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?"
I always check no....everyone who works with me knows I'm the anti-christ.....
Cognitive ability testing is not forbidden. In fact it is alive and well. Companies need to demonstrate that it is relevant to the job in question and that it is not unfairly "biased" (i.e., has different predictive validity) for protected groups.
For many jobs, cognitive ability is the best SINGLE predictor of success, but there are many other predictors that neeed to be taken inot account. Thats why companies use multiple interviews, personality tests and organizational psychologists to help them with their hiring.
Not true. Some employers are looking for SPECIFIC personality types for specific jobs.
I've tested WAY above average in IQ tests...but didn't get a job due to a personality test. They were looking for a PURE analytical type for a Project Manager position...and I'm not that.
One company made me take an IQ test and the guy said that if I scored over a certain score he would give me more money, I did and he didn't.
Remember that it's not your job, it's the employer's job. You're just trading your services for their money and you can *always* walk away at any time and for any reason.
Please note that I didn't say that it was *easy* to walk away (try finding an employer that doesn't run credit checks and drug tests as a part of the screening process, for instance) but that option is always there.
So what's next? Genetic testing in case you might be an insurance risk down the road?
ROTFLMAO!
Great tag line, by the way!
Great information, thank you!
bump
One of the last applications I made for a job had two interviews and then they asked for a third. I told them I was no longer interested. If they can't figure out what kind of a person I am after two interviews, then they are the ones with a problem.
Maybe the employees (or the potential employees) should be the ones dishing out these tests! I'll bet that would go over in a big way. Maybe i should request reviewing their books, credit reports, interview all of their people a dozen times, criminal records yada yada yada. Wouldn't that be fun if the shoe was on the other foot?
And yet there are validated tests that are available and have survivied the challenges.
And, frankly, it is the pervasive attitude that the employer exists to serve the needs of the worker wihtout respect to what the employer receives couped with the overabundance of litigation against employers that leads to the insanity of 3 month (or longer!) hiring processes.
If an employer hires a freak, they get sued. If the employer refuses to hire certain freaks, they get sued. If the employer hires a latent freak, whose freakishness is exacerbated by certain factors in said employers environment, they end up with someone of little or no value to the organization. If they try to do anything they can to avoid any of these scenarios, then people want to sue them or not work for them. Employers have both hands tied behind their backs when it comes to hiring.
I understand some information needed. This thread is about going too far and what they will want next.
"If they're trying to weed out sociopaths, that won't work. Dishonest candidates just lie their way breezily through a personality test."
William Jefferson Clinton is proof of that!
Its their money.
I admit I was quite a skeptic, but the results at my company make me believe there is something to these tests. We use the DISC assessment, which tries to measure your Dominance, Interpersonal, Steadiness, and Compliance as compared to the average.
The test tries to predict a person's preferred way of working with others, not how successful they will be. Different DISC scores often come up with different ways to solve problems. On the other hand, you can often see how certain scores may have trouble working together. I have seen two off the chart high Ds on a team and you end up with a mess as each tries to get his way.
You most certainly should be doing your background check on your potential employer!!! Google them and find out whether they have been sued, what shape the finances are in, what kind of industry it is, what pecukiarities there are to the industry and the company. Who is on their board? etc etc etc.
Look, the hiring process is like getting married. Very few, rational intelligent people will marry someone they've met only 3 times. I'm not saying I administer a psych profile to potential mates, but I have the luxury of dating them for months or years. It is easy to lie for 3 meetings consistently, but harder to continue to keep the lies going for a longer period of time....time the employer doesn't have!
Remember, the job of human resources is to protect the company's interests, not to protect you or your interests.
I took one of these tests given by Sears when I was looking for a seasonal gig. Many of the questions revolved around honesty/stealing and the like.
I know a young lady that is trying to get on with a wireless phone company. She's been going through the application process for over six weeks, has sat through four interviews, and still doesn't know if she has the job. I'm assuming she's applied for a customer service position and they are seriously testing her patience quotient.
Thank you!
BTW, I want your soul.....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.