What are pros and cons of Personality Tests in hiring?

Any recruiter is motivated by one single motto: to hire the best possible talent in the job market. However, over the years, hiring the best talent has become easier said than done, especially in today’s world, where technology has only made the recruitment world more competitive. Therefore, companies increasingly rely on personality tests in the recruitment process. 

The reason behind the rise in the use of personality tests is simple: companies now want employees who have good core skills and good soft skills. Hiring employees whose personalities resemble the company’s culture is a great way to create a positive and efficient work environment.

However, personality tests are not a one-stop solution in themselves; they are just one tool in an effective recruitment process.This is why it is important for recruiters to use these tests optimally to enhance the recruitment process rather than hinder it.

What are Personality Tests?

Personality Tests are a set of assessments used to determine an individual’s character, behavior, and traits. In the recruitment process, these tests are used to determine the individual’s strengths, weaknesses, and adaptability. These tests are based on several psychological theories and were first used in personal development. They were so successful that they were then adopted in recruitment and the workplace.

Also Read: What are pros and cons of Emotional Intelligence in hiring?

Types of Personality Tests 

Trait-Based Tests

Trait-based personality tests are conducted to analyze a person’s behavior within a specific range. The reasoning behind this is that categorizing individuals into rigid personality types can sometimes misrepresent their personalities. These tests thus assign a range to the personality of the individual, such as highly introvert to highly extrovert, with four different readings in between.

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Types of Traits-Based Tests 

Big Five personality test

One of the most widely used personality tests is the Big Five. Although not used as much in hiring, the test still has great accuracy. In this assessment, the candidate has to read five items and rate them on a scale from one to five. One means strongly disagree, two means slightly disagree, three means neutral, four means slightly agree, and give means agree.

Using the answers provided, an individual is allotted one of five personalities: extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.

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16PF (Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire)

Developed in the 1940s by Raymond Cattell, the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire measures an individual’s traits on 16 measures. The 16 traits are Warmth, Reasoning, Emotional Stability, Dominance, Liveliness, Rule-Consciousness, Social Boldness, Sensitivity, Vigilance, Abstractedness, Privateness, Apprehension, Openness to Change, Self-Reliance, Perfectionism, Tension. This test is based on factor analysis and can be used in various situations, such as the workplace, relationships, and leadership.

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Type-Based Tests 

Type-based tests can be described as the opposite of trait-based tests. These tests place the individual into rigid personality tests based on their results. The main pro for type-based tests is that they are easier to understand for everyone, and this is why they are more popular in the corporate workplace and recruitment.

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Types of Type-Based Tests

DISC Assessment 

DISC assessment is used to measure how effective someone’s communication style is. DISC stands for  Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. According to the DISC assessment, there are four types of people:

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• Dominance: People with this personality trait are assertive and highly competitive. They are highly confident, and their main aim is to get results. However, this can lead them to become dominant, which can lead to conflicts in the workplace. Such personalities are also not highly receptive to criticism and feedback.
• Influence: People with this personality trait are very social and extroverted. They are highly persuasive and thus can be great team players. They are highly enthusiastic and bring positivity to the workplace. They are goal-oriented but do not want to reach them at the cost of deteriorating relationships with their peers.
• Steadiness: People with this personality trait highly value stability over everything. Such players are loyal to their team and thus try to maintain a cordial atmosphere within the workplace. They are highly cooperative and very open to feedback, making them very good candidates for leadership goals.
• Conscientiousness: People with this personality trait are analytical and try to approach any problem by assessing the details. These people always value accuracy and expertise on any issue and believe in doing things by the book. Their main aim is to accomplish the task without any inaccuracies.

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Four Temperaments Model

This test is one of the oldest personality systems that is still used today. Its origins come from ancient Greece by Hippocrates. According to this test, a human could be categorized into four categories. These categories are:

• Sanguine: These people are energetic, extroverted, and optimistic. They are highly adaptable, charismatic, and enthusiastic. However, they are also prone to making impulsive decisions and can be prone to indiscipline.
• Choleric: These people are leaders who are highly ambitious, goal-oriented, and very confident. Their strengths are that they can assert leadership and are very determined. However, their weaknesses are that they can be too aggressive and impatient, which can lead to conflicts.
• Melancholics: These are highly analytical and detail-obsessed people who try to understand the problem before taking any action to solve it. They are very loyal and perfectionists. However, this can often lead to them being pessimistic and anxious.
• Phlegmatic: These are what we can call peacemakers. People with these personality traits are very calm, relaxed, and diplomatic. They are also very good listeners and have very good emotional control. However, this tendency can lead them to be indecisive and avoid confrontations for the sake of keeping peace.

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Situational Judgment Tests 

These types of personality tests are designed to test how a person would react in certain situations. The aim is to simulate real-life scenarios to test a candidate’s response. The skills being measured are problem-solving, decision-making, and interpersonal skills. These tests allow an interviewer to see how candidates think and react to certain problems, which can indicate how they will perform in real-life situations.

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Types of Situational Judgement Tests

Job-Specific SJTs

These types of SJTs are made to mirror the situations of the actual jobs. For example, an SJT on a teacher recruitment test will focus on classroom management and student engagement.

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Leadership & Management SJTs

These tests mostly focus on analyzing a candidate’s leadership skills, such as conflict resolution, decision-making, and strategic thinking. For example, a leader must know how to motivate an underperforming employee on their team.

Also Read: What is an Employee Integrity Test?

Personality-Based SJTs

These types of tests are used to analyze an employee’s personality, traits, and soft skills. The aim of the tests is to see what an employee brings to the team apart from their core technical skills. For example, testing a person’s integrity in a high-pressure situation.

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Projective Tests

Projective tests examine a candidate’s emotions, thoughts, and personality traits. In this test, ambiguous stimuli analyze the candidate’s response. These types of tests also allow candidates to have a free response and are open-ended, allowing them to share their answers in detail, which can be later analyzed to uncover hidden emotions. Since the entire test is open-ended, the chances of manipulation are extremely low.

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Types of Projective Tests 

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Created in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach, this test used ten inkblot images, which could be black-and-white or colored. The candidate was asked to state what they saw in each image. Using themes and patterns, a behavior analysis was done.This method is so effective that, apart from the workplace, it can also be used to diagnose conditions such as schizophrenia and personality disorders.

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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

This test was developed in 1935 by Henry Murray and Christiana Morgan. In it, a candidate is given 31 pictures, each containing an ambiguous scene. The candidate is then tasked with creating a story using this picture. The aim of the test is to harness the candidate’s thinking into creating the story, which in turn reveals hidden emotions, desires, and biases.

The importance of personality tests has risen recently as companies now want employees who are not only good in technical skills but whose personality also matches the company’s culture. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that a bad hire can end up costing a candidate six to nine months of salary. This is where personality tests can help identify the best talents that will not improve the efficiency and environment of the workplace.

Personality tests is not a one stop solution but is a part in a larger scheme of things which creates a robust recruitment process. One important tool of the recruitment process is Interview as a Service (IaaS) platforms that help recruiters make interviews faster and more efficient.

Also Read: What is Caring Culture and why it is necessary in the workplace?

This is where we present to you BarRaiser, a state-of-the-art AI-based interview assistant that will take the quality of your hiring to the next level. With BarRaiser, recruiters can create a detailed interview plan for candidates. The interviewer can give specific instructions to our AI bot to create an interview, such as:

• The questions for the interview 
• The number of rounds for the interview 
• The duration of the interview and its specific sub-parts 
• The number of parts that the interview must be divided into and their durations 
• Must have questions 
• The number of experience required for the job posting 
• Must have skills
• Additional Skills 

Using these instructions, our tool will create a structured interview format to ensure an unbiased candidate selection process.

After this, our AI Interview Copilot assists the interviewer, giving them specific instructions. For example, if the interview exceeds the time limit, the AI bot will alert the recruiter to speed up the process. In addition, we are also committed to making our process as unbiased as possible. This is why our AI transcribes and records every interview and immediately raises an alert if the recruiter uses language that might be considered discriminatory to the candidate. 

After the interview, the AI asks for a detailed review of the candidate from the interviewer. We believe that our tool is an assistant and not the decision maker, so it formulates answers only after receiving instructions from the interviewer. While this is happening, the AI is also creating another report that measures the recruiter’s effectiveness and their performance. This report acts as a check and balance to ensure accountability for every stakeholder involved in the recruitment process.

Using BarRaiser, we guarantee quality hiring that will bolster diversity and inclusion. BarRaiser is the best AI interview platform that features structured interviews and tools to ensure quality hiring while eliminating recruitment bias. With BarRaiser’s support, you’ll be well-equipped to build a strong team of sales associates who will drive sales and deliver exceptional customer service.