Dear Joyce: I am a homemaker but am worried about those personality tests companies make applicants and employees take. My brother's mortgage business was slow and so he applied to a company for a job in its real estate division. Everything seemed to be going well until he took a personality test and was then rejected.
My husband, a manager in a well-regarded company, has been told that all managers will be tested within two months. Why do companies give these tests? How can he prepare to do well in the test?
"When employers consider your confidential personality test result, they are looking for your ability to connect with others and communicate clearly. Being misunderstood is one of the main reasons for conflict in the workplace," according to the authors of an informative new book that, in everyday language, delves deep into the murky world of personality testing.
Employment Personality Tests Decoded by Anne Hart with George Sheldon (Career Press; careerpress.com) contains details on the most popular tests and suggests how to prepare for each type of test.
Hart, who has designed numerous tests and assessments, includes her own practice tests to help you warm up for what's ahead. Although the book isn't a paperweight (108 pages of text and 89 pages of sample tests), don't plan on an overnight reading. The authors have distilled decades of behavioral science testing knowledge into digestible bites of information that you can use.
As for your brother's experience, here's what may have happened, according to the authors:
"Entrepreneurs are perceived and received differently from other job applicants in many HR departments that do extensive personality and abilities testing. Successful independent contractors negotiate business-to-business deals with corporations or government. They don't ask for employment. Business failures line up asking for a job. So runs the assumption."
Although entrepreneurs are hired for contract jobs (get in and get out), staff positions often elude them. Why? Hart and Sheldon cite studies suggesting that entrepreneurs are perceived to have authority issues and are their own people: "Individuals taking a personality test are expected to show loyalty to the corporation and a positive attitude."
As for your husband's upcoming date with destiny, despite all the familiar advice to "be honest, be yourself, and get a good night's rest before the test," the authors suggest that anyone can prepare in multiple ways, including:
Find out through research whether your personality matches the character traits of the corporation's leaders and department supervisors.
Take practice tests to learn what is expected of you.
Ask the person giving corporate tests what method the company expects you to use to make decisions under stress in your role.
When there's a lot riding on the outcome of a test, you may want to go an extra mile in being assured that it has meaning for what it's supposed to be measuring. Many unvalidated tests (tests that haven't proven themselves statistically reliable over a period of time) infest the marketplace. The Buros Institute of Mental Measurements, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (unl.edu/buros/history.html; scroll down to the link "Test Reviews Online"), provides critical reviews of commercially available tests. A review of each test costs a fee of $15. No, you will not be able to get a copy of the test from Buros.
E-mail career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at jlk@sunfeatures.com; use Reader Question for subject line. Or mail her at Box 368, Cardiff, CA 92007.
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