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

HR Magazine, Feb, 2002 by Steve Bates

Personality tests consist of series of questions that gauge a person's natural comfort level within these categories. For example, test-takers might be asked to rate themselves on a numerical scale as to how well they believe that they:

* Bounce back quickly from disappointment.

* Share personal information with work associates.

* Enjoy taking care of details.

* Take credit when it is deserved.

* Are driven to be "No. 1."

There are no "wrong" answers to personality tests--only results that suggest an individual is better suited to one type of work than another.

That's the kind of information that Quest CEO Burke wishes he had years ago, citing the example of an outside salesperson who struggled at making sales and was anxious about it. Testing showed that the worker might do better in an inside customer-relations job, and the change was successful.

Even in certain types of jobs, ideal personalities may vary. Some high-tech workers are best suited to sitting alone in a corner cubicle writing computer code, he says, while others flourish working directly with customers.

In their book The Owner's Manual for Personality at Work (Bard Press; 2000), Pierce and Jane Howard wrote about a trial lawyer who was highly successful and wealthy but miserable in her work. A personality evaluation showed that she was an introvert and "team player," whereas the classic profile of a courtroom litigator is that of an extravert who tries to impose his or her will on a judge or jury.

After getting career counseling, the lawyer decided to teach law and is much happier, say the Howards, who run the Center for Applied Cognitive Studies (CentACS), a test vendor and consultant in Charlotte, N.C.

Recognize the Limitations

But even the most ardent advocates of personality testing note its limitations.

"Well-designed tests can be very useful," says Ann Marie Ryan, a psychology professor at Michigan State University. But on occasion, Ryan says, researchers have to stop and ask themselves, "What do they really do?"

For example: Does the science behind personality tests prove that we'll never be able to overcome our inherent tendencies, no matter how hard we work to change? When a test indicates that a worker is in the wrong job or in a career for which he is poorly suited, should he abandon that dream?

Cindy McCauley, a vice president at the Center for Creative Leadership, a nonprofit educational institution in Greensboro, N.C., says that's where testing leaves off and choice takes over. She says that when an assessment at her center shows a significant misfit between personality and job, counselors tell the test-taker: "This is really going against your grain. Are you really willing to do something to overcome this, or would something else be a better fit?"

In addition, some experts question whether too much reliance on a personality test will lead to organizations full of "clones" and screen out capable people who would contribute differently.

And researchers caution against using a personality test as the only criterion in hiring.