A personality test assists employers in getting a clear picture of the candidate, says expert.
Alex Tidgård, organisational consultant and product developer at Assessio, says employers need to conduct a personality test early on in the recruitment process as it unlocks a whole new pool of candidates.
“If you want to be an open-minded recruiter, you need to test as early in the process as possible,” he says.
“A combination of lowering requirements such as experience, education or language and using problem-solving tests, personality tests and structured interviews unlocks a whole new pool of candidates.”
A personality test, Alex says, increases the chance of finding the right person for the position. “By paying more attention to the personal qualities and potential of the candidates, you also reduce the risk of applicants being rejected because of prejudice and gut feeling.”
He says the focus during the recruitment process should be on matching the candidate’s qualities, behaviour and experiences with a clear requirement profile.
“Competency-based recruiting is gaining ground in HR land. The personality traits of the applicant are then assessed on equal terms as previous experiences. More and more attention is being paid to candidates who are able to quickly solve problems and find new ways. Education and previous experience are therefore no longer the determining factor when it comes to who gets the job,” says Alex.
He says research shows that a person’s problem-solving ability can predict how quickly they will be able to learn new tasks and process complex information. “It is therefore not surprising that problem-solving skills also determine whether a jobseeker has the qualities to succeed in a certain position – even if he or she has no previous experience. We usually say that problem-solving tests measure the ability to know what to do when you don’t know what to do,” Alex says.
He shares that another advantage of hiring someone based on qualities rather than experience is that it is possible to plan the career during the recruitment. “The person can still start with an entry-level position, but the results of the tests show that you immediately know that the new employee has great potential to grow within the company in a relatively short period of time,” says Alex.
