As businesses place more emphasis on company
culture, they are turning away from hiring individuals solely based on skills and experience. In fact, some don’t consider those factors at all.
More and more, we hear about companies gauging less-trainable characteristics such as work ethic and whether they would make a good fit with the rest of the staff.
To help with that objective, some firms turn to personality tests to learn about those things that likely won’t show up on a resume or LinkedIn profile.
“That’s really served us as a business,” says Josh Buzzell, a managing partner with Houston-based Regal Pools. “Because we don’t spend a lot of time looking for the wrong people.”
Some company owners also use these assessments to help with team building among existing employees. By learning what makes coworkers and the boss tick, the thinking goes, the team as a whole can get along better and more productively, promoting a better company culture.
Used judiciously, personality assessments can help you assemble and develop the team you want, experts say. Here, various professionals share their experiences, while others offer tips for using the tests in a way that’s safe for the company.
Evolving tool
Personality assessments began their rise in the 1990s. And while experts offer cautions about relying too heavily on the tests, they have seen improvement over the decades.
“I think they’re evolving,” says Robyn Hopper, SHRM HR, a knowledge advisor for the Society for Human Resource Management, an industry organization headquartered in Alexandria, Va.
“It’s quite shocking sometimes when you do these tests, and you don’t know ... what it’s going to say your personality is,” she says. “Then you see the results, and they’re shockingly accurate.”
In her nearly 30 years in human resource management, Hopper has used personality tests often. “I think employers are using them more and more,” she adds. “They are using them not just for pre-employment, but for current employees, to understand how people tick as well.”
The statistics seem to bear that out. According to Psychology Today, approximately 80% of Fortune 500 companies use personality tests for a variety of purposes, including coaching, development and team building. According to the New York Times, approximately 100 million workers around the world take personality and aptitude tests.
“I found them very helpful, not just on a professional level, in being able to know how to handle people with personalities that are very different than my own,” Hopper says. “That’s not always an easy task.”
Team building tool
Company owners will find there are plenty of different types of personality tests out there.
Buzzell and some of his colleagues with the group Master Pools Guild use the DISC Test, which categorizes people into one of four personality types, symbolized by the letters in the name. (See sidebar.) When applied to job candidates, Buzzell has found that D’s (Dominance) make the best project managers, while I’s (Influence) match up best with the demands of a salesperson/designer.
It’s not a deal breaker if the assessment indicates the candidate falls under a different category, though. “I wouldn’t be that hard but I’d definitely look into it more,” says Buzzell, who also uses a local third-party company to administer a more thorough test for a more detailed profile. “You don’t want to judge somebody off a piece of paper. That wouldn’t be fair. But it helps.”
Lewes, Del.-based company Ashton Pools by Design also uses the DISC. While the builder doesn’t necessarily seek a specific personality type to fit a job description, Vice President Nicole Bailey Ashton does suggest that skilled service and repair technicians might fall under the C (Conscientiousness) category.
At Ashton Pools, the outcome alone generally won’t decide whether or not the candidate gets the job. But it is taken into consideration as part of the big picture in terms of team building.
“I think about the makeup of my entire team,” Bailey Ashton says. “I also look at how many of a certain personality type we already have. You don’t want everybody to be a people person — you need some critical thinkers and some who are nurturers. You want to have a balance. If they’re all one makeup, you’re going to be missing some critical tasks.”
She not only looks to make sure that all tasks will be covered in the company, but also how the candidate would affect team harmony. “My husband and I are both strong D’s, but nobody else in my team are,” Bailey Ashton says. “They don’t like working with strong D’s — they don’t mind it in bosses, but they do mind it in a colleague.”
Personality assessments can help beyond the hiring decision, these professionals say. They also can be used to help a team work better together.
If a person communicates or acts in a way that differs from our style, we may make assumptions about their attitudes, motivations or character. For instance, somebody could interpret a comment as condescending and assume that the coworker looks down on others. But that may not be the case. They might experience anxiety, be in a hurry, or not understand social cues. Personality tests can sometimes help suss out this information, Hopper says.
“Are they really condescending, or is it just the way it’s coming out?” she says. “It’s knowing how to talk to the person.”
For this reason, Bailey Ashton uses DISC as a tool to help staffers communicate with each other. Every six months, she brings the team together to revisit their personality types and what that means in terms of communication. For instance, the team knows that, as a D personality, Bailey Ashton likes to move through communication quickly and efficiently.
“You don’t need to come in my office and say good morning,” she explains. “You can come and say, ‘I need this, this and this. How do we do it?’ I like bullet points.”
This knowledge helps to ease the minds of people who otherwise might think she was mad at them.
As a fellow D personality, Buzzell also finds it helpful for his staff to know the whole story. “Everybody knows I’m a [D],” he says. “There’s not a lot of fluff with me, but I care a lot and will make sure you don’t fail.”
To help him remember where his employees fall on the scale, he keeps a list near his computer with everybody’s personality type. Staffers also know their coworkers’ types.
“We know what we’re working with, so we can all bend the way we think based on who we’re talking to sometimes,” Buzzell says.
Builder Mark Ragel also uses the DISC profile, with his sales staff specifically. He also finds that D’s and I’s perform best in this position. Learning their personality types sometimes prompts adjustments.
One time, a salesperson scored a high S (Steadiness), rather than the D or I. “He was the lowest producer, but everything he did was perfectly accurate, detailed, very conscientious of the customer,” Ragel says. “So shortly afterward, our best salesperson put him on his team and said, ‘I’ll sell, and you do the paperwork.’ They were the best team we had.”
Working with clients
Once employees become familiar with different personality types, along with the motivations and most effective communication styles for them, the team can apply this when working with clients.
If initial communications lead Bailey Ashton’s team to believe a potential client is a C personality, for instance, they’ll expect the client to ask more detailed questions about technical matters such as pump horsepower, plumbing and shotcreting practices. In those cases, Bailey Ashton is more likely to bring one of the technical members of her team on a sales call.
“If I know they’re a C, I want to make sure we’re answering all those questions, or we won’t make that sale,” she says.
The same holds true as the project progresses. If, for instance, the crews find something underground that would necessitate an unexpected footing or other support, they will communicate that difficult message in a way suited to the client’s personality.
“If they’re a C, I’d better know the exact reason and have engineering [details],” Bailey Ashton says. “If it’s a type D, it’s all about the price.”
At Regal Pools, salespeople are trained to identify personality types based on conversations. Then they’ll pass on what they’ve learned to the project managers.
“We might say, ‘This guy likes to communicate a lot. Make sure you text him every morning,’” Buzzell relates. “Or you have somebody where you say, ‘This guy doesn’t want to hear from you much. Just touch base with him once a week.’ They can edge on the [difficult] part of [D’s], and we have to prepare for that.”
Proper implementation
With all the potential benefits, experts say the tool comes with some risks and offer advice for averting them.
Consult those who developed or administer the test to see how it is meant to be used. Some are not intended for selecting employees. The website for the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, for instance, says the assessment is not meant to tell employers whom to hire. Some tests may not provide a detailed enough picture of the person being screened. Some tests, for instance, employ multiple-choice questions, which force test takers to choose between a very limited set of options, which may not best reflect their first choices.
When using these assessments with existing staff, make sure not to allow the results to mask other problems. Sometimes, observers say, managers can place too much focus on employees’ personal traits when trying to figure out the root of a problem, rather than also considering the circumstances surrounding the issue. You wouldn’t want to miss a more systemic problem.
Understand that not all assessments are alike. Different tests evaluate different types of traits and present the information in their own way. Research the tests you’re considering to determine if the information being mined is what you need.
When doing your research, also make sure there’s no track record of cultural bias. You don’t want to set your company up for litigation.
When giving the test, especially to potential new hires, practice absolute transparency. Tell them what you’re using, why and how it’s being used, Hopper advises. Ensure them that the findings will remain confidential, and keep your word. Always be consistent in how you use the information from one person to another.
Also prepare for the possibility of a complaint being filed. If that happens, you may need a well-thought-out explanation as to why you use the test. This is good practice whether you’re talking about personality tests or other devices you apply, says attorney Steve Getzoff, who serves as outside national counsel for the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance.
“Generally when I talk to clients about discriminatory [issues] I say, whatever question you’re asking, make sure you can explain how it’s relevant to the position,” says Getzoff, also a partner in New York-based Lester Schwab Katz & Dwyer.
Many companies wait to employ personality tests until they’ve chosen a candidate and made a job offer, Hopper says. This helps avoid the chance that a job candidate claims the test was discriminatory. Some state or local codes may require that.
“It’s just like if we were going to do a background check,” Hopper says.
Keep the issue of bias in mind if you’re contracting with a third party to administer the test or develop it for you, Getzoff says.
“Make sure they indemnify in the event that there’s a claim that the test is noncompliant with applicable laws,” he says. “Make sure they’re prepared to stand behind the test that they’re providing you.”
Because they now are administered digitally, personality assessments present an area where the use of artificial intelligence may become a factor. Recently, a law was passed in New York City requiring that, anytime employers use AI as part of the screening process, a bias audit of that platform must be performed annually by a third party. These evaluations check algorithms for bias. Many HR experts believe more jurisdictions will impose similar laws. Find out if such a requirement applies in your area.
Popular Personality Assessments
► DiSC: Initials from the four personality types identified in this test form its name. Test takers are categorized as D’s (for Dominance), who tend to be confident and focus on results; I’s (Influence), who generally are more open and prioritize relationships and influencing; S’s (Steadiness), the dependable types who emphasize cooperation and sincerity; and C’s (Conscientiousness), who tend to prioritize quality, accuracy, expertise, and competence.
► Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator: This classic assessment places people in one of 16 categories. Each category reflects a different combination of four preference pairs: Extraversion vs. Introversion (E–I), explaining the source of your energy; Sensing vs. Intuition (S–N), indicating what information the test taker tends to trust; Thinking vs. Feeling (T–F), showing the primary source of decision-making; and Judging vs. Perceiving (J–P), revealing how one deals with the world around them.
► The Big Five Personality Test (OCEAN): This assessment scores individuals on four attributes: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
► The Enneagram: Takers of this test are categorized as one of nine complex personality types: The Reformer, The Helper, The Achiever, The Individualist, The Investigator, The Loyalist, The Enthusiast, The Challenger, and The Peacemaker.
► The CliftonStrengths Assessment: This test shows one’s unique combination of 34 characteristics, which it calls CliftonStrengths themes. These characteristics fall under four umbrellas: strategic thinking, relationship building, influencing, and executing.
