Personality Tests

About Personality Tests

Employment personality tests are a valuable tool for gaining insights into the interaction style, personality traits, competencies, preferences and behavioral tendencies of individuals. They are designed to assess the aspects of a person’s personality that remain relatively stable throughout an individual’s lifetime. Properly designed personality tests are therefore meant to pinpoint permanent personality “traits” (for example, an individual’s level of extroversion) or competencies rather than temporary “states,” (for example, an individual’s current level of anger).

Many of our personality assessments are based on the “Big Five” or “Five Factor” Model of understanding personality, one of the dominant taxonomies of personality that decades of research have shown to be predictive of workplace performance.

When given to prospective or current employees, personality tests are intended to describe aspects of an individual’s character that are relevant to their job performance. Whereas aptitude tests assess whether a job candidate can perform a job, personality tests address the question of whether the candidate will do the job: in other words, they assess job fit from a behavioral perspective. Does a candidate have behavioral traits or competencies that are statistically linked to success in this job? Is he/she likely to be happy or comfortable in this role? Research has also shown that personality tests can be especially useful in predicting job performance in those jobs that require frequent social interaction (with other employees, the public, or customers).

In addition, the Workplace Alignment Assessment (WAA) helps you to assess how well the candidate’s work preferences align with the environment your organization offers to its employees. Are their most important work preferences and needs met by your organization? Will they be satisfied and committed to your organization and likely to stay longer?