There are three approaches that you can take to the personality questionnaire. You can either be totally honest and
make no attempt to influence the outcome, you can try to determine
what characteristics you think the employer is looking for and try
to ‘fake’ the test accordingly, or you can learn enough about how
these tests work so that you can be honest whilst ensuring that
you don’t blow your chances because one aspect of your personality
comes over as too extreme or inappropriate.
Personality tests have a historical association with academic and
occupational psychology which gives the personality testing
industry a degree of credibility that it does not always deserve.
Some of the well established companies who provide personality
tests do operate to the highest ethical and professional
standards. However, it is inevitable that such a growth industry
with low barriers to entry and little official regulation has
attracted companies whose main interest is in making a fast buck.
Most of the companies that produce personality tests are secretive
about how their tests were developed or how well they work,
claiming that this information is ‘proprietary’. The usefulness
and accuracy of even the most well established personality tests,
(for example, the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - first published in
1962 and the subject of thousands of research papers), remain
highly controversial among psychologists.
Why Personality Test Use is Increasing
The single most frequently given reason for using personality
tests in recruitment is the need to have a selection process which
can withstand legal challenges. Another, is the widely held view
that personality is becoming more important as people work in less
autocratic organizations and are given more responsibility even at
fairly low levels. A final factor is the ease with which these
tests can now be delivered online. This approach has distinct
advantages over paper-and-pencil tests:
-
There is no need to print and distribute printed material. This
has dramatically lowered the cost of test administration.
-
Results can be processed immediately with no human input. The test
administration software can produce very detailed and impressive
looking reports.
-
There has been a growing acceptance of personality testing among
the general public. Many people quite happily complete online
personality profiles in their own time outside of the recruitment
process.
-
There are now more suppliers producing a greater variety of tests.
This has driven costs down even further and increased the choice
of tests available to recruiting organizations.
The only sensible way to prepare for personality questionnaires to
learn enough about
how personality tests work to make an informed
decision about which approach to take. If you are wondering
whether these tests can be relied on to be fair or whether you can
influence the outcome without being dishonest, you can read all
about
personality tests on this website.
Everything you need to pass psychometric tests
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