Personality Assessments: A Critical Tool for Hiring the Best Candidate

Employees are the essential and fundamental asset of any organisation. The stronger the human asset that an organisation has, the greater the long-term success they can enjoy. And that’s why, apart from quantitative screening tests and aptitude tests, psychologists and human resource practitioners also recommend using personality testing as a tool for making informed hiring decisions.

Here are some aspects where personality assessments can be very useful in choosing the best candidate for the organisation:

• Strengthening the Interview: Interviews generally prove to be a brief span of time to judge any person. While they may be useful in judging someone’s quantitative abilities or quick thinking and aptitude, they do not help determine a person’s soft skills and attitude in unusual and challenging situations. On the other hand, employee personality tests help judge an individual’s soft skills, nature, and response in uncommon situations. These are critical parameters based on which an interviewer can consider the soft skills should be focused on while interviewing the candidate.
• Gaining a Deeper Insight Into Candidates: While a candidate may have an excellent resume that perfectly fits your job role, a personality test will help you decide whether the candidate fits perfectly with your organisation’s work culture. Every organisation has a unique work fabric that comes from every employee’s values and belief systems in that organisation.While on-the-job skills are essential, it is an individual’s belief systems which are often pivotal in deciding their long term association with the organisation. HR practitioners have often observed that employees with complimenting value systems like those of the organisation are generally an excellent investment and prove to be long-term hires. Personality tests help gain a deeper aspect of the candidate’s value and belief systems and help understand how they will fit your organisation’s work culture.
• Development and Recognition Tools: Apart from analysing what the employee has to offer, personality tests also help you become a more empathetic and responsible employer. These tests help you understand the different motives and driving forces of your prospective hires. Based on that, you can craft his or her learning curve and plan their development journey in your organisation. Understanding their preferences will help you offer them a role that matches their career and personal goals. And such an effort to understand and adapt to the employee’s life goals most certainly ensures a healthy and fulfilling employer-employee relationship.

There are various reasons why personality tests prove to be excellent tools in engaging with promising candidates, onboarding the right candidates and ensuring the relationship’s longevity. Personality tests have been used for various purposes by organisations, including selection, determining career orientation, leadership skills, team building, and more. One such example of a personality test is the 16 pf test, which is used for determining career orientation. This test helps identify an individual’s unique personality characteristics. It also signals how a person may react or behave in a range of different scenarios. Test results help an individual chart his or her career map and explore any study fields they may want to pursue specialisations in.

A personality test is a very useful tool in gauging the potential of a prospective candidate. However, one must keep in mind, that like other testing methods, this method is also designed for a specific purpose and cannot cover all the aspects that need to be tested before onboarding a new employee. And hence, this tool should be used in conjunction with other selection and screening techniques like behavioural interviews, reference screening, aptitude testing, etc. This will help you get a 360-degree picture of a prospective candidate. Organisations who invest valuable time in selecting the right candidate usually reap the long-term fruits of this investment.

At NamanHR, we pride ourselves in helping organisations make informed decisions of choosing the right candidate through various tools for screening and selection. Get in touch with us to find the right candidate for your organisation.