The goal of any recruitment process is to find the ideal candidate. For this, the recruiter goes through various steps during the recruitment process, to match the best candidate with the offered position.
Today, the candidate’s personality and his soft skills constitute a large part of the decision making of the recruiter. This is where the personality test comes in. It makes it possible to assess the match between the candidate’s personality and the expectations of the company regarding the job offered.
Here is a small example, an introvert candidate can’t not be given a outdoor sale position, even if his academic grades showed excellent competencies, unless he will have counseling on the sight and go through work coaching. Hereby, soft skills (in other words behavioral skills) have become increasingly important in recruitment compared to hard skills (technical skills).
Here are 6 reasons, why personality tests can help you in the recruitment process:
1- The first reason is that the personality test can help you choose between two similar candidates (equal diploma, similar professional experience). Indeed, it has surely happened to you not knowing who to choose between two candidates because the paths of the latter were similar. Based on a personality test, you could make a choice based on the personality and motivations of your candidates, matching it with the vision of the company.
2- The second reason is that the personality test can confirms the evaluation of the candidate made by the recruiter, and better identify the candidate profile.
3- The third reason for using the personality test is that it will allow you to be objective in your recruitments. Using a personality test allows you to use the same basis of assessment for all applicants, without letting your judgment and emotions interfere in your final decision.
4- Fourth reason to use this tool: it will allow you to use the results obtained from these tests to find the best talents for your teams! In other word, each sector in a company needs a specific personality characteristic, the personality assessment will be the best predictor for the success of your match.
5- You can as well standardize recruitment, and follow same procedure for all candidates.
6- It will reduce turnover in companies, and increase the retain of talented employees.
The BIG five test, is widely used to assess personality. It provides an insightful information about the candidate’s personality, add to that it gives an idea about how the candidate will approach a problem, solve it and the most important thing how he will manage stress, and build relationships inside the work environment.
Frank L.Schimidt in his study entitled: “The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 100 Years of Research Findings” in 2016, using the the BIG five test, found out that: job experience alone only allows predicting job performance with 16% accuracy the combination of cognitive ability and personality allows predicting job performance with 78% accuracy.
As a conclusion, personality tests are a very indicative tool to be used along with resume analysis, behavioral interviews and practical demonstration. This recruitment process will provide the company with a solid ground to choose her employees and flourish as desired.
Mrs. Carla Chedid
Clinical psychologist | Cognitive and Behavioral Therapist
