We have spent this year looking at each step in the hiring process,
and now we come to a personal favorite of mine: personality
testing. And let me say at the outset of this Ezine that I am not
unbiased on the subject, but I am, or try to be, objective about the
pros and cons of pre-employment psychological testing.
Let's start by recognizing a simple fact about turnover, something
that you have no doubt seen countless times. What I am referring to
is the fact that most turnover occurs because the person "didn't fit
in," "wasn't our kind of person," "never could get along with his (or
her) boss," or something similar.
In other words, most turnover occurs because something didn't
mesh between the new employee and his or her co-workers,
supervisors, or customers. While the official reason for the person
leaving will usually sound more benign, such as, "was not a good
match for the job," or "left for a better opportunity," most often the
real story is that the person never seemed to fit in.
Before we go any further in exploring how pre-employment
psychological testing can help with this problem, I want to
emphasize that if I have learned anything in the years that I have
been working in this field, it is this: it's a mistake to make up your
mind, before you hire a person, that you know what personality
attributes the person has based on the interview (see the March,
2009 Ezine titled, "Effective Interviewing" for more on this subject.)
People understandably put their best foot forward in the interview
because they believe, correctly, that making a good impression in
the interview improves their odds of getting the job. Unfortunately,
this also means that many times there is a significant difference
between what you see in the interview and what you see on the job
if the person is hired. This is also the reason why I get phone calls
that start out with the caller saying, "I'm looking at the Performance
Profile Report and I am seeing something I didn't see when I
interviewed this person."
Keep in mind also that just as every personality is unique, so every
job has unique demands it will place on whoever fills it. Therefore,
be sure that you understand the demands the job will place on
anyone who is in the job. This helps you focus on learning as much
as you can on the personality traits of the applicant you are
considering for the job that are relevant to the job in question. There
is almost never a perfect fit between the two, but understanding both
the job's demands and the individual's personality strengths and
developmental need areas will help you make the best possible
hiring decision.
Personality testing can help you improve your hiring decisions and
the retention of valuable employees in four ways:
1. Personality tests can help you make better hiring decisions by
identifying traits and behavioral tendencies in an applicant that
decrease the odds that the applicant could, if hired, become a
functional and productive employee. The easiest way to handle
a problem employee is to avoid hiring him in the first place.
Personality testing gives you information that is difficult to get
from interviews, resumes, and other selection procedures about a
person's underlying work preferences, ability to handle
uncertainty and stress, decision making style, and much more.
2. Personality tests can help insure a good working relationship
with the new hire's supervisor by providing information for both
people about how they will work well together, and where the
"rough spots" are likely to be. Forewarned is forearmed, so that
if a supervisor understands that his exceptionally high energy
level means that almost everyone else he meets seems languid,
he can adjust his expectations for his new employee.
3. Personality tests can decrease turnover by helping you focus
your training and coaching efforts on the weak areas identified
by personality testing. Pre-employment psychological testing
has the potential to provide a wealth of information about a
person's assets, but also about the areas that need strengthening.
In addition to customized training and coaching, personality
testing points to areas to watch for early warning signs of trouble
that can be addressed before they become major problems.
4. Personality tests can help you grow and develop your
employees by helping them acknowledge weaknesses in their
management and personal style and develop realistic action
plans for improvement. The information can be used to develop
a customized self-improvement plan from the first day of
employment, before problems have gotten too big, or too
emotional, to handle.
To summarize, personality testing provides the information
necessary to round out your understanding of an applicant and his
suitability for the job in question. Keep in mind that information
gleaned from personality testing is not intended to replace or
overrule information obtained from any other step in the selection
process. Nor is it intended to be used as the sole source for a hiring
decision. Personality testing should be used as an integral part of
your selection process. The best hiring decisions are the ones that
are based on a thorough understanding of those aspects of the
applicant that will affect his or her ability to meet the duties and
responsibilities of the job in question, as well as the demands that
the job will place on whoever fills it. Personality testing helps make
good hiring decisions.
