The significance of personality profiling for recruitment

New Delhi (India), June 25: In recent years, organizations have noticed increased use of personality assessments during the hiring process. These assessments offer employers a targeted understanding of a candidate's behavior, thought patterns, and personality traits. 

According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 32% of respondents reported using behavioral and personality tests for executive-level positions, while 28% used them for middle-management roles[Source]. With these latest advancements in technology, there is an exponential rise in the number of assessments available in the market. Personality assessments provide standardized insights into how candidates are likely to behave in the workplace, as well as their potential job performance and cultural fit. Further, these assessments can be used to improve candidate screening during the early stages of the recruitment process, providing recruiters with objective and scientifically validated predictors of a candidate’s likeliness of success in a specific job role. 

Personality tests can further mitigate discrimination and enable recruiters to identify high-performing candidates more effectively. As the recruitment process directly impacts organizational performance, understanding and evaluating personality traits is crucial in assessing employee performance.

 “The first most critical objective of hiring for any organization is finding the best fit for the role that they are hiring for. The fitment further breaks down into the right set of competencies and skill-sets that a role demands, and the attitude, personality, and behaviors that define the cultural and organizational fitment.”

Siddhartha Gupta, CEO, Mercer | Mettl

Personality tests in recruitment

The increasing popularity of personality tests in hiring can be attributed to the many benefits they have to offer for recruiters. 

Personality tests help gain a holistic overview of candidates to identify hidden potential and understand how candidates may perform in certain environments and situations.

They can also help recruiters determine if a candidate is a suitable cultural fit for the organization. 

These tests additionally promote diversity and inclusivity in hiring decisions and reduce the chances of cognitive bias in the recruitment process.

Personality tests are reliable if tailored according to the scope of the job role and the organization's hiring requirements. Therefore, these assessments should be used as a part of a comprehensive recruitment strategy. 

Psychometric assessments are considered reliable if they have an internal consistency reliability of 7.0 or more. In terms of validity, the assessment should be able to effectively measure what it claims to measure. 

Personality assessments in predicting job performance

The attitudes, habits, and behaviors of individuals are influenced by social and cultural predispositions, but a major driver behind them is the individual’s personality. This shows that the right personality tests can be an effective predictor of job performance. Personality is the main factor dictating the preferences and behaviors of individuals, which means that their personality can also influence job performance. It helps determine whether the person has the aptitude and affinity required to perform tasks required for a specific job role. People tend to be the most efficient and productive when their interests and personality align with the requirements of the job role, and assessments can help detect this alignment, proving useful in screening candidates. 

About Mercer | Mettl

Mercer | Mettl offers a comprehensive range of research-backed psychometric assessments that are scientifically validated and backed by industry-leading reliability standards. Dedicated to enabling organizations to build winning teams, Mercer | Mettl’s suite of personality assessments has been created with a strong alignment to renowned, widely accepted psychometric theories. These personality assessments cover talent acquisition solutions and development and are supported by an efficient cloud platform that provides actionable insights for driving transformative results.

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