Personality counts: Psychological tests can help peg the job applicants best suited for certain jobs - Cover Story

HR Magazine, Feb, 2002 by Steve Bates

Often during the past decade, Tim Burke, CEO of Quesi, a technology consulting and management company based in Sacramento, Calif., has had trouble finding the right people for jobs. Although everyone seemed qualified when hired, he says, the company "had a number of misfits consistently, and that bothered us. Some of our biggest challenges have been when we've hired a person who is nor right for the job."

About a year ago, Burke decided to start thing if personality test to help screen job candidates for attributes that would help them succeed in a position. Since then, "we've a significant improvement" in matching applicants with jobs, he says.

Burke had heard about such tests more than a decade ago but, like many people, was skeptical that personality assessments could be a legitimate, useful tool in his HR arsenal. Now he is so sold on them that he also uses a personality test to help existing workers determine if they would better fit another part of Quest's operation. Although some job applicants and existing workers have tesisted testing initially, some employees say they learned so much about themselves that they have asked Quest to test their family members, too.

"It helps us understand who the core person is," says Burke.

Can a quesstionnaire asking people how they react to various situations truly gauge human nature and tell us what jobs they might do best? According to a substantial number of researchers around the world, the answer is a, resounding yes.

Although experts warn that many personality assessments don't deliver what they promise, legitimate scientifically validated tests are helping employers evaluate job candidates to select those best suited for particular positions. Other tests are designed to measure intelligence, honesty, management aptitude and other qualities.

No one has hard statistics about how many employers test job applicants' personalities. Some testing experts estimate that roughly 40 percent do so and say the proportion appears to be rising.

As the economy tightens and employers focus on a lean workforce and on workplace security, the experts say, employment tests could take on added value. "There is a new interest in personality testing and psychological, testing with recent reports of workplace violence and the events of Sept. 11," says Ron Adler, president of Laurdan Associates Inc., an HR management consulting firm in Potomac, Md., and a member of the Society for Human Resource Management's Employment Committee.

Navigating the Test Maze

Thousands of personality tests are available commercially. In order to take advantage of them, however, HR professionals and executives must navigate a sometimes bewildering maze of jargon and claims by test vendors and consultants. Yet many HR professionals lack the background in psychology and statistics to evaluate the value of various tests or the claims of vendors or consultants who recommend them.

Accordingly, says William G. Harris, executive director of the Association of Test Publishers, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates responsible testing, HR professionals should be careful about getting the right tests--and the right consultants to start them on the path (see "How to Get Started," p. 34).

"Ask them to express their biases up front," he says. "Talk to a few. You don't hire the first person you see."

Because of the depth of the scientific research behind legitimate employment tests, HR professionals should expect to pay serious money for quality assessments based on a specific theory of job performance, says R. Wendell Williams, managing director of ScientificSelection.com, a test consultant based in Atlanta.

Even if it takes $20,000 or more to customize and validate a test as a predictor of performance in a particular job, plus $50 or more per applicant tested, says Williams, "it's going to cost less than one or two turnovers" caused by hiring the wrong person because of a lack of salient information.

Test experts caution HR professionals to define exactly what they hope to accomplish with a personality assessment before getting started. In addition, they warn that no test approaches 100 percent accuracy and some applicants lie to try to skew results in their favor.

How Assessments Work

Personality assessments shed light on each person's needs, attitudes, motivations and behavioral tendencies--many of which have a biological component. A century of research--accelerated and made more accurate in recent years by the advent of the computer--has led some experts to focus on a small number of personality factors that seem to relate to performance in the workplace.

Some experts say three relevant personality factors relate to the workplace; some say only one--the drive to reach our goals--does so. However, consensus is building in the research community that five factors shape our overall personality, and researchers and testing firms are trying to use all five to measure job fit (See, "Measuring Personality," right).

These dimensions are our relative need for stability, whether we are solitary or social, whether we strive more for innovation or efficiency, the degree to which we stick to our positions or accept others' ideas, and whether we are more linear or flexible in our approach to goals.