Using Assessments to Make Effective Hiring Decisions

Using Assessments to Make Effective Hiring Decisions

 Selecting a personality test is something you shouldn't do hastily, though. There are already about 2,500 cognitive and personality tests available on the market, based on the findings presented in my book Cracking the Personality Code. How then do you choose which to apply?

Did you know that if your company doesn't do appropriate due diligence while choosing tests, it could face legal action? This is a result of the vast array of assessments that are out there and the complete lack of regulation in the sector.

It's useful to know the history of personality tests in order to make an informed decision when selecting one from the many available.

During World War II, our narrative opens in a mental health facility in Minnesota. With yes/no answers to a sequence of questions, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is a test designed to identify mental illness. Many organizations began hiring psychologists to add a scientific element to the hiring process. These psychologists then used the MMPI psychopathological test, which is currently in use, to screen job applicants. real-false questions like "I feel sure there is only one true religion" and "I never indulge in unusual sex practices" are part of the test. Of course, most job seekers who took the test over the next six decades found this weird and invasive.

In the meantime, psychological exams for the military were developed by Raymond Cattell, a Harvard University professor and psychologist who worked in the Adjutant General's office. Following the war, he takes a research chair at the University of Illinois, where they were creating the Illiac I, the first electronic computer, which would enable large-scale factor analysis of his personality testing theories for the first time.

Using the new Illiac computer and an IBM sorter, Cattell did factor analysis on 4,500 personality-related terms. The outcome was the development of the Sixteen Personality Factor questionnaire (16PF), a test used to evaluate personality traits and measure IQ. The 16PF, which was first published in 1949, uses 16 distinct personality factors to assess people. According to Cattell's research, most people have easily observable surface personality qualities, but we also have source features that can only be found by component analysis's statistical procedures. His sixteen personality indices are:

Warmth: from reserved to attentive; Reasoning: from changeable to stable; Dominance: from cooperative to assertive; Social Boldness: from timid to bold; Abstractedness: from practical to suspicious; Privateness: from open to discreet; Apprehension: from self-assured to apprehensive; Openness to Change: from traditional to open to change; Perfectionism: from tolerant to perfectionistic; Tension: from relaxed to tense

Although W.T. Norman validated Cattell's research in 1963, he believed that personality is primarily shaped by five factors: extraversion, independence, self-control, anxiety, and toughness of mind. This method, known as the "Big Five" approach, is now the foundation for a large number of contemporary personality tests available. The method has been validated by countless numbers of investigations.

Here's what a manager looks for on a personality spectrum, using the "Big Five" terms:

* Introvert versus extravert: Which is more?
* Independence: self-sufficiency or self-reliance?
* Self-Control: Absence of self-control or lack of restraint?
* Level of anxiety: low or high?
* Receptivity to toughness or toughness itself?

Numerous derived personality inventories have been constructed using the framework provided by the five decades of study findings, which are far more detailed than the brief descriptions given here. Researchers in the field of industrial and organizational psychology have studied this subject matter extensively. The shocking issue is the number of businesses that make such large investments in hiring while ignoring our knowledge of the benefits of utilizing personality tests to identify the most qualified candidates.

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