You may have heard of the Myers-Briggs type indicator, developed back in 1943

Based on Carl Jungs typological theory, it is a questionnaire that highlights a person’s psychological preferences in how they view the world and make decisions. It was very popular in the business world but we have come a long way since then.

Now the “big five” approach is favoured by most psychologists, which consists of five core personality traits:

  • openness to experience
  • conscientiousness
  • extraversion
  • agreeableness
  • emotional stability

You can see why these five things could be an asset in a workplace environment and also how some are more appropriate for certain roles than others.

For example, extraversion is a good trait for a sales person to have, as it implies that they are good in social situations and find it easy to influence others.

During the 80s the big five was extremely popular, in order to try and hire cultural fits and increase retention.

But things have moved on even further from then, thanks to digital tools. Most questionnaires use sophisticated algorithms that allow for more adaptive testing, use more complex scoring methods and much more effective questions. Despite that, the test times are shorter and the overall experience is much better for the applicant too.

As I touched on before, you can make the link between the basic personality types and roles, but today’s technology is even savvier with how it assesses role-specific competencies and even uses comparison groups.

The tool that we use for example has a selection of comparison groups including; director, managerial and professional, team leader and supervisory, general population, and non-managerial. As well as a highly detailed report that goes through everything from leadership styles to conflict handling, it has a dandy conclusion called development interventions that’s highlights areas of concern but also provides recommended reading to aid development, training and coaching suggestions, and what behavioural changes need to happen.

These kinds of tools have the capability and flexibility to be constantly improved and updated and most definitely will, with the aims to save time, save costs, and improve effectiveness to make them even better for recruitment.

At Reality HR we know how important personality is when it comes to recruiting your shining stars and purple squirrels.

If you want to talk to us about how you could use psychometric testing to improve your recruitment then give us a call on 01256 328 428.