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

HR Magazine, Feb, 2002 by Steve Bates

The American Psychological Association and other groups have established standards for test publishers and administrators, but there are no enforcement mechanisms.

"There are so many players out there, a few companies are going to have to rise to the top and set the bar," says Carol Rudder, CEO of DiscoverME, an online personality testing firm based in Prairie Village, Kan. Rudder, who recently co-authored an SHRM white paper on personality testing (see "Extra Online Resources," p. 34), says HR professionals can face "tremendous problems"-including bad hires and litigation--if they are not trained properly to administer and interpret assessment tools.

However, Rudder says, the rapid growth of tests on the Internet has at least one advantage: "It has forced the industry to be very up-front, to show that it has a very structured, very numerically oriented product. There's more and more evidence to show that it's not mumbo-jumbo."

Adds Hodge Golson, president of Management Psychology Group, a personality testing firm in Atlanta, a legitimate employment test "is not something developed over the weekend by a bunch of guys with a six-pack."

Putting Tests to the Test

Last year, when Kris Moriarty went to work for the Blood Bank of Central Iowa as HR director, she discovered that the Des Moines-based operation was using a personality test to help judge job candidates.

"I was skeptical about these kinds of things," says Moriarty, so she took a test herself. "I thought it would be interesting to see what I found." She quickly became a convert.

"It was uncanny. It nailed me--what I do well, my shortcomings," she says, adding that the test is now an integral part of her hiring process.

"It helps me tailor interview questions on areas where a candidate might have a weakness," she states. "For example, if I am hiring a nurse and a profile indicates that this person is not good on details, it weeds them out. It's a great starting place."

At Big Save Inc., a diversified grocery chain with convenience stores, gift shops and food service operations based in Eleele, Hawaii, every job applicant must take a personality test, says HR manager Lisen Berquist. Hiring managers are trained to interpret and explain test results, she says.

"A personality assessment is used as a tool. It's not absolute," says Berquist. "It's not an infallible profile. The hiring manager must take a holistic view of the applicant to ensure that there is a good match."

Some experts say that approach can help many employers because the interview process is a surprisingly weak link in many companies' hiring practices.

"Most interviews are not successful selection tools," says Steven Abraham, an associate professor in the business school of the State University of New York in Oswego. "Interviewers tend to make snap judgments" instead of using all the information that is available to them, sometimes including personality assessments, says Abraham. That makes more objective tools, such as legitimate employment tests, more valuable and perhaps essential.