Posted on 11/28/2006 6:56:38 AM PST by freepinglurker
What If Employers Want You to Take a Personality Test?
by Peter Vogt MonsterTRAK Career Coach
If you're asked to take a personality test as part of the hiring process, you have some choices to make -- theoretically, at least.
For example, you could respectfully decline to take the test. You could ask the many questions you have concerning how the test was developed, what it purportedly measures, who will be administering it and interpreting the results, who will see the them and how they will be used. You could even ask the employer why he's using a personality assessment for hiring purposes in the first place.
But what you could do in theory and what you should do in reality are two very different things.
"When you're applying for a job, you have to remember that someone else is probably applying for it too," says Josh Pierce, an account executive with financial-planning firm Leon Rousso and Associates.
"If you gripe about a test that gives an accurate blueprint of a candidate and the other person doesn't, I think we all know who will get the job," says Pierce, who took a personality test when he interviewed at the firm in late 2005. "You have to have the confidence that the employer is ethical and does not use the negative traits as a bias against you."
Pierce was fortunate in that regard. Leon Rousso, the company's founder, had a straightforward, laudable goal in using a personality test as part of the selection process: He was simply doing all he could to hire the best-fitting candidate for the job for everyone's benefit.
"In my mind, I'm hiring someone for life," Rousso says. "Josh has been with me now for over six months and is working out as I had hoped…. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that he will become a better employee and associate, and hopefully, I will become a better leader and mentor as a result of this additional aspect of the hiring process."
Find a Middle Ground
Fair enough, but that probably doesn't erase the concerns you have about taking a personality test as part of applying for a job, nor should it. It's only natural -- and wise -- to have questions. The trick is finding the middle ground between the path of least resistance (taking the test and keeping quiet) and the path of, well, greatest resistance (refusing to take the test), especially when the latter path might effectively end your candidacy.
"Remember another thing the company is assessing is your reaction to the idea of taking the test," says Ben Dattner, principal of Dattner Consulting, an organizational effectiveness firm. "If you seem overly defensive or paranoid or whatever, they'll wonder about that."
Be Wise with Your Questions
If you have a question or two, ask away, says Kathleen Shotkoski, vice president of human resources and training for Securities America, a financial-services company. Just be sure to "ask the question in a polite and professional manner," she advises. "Start with something like, ‘It seems like assessments are being used by a lot of employers these days. What prompted you to start using one for this job?' From this one question, you can get a wealth of information, and if you don't feel comfortable with the answer, ask more questions."
At worst, you'll discover that the job and the company just aren't a good match for you, especially if you sense that the employer is quickly becoming annoyed by just a few straightforward questions.
"Ultimately, questions may not only give you insight about the test, which is important, but also about the culture of the company, which is more important," says Joe Schmitt, chair of the Labor and Employment Practice Group at law firm Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson. "Do you really want to work somewhere that is going to be upset with you if you ask questions about their test?"
Then why do they need HR departments?
To find if she was a psycho (pulling a weapon on people)? Or to find if she is a sloppy person who only does a half-assed job (the unloaded weapon)?
Most people I know who have taken these tests go in with the attitude of "how would a person this company wants answer" not "how would I answer".
A friend worked at a small company for a few years when the CEO decided that everyone needed to take a personality test. He and his office parter told the boss they wouldn't take them because they thought the test was a waste of time and were far too busy with real work. The test quickly disappeared.
So-called "personality tests" measure the subject's willingness to go along with stupid bull$#!^, nothing else.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Would have saved a call to 911.
That sounds like some of the creation/evolution threads here.
"I hired a girl that pulled an unloaded weapon on her office partners.
Wish I had such a personality test."
To determine whether she was likely to pull a gun on co-workers or to determine whether she was foolish enough to point an unloaded weapon at someone?
These personality tests have been given for years. I was an administrative assistant in HR twenty years ago and I frequently gave these types of tests, as well as IQ tests. If I remember correctly the personality test is commonly used for sales positions.
Also, the person giving the test might not be the one who evaluates the tests. But, they will likely notify others if you attitude regarding the test is hostile.
Some of you people are talking out of your a$$es.
You don't know a thing about personality tests.
There are some very good ones out there. And they can make great predictors as to whether or not a candidate will be successful in a particular job in a particular company.
You don't FAIL these tests. They look at your results and compare them to the results of successful employees in the company.
Some of you may have had the 'pleasure' of working for a company where you, your personal style, your working style just didn't fit the culture. It's not a failure, and it doens't mean that there's anything wrong with you. You just don't fit.
That it was the selection process should be about. Finding out if you and the company are a match.
Years ago, my husband applied for a job for which he was VERY qualified (and this was with a well known national technology company.)
First thing they had him do as he walked in the door for the interview was sit at a computer and take a personality test. Then they told him, he was not "suited" for the job, no explanation why, no interview, no going over his resume, etc.
But here's the catch...they'll give him a probationary job (no benefits), and if at the end of six months they feel he "fits the bill" they'll hire him full time.
He, of course, refused and went on to find a great job, but I think it was a way to fill a temporary need that the company had without commiting to a full time hire. I may be wrong, but that's how it seemed to me.
This is what happens when consultants sell "ideas" to MBA managers that don't have any real-world experience.
Then why do I get the feeling that when I tell them I am declining to take this test, that they will "decline" to hire me?
empty suit alert!!!
Sounds like mindless psycho babble for sheeple, if you ask me.
In my case, it was worth jumping thru hoops. I love working for my current employer. I am left almost entirely alone to run my division. I have complete P&L responsibility. My compensation is largely determined by my own efforts, as I get a cut of the profit from my division. I am making about 40% more than I did at my previous job. So, while I didn't like the hassles that came along with getting hired, in retrospect I understand them. My employer has invested a tremendous amount of trust in me. The drug screen, background check, and personality tests gave them a foundation on which to build that trust.
Is the testing always reliable? NO. But it is tough to avoid inconsistencies over multiple tests. I didn't even attempt to "cheat" the test by answering the questions with my employer in mind. I just answered honestly. I am pushing 40 and I have no time for putting on an act. In the immortal words of Popeye the Sailor Man, "I yam what I yam."
In the mideighties I took one of these test as test of the test, as I was already in a high position and trusted.
First question...Are you going to lie on this test...YES!
I then picked answers that amused me.
I never heard another word about the test or the results.
If you trust lie detectors thinking of the spying scandals and all the people that passed.
Tests which measure "honesty and integrity" such as London House and true "personality tests" typically used as a diagnostic tool by psychologists and psychiatrists.
The former is legal and can be of some benefit providing proper allowances are made (e.g. born again Christians sometimes flunk because the test assumes nobody can be "that honest").
Diagnostic tests are a legal nightmare. They often ask intimately personal questions, delve into medical conditions, are subject to extreme confidentiality restrictions as per HIPAA, can only be properly interpreted by a qualified and licensed medical professional, etc.
In the early 1990's, an $8.5 dollar judgment was leveled against Dayton Hudson (the parent company of Target) for their use of the MMPI in screening potential employees. Businesses with more professional human resources departments immediately began to lose interest in these devices.
Since then, the Americans with Disabilities Act has cooled things off even more. The law made it illegal to use an employment screening device without proving it is beneficial in determining a person's capabilities to perform the "essential functions" of the job. This is almost always long, expensive and detailed exercise. Further, persons with psychological disorders are considered "protected categories of individuals" under the statute.
My best professional advice is to avoid companies who administer such tests. They probably do not have the sophistication or talent to survive over the long term.
I had to take one of these upon being hired by dot.gov, even though I had done the same work for several years. Anyway, the questionaire asked me about 8 times if I was afraid of the dark or if I hated my mother. Seemed rather useless to me.
2 years after being hired, they claimed that they had "lost" everybody's security clearance information so they had to perform an invasive security check on all the people in our department (probably a post-9/11 overreaction). At any rate, they actually did call my 3 references and did a check on my credit. I have no idea why they checked my credit, as I don't handle anything financial.
6 more days and it's all behind me - I'm returning to the private sector.
You have absolutely no idea of what you are talking about.
I was an organizational psychologist for 15+ years. Tests and interviews are done to measure how well an individual fits with the hiring company's needs for a particular position. Every company has different profiles for different jobs. If anything, many companies have a positive bias for those who score high on cognitive ability tests. Thus, they ignore other factors that are important for job success.
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