Getting it Right - The Value of Personality Measures
Why measurements of candidates’ personality are useful during the recruitment process.
Ability tests provide vital information about whether candidates demonstrate the required skills to do the job. However they do not enable employers to see what makes each person tick – Is the candidate’ personality compatible with the team or organisation? For example, towards the selecting, phase of a recruitment process, an employer may know that the remaining candidates possess above average critical thinking or problem solving ability. However, without obtaining information about their personality traits and values, it may be difficult to ascertain their suitability to the culture of the team.
The risk of making a bad hire
In addition, academic research is re-stating the importance of using measurements of Personality within selection processes. The consequence of not assessing the personality of your candidates could well be that people are hired with sufficient ability but incompatible characters for organisational values. A conflict between a person’s values and the goals of an organisation can result in disengagement, distraction, and ultimately, a desire to change jobs or company. Estimations of the cost of a bad hire can vary from tens to hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Getting it right
Alignment between an employee’s and the organisation’s values are extremely desirable because people are thus more likely to perform to the best of their ability, to learn and to develop their skills.
The purpose of tests and assessments is to gain as much information as possible, in order to make an informed hiring decision. On this note, the TalentLens’ UK personality tool, SOSIE 2nd Generation – our Traits & Values Instrument, helps recruiters and L&D professionals to:
- Determine if a person has the right set of traits / values
- Gauge their likely commitment levels to the job and the company
- Distinguish between people with similar ability
- Reliably predict candidates’ motivations / adaptation to a role or culture.
Read Next: Our Insights post Change, Adapt and Thrive.
Next Steps: Join our webinar “Increasing Team Effectiveness Using Type Tools”