Personality testing by employer (employment, work, business, hiring)
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I had to sit through a 4 hour long Korn Ferry HR/organizational psychobabble session similar to this. Tired of humoring HR junk science. Let me do my job and let HR administer benefits and pretend they actually contribute to the company.
I worked as a recruiter, a headhunter. This is a great tool to see if an individual is a good "fit" for both the company culture, a particular work team, or to train for a specific position. I'm not saying they're without error, and they can be faked.... but if the taker is honest, it's a great resource to add to a hiring plan.
Quick story - guy bounced from job to job in the accounting industry - no particular reason, he just got bored and ended up leaving. Bad employment history, no employer wanted to hire him. I used the DiSC personality profile with him, went over the results and explained to him why accounting (or any field requiring little contact and high accuracy) wasn't a good fit for him. His strength lay in the ability to juggle 100 spinning plates at a time, keeping them all in the air and spending time with people. Project management, recruiting, sales.... these are good avenues for him to consider. It was like a light went off - project management was his forte - he excelled there!
I worked as a recruiter, a headhunter. This is a great tool to see if an individual is a good "fit" for both the company culture, a particular work team, or to train for a specific position. I'm not saying they're without error, and they can be faked.... but if the taker is honest, it's a great resource to add to a hiring plan.
Quick story - guy bounced from job to job in the accounting industry - no particular reason, he just got bored and ended up leaving. Bad employment history, no employer wanted to hire him. I used the DiSC personality profile with him, went over the results and explained to him why accounting (or any field requiring little contact and high accuracy) wasn't a good fit for him. His strength lay in the ability to juggle 100 spinning plates at a time, keeping them all in the air and spending time with people. Project management, recruiting, sales.... these are good avenues for him to consider. It was like a light went off - project management was his forte - he excelled there!
Or they can weed out excellent candidates because they are introverts or some other nonsense. Not everyone has to be a bubbly Paris Hilton Socialite to do a great job and bring value.
And from a production standpoint, introverts are going to be 1000xxxxx more productive than some goof who sits in everyone's office and hobnobs all day
Or they can weed out excellent candidates because they are introverts or some other nonsense. Not everyone has to be a bubbly Paris Hilton Socialite to do a great job and bring value.
And from a production standpoint, introverts are going to be 1000xxxxx more productive than some goof who sits in everyone's office and hobnobs all day
There are some jobs where being an introvert would be a real detriment. As an introvert, the job I would most dread doing is sales. Interacting with a bunch of strangers and trying to sell them something holds zero appeal to me. If I were applying for a sales job, I should be weeded out.
But I'm a very productive employee in my own niche. Point me in the direction of a project and I will get it done!
As someone else said, a personality test is not protected by HIPAA. It's not medical information. The personality test is also not protected by ADA.
It's a personality test - nothing more, nothing less.
It's less actually. The only psychological test with any validity is MMPI which is hours long and has to be administered by a licensed professional and then only used as supporting evidence. It is not definitive.
Some personality tests are not allowed for employment screening, because they violate the ADA prohibition of discrimination related to mental illness. For example, the Minnesota Multiphasic (MMPI) is no longer used as a pre-employment screening tool.
It remains an excellent way to identify psychopathic and sociopathic behaviors, however.
Or they can weed out excellent candidates because they are introverts or some other nonsense. Not everyone has to be a bubbly Paris Hilton Socialite to do a great job and bring value.
And from a production standpoint, introverts are going to be 1000xxxxx more productive than some goof who sits in everyone's office and hobnobs all day
Not necessarily. Why should you or your employer end up stuck with a job situation you are not suited for? As I've understood it, testing can help employers position people in team situations where they would be MOST effective and productive (also happier BTW). Whether someone is introverted or extroverted makes no difference to the test. I've been through various personality testing over several positions and usually learned quite a bit about myself and those I happened to be working with...usually a good thing. Of course I want my bosses and my co-workers to understand me better and not make judgments out of context. Its not as if the results are going to be any big secret! You are going to demonstrate the traits whether those test results were shared or not.
Some personality tests are not allowed for employment screening, because they violate the ADA prohibition of discrimination related to mental illness. For example, the Minnesota Multiphasic (MMPI) is no longer used as a pre-employment screening tool.
It remains an excellent way to identify psychopathic and sociopathic behaviors, however.
New York State uses mmpi for certain civil service jobs that I know of. I had to take one a couple months ago.
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