1. Introduction

Not sure if you should practice for your personality test? According to research, 60-80% of candidates are rejected based on their aptitude test results. It is proven that practice increases your chances of getting hired.

1. Prepare for Personality Assessment Tests

Research personality tests to understand:

• What they measure
• The different types of personality tests
• How and why do companies use them?

2. Practice Personality Assessments with GF

So, without further ado, let’s get started!

2. What is a Personality Test?

Personality tests are assessments designed to measure various aspects of your character, behaviour, and psychological makeup. These tests are often used to understand your traits, tendencies, and overall personality.

Personality Assessments – Key Facts

• Personality tests are primarily designed to measure and evaluate various aspects of your character and behaviours. They help in understanding how a person thinks, feels, and behaves in different situations.
• Personality tests come in various formats such as questionnaires, assessments, rating scales, computer-based tests, etc.
• Employers use job personality tests to assess your suitability, predict job performance, and enhance teamwork dynamics.
• Personality tests are commonly used by employers alongside other assessments such as logical reasoning tests, numerical reasoning tests, verbal reasoning tests, and situational judgement tests.
• Various top industries use Personality tests including finance, retail, engineering, consulting, etc.
• There are no correct or incorrect answers in personality assessments, unlike other aptitude tests. However, there is an expectation to answer truthfully based on your preference.
• Around 20-32% of hiring managers use online personality assessment tests to hire (Society for Human Resource Management, 2017).
• The Big Five personality model, or Five Factor Model (FFM), is a widely accepted framework for understanding personality with personality tests.

Small and larger employers may use personality tests as part of their recruitment process in order to hire. Read on to find out some top examples.

Which Employers Use Personality Tests?

Large employers use personality tests to assist in accelerating the recruiting process and to find the best-fit employee for the role. Some key industries that use personality questions are:

Human Resources	Healthcare	Corporate & Business
Education & Academic Institutions	Sales & Marketing	Customer Service & Support

While some big companies that employ the use of personality tests to hire are:

Accenture	Barclays
EY	Wells Fargo
Apple	Asda
Amazon	P&G

So, you may be wondering…

Why do Employers Use Personality Tests?

Personality tests are beneficial to employers in several ways. Employers use personality tests to measure personality traits that are peculiar to their values and ethics, as well as good fit areas for the role.

Below are some other major benefits of work personality tests for employers:

So these are the key reasons why they use personality tests, but how do they use them? Find out below.

How Employers Use Personality Questionnaires to Hire

How do recruiters use online personality tests to hire?

Employers use online personality assessment tests to find the best fit for the role and company by assessing personality based on the skills and capabilities required for the role.

Employers use personality questionnaires in the hiring process in several strategic ways, including;

1. Pre-Screening Candidates: Using personality questionnaires early in the hiring process can filter out candidates who may not fit the job requirements or company culture faster.
2. Assessing Job Fit: Employers select personality tests tailored to assess traits important for specific roles. Some employers develop custom profiles based on high-performing employees to identify similar traits in candidates.
3. Complement Interviews: Results from work personality tests can guide interview questions, allowing interviewers to probe deeper into areas of interest or concern.
4. Enhance Team Dynamics & Compatibility: Personality questionnaires help in understanding how a candidate’s traits will fit with existing team members, promoting better team cohesion.
5. Reduce Bias: Personality tests provide objective, standardised data on candidates, helping to reduce biases that can occur in traditional hiring methods.
6. Predict Long-Term Success: Identifying candidates whose personality traits align with the job and company culture can lead to higher job satisfaction and retention rates.

Watch our following video below to understand even better how employers use personality questionnaires and learn how you can present your best.

The Science Behind Personality Tests

What is the science behind personality tests?

Personality as a factor of recruitment has been tested as far back as the 18th century. Since then, many key theories have been discussed, developed and refined to measure workplace personality and to predict your workplace performance.

Personality tests have frameworks that determine how they work. During the 1940s, Cattell, Eber and Tatsuoka developed the 16 personality factor questionnaire to collect data for recruiters to better understand a candidate’s personality and behaviours in the workplace.

Who developed the first personality test?

The 16 key personality factors developed for the employers measured the following:

Warmth	Reasoning	Emotional Stability	Rule-Conscious
Social Boldness	Dominance	Sensitivity	Apprehension
Liveliness	Vigilance	Privateness	Tension
Openness to Change	Self-Reliance	Perfectionism	Thoughtfulness

Watch our video below to further understand the science and psychology behind personality tests.

There are now various types of online personality assessments you could come across in your job application process. 

Understanding what types of HR personality test questions to expect, you can then better prepare for your assessment stage.

3. What Types of Personality Questionnaires Are Used by Employers?

Employers often use personality assessment tools provided by psychometric test publishers. There are currently over 2,000 types of work personality tests available for recruiters, however here are the main personality tests that are most commonly used by employers:

1. SHL OPQ: This is used by employers to measure candidates in 32 dimensions across 3 key areas of thinking style, emotions and relationships with others in the workplace.
2. DISC: Measures the candidate’s Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance through 28 multiple-choice statements with 4 options each.
3. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator): Identifies the candidate under one of 16 personality types using up to over 130 questions.
4. AON Adept-15: This measures a candidate’s personality across 15 aspects and 6 key workstyles based on their answers to 100 questions.
5. The Caliper Profile: Made to reflect the job model, this can measure over 280 behaviours, 56 competencies and 21 personality traits using up to 100 questions.
6. Hogan HPI: Similar to the OPQ, this assessment uses 220 questions to measure 7 key and 6 occupational areas.
7. 16 Personality Factor: The 16PF analyses the candidate’s workplace personality through their responses to 185 everyday statements.
8. HEXACO: This personality test includes over 100 prompts across 6 main personality areas similar to the SHL OPQ.

Over the years, a widely accepted standard in personality assessment tools has emerged across many industries.

This standard is known as the Big Five Model and forms the basis of several personality tests such as the SHL OPQ our WPQ and the HEXACO.

The Big 5 Model

What is the Big 5 Model?

One of the most popular types of work personality assessments is the Big 5 Model (Five Factor Model), also known as the OCEAN model. The personality traits the Big 5 Model covers are:

1. Openness to Experience: Imagination, creativity, curiosity, and a willingness to explore new ideas and experiences.
2. Conscientiousness: Organisation, dependability, discipline, and goal-oriented behaviour.
3. Extraversion: Sociability, assertiveness, enthusiasm, and a tendency to seek out social interaction.
4. Agreeableness: Compassion, cooperativeness, trustworthiness, and a tendency to be sympathetic towards others.
5. Neuroticism: Emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, and a tendency to experience negative emotions.

Our Work Personality Questionnaire (WPQ) uses the Big 5 factors to help prepare you for your Big 5 workplace personality test.

Another popular personality test is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test.

The MBTI is often used in comparison to the Big Five Model. Below we observe more details about this MBTI personality test.

What is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, designed by Isabel Myers and Katherine Briggs, identifies candidates under one of 16 different personality types, determined by four unique scales. These scales are:

1. Introversion vs Extraversion: This scale measures where you draw your energy. From external interactions and activities (Extraversion) or internal thoughts and reflections (Introversion).
2. Thinking vs Feeling: This scale evaluates how you make decisions. By logic and objective criteria (Thinking) or by personal values and subjective considerations (Feeling).
3. Intuition vs Sense: This scale assesses how you gather information. Through concrete, factual data (Sensing) or abstract, conceptual insights (Intuition).
4. Judgement vs Perception: This scale determines how you approach the external world. By preferring structure and planned approaches (Judging) or by flexibility and spontaneous options (Perceiving).

Employers use the MBTI test to decide who matches the requirements of the role and the culture at the company. Similar to the Big 5 Model, you will answer questions that ask you to agree or disagree.

One of the key differences between the MBTI and the Big 5 Model is that the MBTI test uses a collection of traits to classify you into a broad personality type. Meanwhile, the Big 5 Model focuses on the strengths of each personality trait, which may vary per candidate and are often independent of each other.

Our Work Personality Questionnaire (WPQ) uses the Big 5 factors to help prepare you for your Big 5 workplace personality test. Check out a sneak peek of our WPQ below!

Personality Test Example

So how do you prepare for personality tests? Find unique tips below to help you pass your personality assessment test.

4. How to Pass Personality Tests

As there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers in a personality test, there is no ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ in the typical assessment sense.

However, as employers use these to assess your job fit, check out our following top tips below that you can use prep for your upcoming online personality test:

1. Familiarise yourself with the type of personality test you’ll be taking, such as in-person questionnaires or an online assessment.
2. Practice with similar personality tests. There are available online resources that provide useful workplace personality test practice questions for you.
3. Understand the role you applied for. Align your responses with the traits that are desirable for the role you’re applying for.
4. Approach the test with a positive mindset. Focus on it as an opportunity to showcase your personality rather than a challenge to “pass”.
5. Read all of the information and instructions provided before you begin the assessment.
6. Answer questions truthfully to reflect your true personality. Work personality assessments are designed to reveal authentic traits and behaviours.
7. Choose moderate responses if you feel that extreme answers might misrepresent your personality. For instance, you may avoid always agreeing or disagreeing with statements.

Watch our video below for more actionable tips on how to pass work personality assessments.

And with this, we have covered everything you need to know about personality assessment tests.

Before you go, don’t miss even more answers to key frequently asked questions about personality assessments below!

5. Personality Tests FAQs