What Is the Purpose of Personality Tests?
In your selection process it is very likely that you will have to face a personality test. These days,the personality test is so popular that recruiters administer it to most job applicants and for most positions. While the job interview examines your overt behaviour, the personality test 'aims' to reach deeper, and expose those areas you might not be aware of, thereby providing recruiters with a more comprehensive profile of your personality. The information provided by these tests, coupled with the interview and the other psychometric tests including aptitude tests, helps the evaluator to put the pieces together and get an overall impression of the applicant.
The purpose of the personality test is one – to assess the match between your personality profile and the required job profile, to screen out candidates.
The most commonly used personality test in the UK is SHL's OPQ32 which measures 32 personality traits such as Persuasiveness, Trust, Decisiveness and many more.
An additional presonality test you may encounter is the 16PF which measures 16 basic characteristics such as Dominance, Apprehension, Vigilance and many more.
If the personality test shows that you don’t have the necessary traits for the job your application will most certainly be rejected.Therefore it is critical to know on which of the traits you received a low score, understand the issue at hand and take the necessary steps.
Recruiters and psychometric tests administrators will tell you that you don't need to worry about psychometric tests in general and the personality test in particular and that you cannot prepare yourself for it. You may find it hard to accept the idea of influencing a personality test but you must be aware that the truth is recruiters take the personality test results very seriously, and for most jobs this test would be a very significant factor in determining your suitability for the job.
We strongly recommend candidates not to underestimate the importance of preparation for the personality test. Contrary to what recruiters want us to believe, that there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers, since these tests aim to be an objective tool there are bound to be 'right' and 'wrong' answers. answers that match the personality profile the recruiters are searching for. Needless to say most of us would not apply for a job that requires a complete opposite profile to ours.
for example, we would find it hard to believe a timid and shy person applying for a sales job. Having said that, we all portray a spectrum of traits, they may be latent in a certain environment and salient in another; at home I may be less emotional constrained than at work – does that make me an emotional person or a rational one? Hence, understanding the personality test can prevent us from making foolish mistakes and improve our chances of success. Personality tests have built-in traps that you must be aware of before you take the real test.
Click here to purchase your tailored on-line personality preparation course and start practicing now. or contact us at e-mail: info@jobtestprep.co.uk