Feature post from the Jan 18, 2010 article by Debra
Donston-Miller of TheLadders.com
When you are being
considered for a job, your potential employer evaluates several 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."
Tony Deblauwe, a
workplace expert and founder of consulting firm HR4Change, said there are certain types of
positions that lend themselves to personality testing, including sales jobs and
customer-service jobs — 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."
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.
"The best advice is,
and always has been, to simply answer the questions as candidly and as openly
as possible," 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 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 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)."
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 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 or HR people
want is someone who is creates process 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 best foot
forward."
For more
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