customer service, telemarketing, and sales.
If you are able, I recommend you take or retake some of these tests and compare your scores over the years. Everyone needs a progress report or somewhere to start. Another recommendation is the book “Strengths Finder 2.0” from Gallup, by Tom Rath. This book, and accompanying assessment, was shared with me by another AMT staff member that uses it with all her employees. It helps uncover employee talents and make sure that we are all applying our strengths.
