Do Employment Personality Tests Really Work?

Everyone steals sometimes... True or False?

With the job market making a tortuously slow ascent to where it once was, many job seekers are now faced with a perplexing series of questions included as part of the routine job application process. These personality test questions are designed to help narrow down applicants to a job and allow employers to select the very best candidates for a position. The question is, just how effective are they? As it turns out, they aren't very accurate or effective at all. The questions usually range from mundane to downright bizarre. Some question whether a prospective employee would "rat out" a co-worker, while others quiz on whether it's all right to be a few minutes' late to work once per year. The companies who are making money producing, selling and scoring these tests would have employers believe that they are the ultimate way of discerning a good employee from a bad one, but when you take a personality test, are you completely honest, or do you pad your answers a bit to put yourself in a good light?

According to asktheheadhunter.com's Erika Kline, employment testing can cost employers anywhere between $100 and $5,000 per test. Also, there is no federal oversight concerning what types of questions are asked and no transparency about how the tests are scored. As long as the test doesn't attempt to single out applicants with disabilities, the test is considered legal and fair. Ms. Kline also goes on to say that there really is no set pattern for how to answer the questions, but most applicants will avoid answering the questions in an honest manner if they feel that it would put them in a bad light. As early as 1999, the Bureau of Labor statistics pamphlet on test assessment for employers indicated that personality and ability tests were fallible in two ways: One, that a personality assessment attempts to categorize prospective employees into relatively limited sets of personality traits, and two, that no test can be absolutely reliable in predicting employee performance.

The continued use of employment personality tests by employers, even in light of their inherent fallibility, indicates that employers may be relying on these tests for a bit too much, and making hiring decisions that aren't in the best interest of the company. For the prospective employee, you might be asking, "what do I do?" As with many things, being truthful in your answers is the most likely way for you to get to the interview.

Whether you think that personality tests are a fair assessment of your ability to do a job, it seems that they are here to stay. Fortunately, honesty really is the best policy. If you think about it carefully, consider this -- would you really want to work at a place where you had to constantly be a perfect employee for your entire shift? Would you want to work for someone who had a zero-tolerance policy for being tardy once per month?

Sources:
Ask the headhunter: Employment tests: Get an Edge: Erica Klein; www.asktheheadhunter.com
U.S. Department of Labor: Testing and Assessment: An Employer's guide: www.uniformguidelines.com