Getting the Best from Personality Profiles When Recruiting

by | Leadership, Personality Profile, Selection and Assessment, Values, Values Assessment

It is clear that the vast majority of UK organisations now use personality profiles when recruiting.

There is also much written about their use, so we’ve written a short summary of the significant benefits and potential pitfalls of using personality profiles:

The Benefits of Using Personality Profiles to Improve Your Recruitment Processes:

  • Personality assessment enables organisations to use an evidence base in their selection process, (as long as the assessment is correctly chosen, used and interpreted….more on that later).
  • Adding to the insights available to those making the selection decision can significantly improve the robustness of the process. It also makes the process more legally defensible.
  • Personality assessments can provide valuable information about how a candidate might fit with the existing values and culture of a team or organisation.
  • Appointing the wrong person can be extremely costly, both in terms of lost performance and high turnover of staff.
  • Personality assessment can help you identify candidates who may excel in certain roles.  They can also give you important insights into a candidates skills, their preferred behaviours and the values that underpin them.
  • Insights gained through personality profiling can given appointing organisations important information about candidates potential development needs once in role.

The potential pitfalls and legal risks:

Although personality testing is widespread, the validity of certain tests has become controversial.  There are a vast array of personality assessments available and the quality and legal implications of using them can vary.

  • Recruiters need to be sure they have selected the correct personality assessment for the skills, values and behaviours they are looking to identify, (keep a look out for our next blog article).
  • “Off the shelf” personality profiles, without professional interpretation and feedback may not provide the insights required or be psychologically valid.  They could therefore place your organisation at risk of legal challenge.
  • Free tests generally will not have the rigorous evidence base behind them to be used in selection processes.
  • Using inappropriate personality assessments may result in legal risks, as a result of claims of discrimination.
  • Automatically generated tests without personal feedback may screen out talented individuals, or produce flawed outputs.
  • Be wary of automatically computer generated profiles which promise to be the ultimate panacea in selection processes. Psychometric profiles should be the starting point of a conversation with a qualified interpreter (see our previous blog article).

So….How to avoid the pitfalls and improve your recruitment process with personality assessments:

  • We always recommend asking for the advice of a suitably qualified assessor to help you select the appropriate test.  This will ensure you meet your legal obligations, to ensure the test is psychologically robust and valid. They will select the most appropriate norm groups.  They will also carry out the assessment and associated feedback processes.
  • Make sure the personality test you use is a valid predictor of the indicators you are looking to measure. You should make sure it has high reliability, and is used appropriately.
  • Use personality tests as a key part of the recruitment process.  Do not exclude a candidate on the outputs of a personality profile alone.  Personality profiles can provide vital insights into candidates and their likely success in a role (or not).  But these insights should be triangulated with other parts of the process to help inform the overall decision.  Alternatively insights could be cross referenced against performance data of successful post holders, to provide a robust model of success in a particular role.
  • Consider using a personality profile that includes an impression management tool, such as the EBW Emotions and Behaviour at Work Assessment.  This provides insight into what an individual may be trying to hide from themselves or others.

If you would like more information on our approach to using personality profiles in assessing candidates in a cost effective, but robust manner, please contact: viv.walton@deardenassessment.co.uk

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