Personality Tests Are Risky Business
Personality Tests Are Risky Business
What if they’re wrong?
For the people who believe in the utility of these tests, I often wonder how they reconcile using them knowing that the results can not be right one hundred percent of the time. That, in and of itself, is an intrinsic risk. And beyond that, there is no way to measure the absolute effectiveness or accuracy of these tools because it’s impossible to know how many candidates are turned away based on inaccurate scores. Lastly and perhaps the most important, is that these instruments don’t test facts. They test subjective knowledge which is variable by day and cognitive, not behavioral, in nature. So what you are getting by administering these tests is what people think and feel at any given moment. They do not show you what someone can do, which matters more than anything when it comes to work. An audition would be better.
A good HR and management team should not need to rely on an impersonal and organizationally irrelevant test to help them decide what and who is right for their organization. They should know.
Personality Tests Are Risky Business - To learn more about this author, visit Donna Flagg's Website.
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I have long had issues with personality tests. In fact ever since I learned about how they were being used in organizations to make hiring decisions (along with hand-writing analysis) I was disturbed by the implications. I find the whole idea inherently restrictive, because these tests box people into a set of definitions based on gross generalizations, which makes them about as effective and applicable as horoscopes.
What if they’re wrong?
For the people who believe in the utility of these tests, I often wonder how they reconcile using them knowing that the results can not be right one hundred percent of the time. That, in and of itself, is an intrinsic risk. And beyond that, there is no way to measure the absolute effectiveness or accuracy of these tools because it’s impossible to know how many candidates are turned away based on inaccurate scores. Lastly and perhaps the most important, is that these instruments don’t test facts. They test subjective knowledge which is variable by day and cognitive, not behavioral, in nature. So what you are getting by administering these tests is what people think and feel at any given moment. They do not show you what someone can do, which matters more than anything when it comes to work. An audition would be better.
A good HR and management team should not need to rely on an impersonal and organizationally irrelevant test to help them decide what and who is right for their organization. They should know.
Personality Tests Are Risky Business - To learn more about this author, visit Donna Flagg's Website.
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