With more than 10% or 30 million Americans out of work and more getting laid off every day more Americans are honing in on their job seeking skills to nail the perfect job. While there are dozens of resources to perfect a resume and ways to dress for the desired job, job personality tests are often overlooked but they do count.
Personality Tests Employers Give
Most employers give personality tests to see if a potential candidate would be a good fit for the job. According to Essortment.com, in an article entitled "Job Personality Tests," "Companies want to insure that they are getting the best candidate for the job by weeding out possible problems that they might encounter in the long run." In other words, a company does not want to spend hundreds of dollars training a potential candidate that is ultimately not the right fit for the job.
According to the Washington Post, in a 2005 article entitled "Employers Relying on Personality Tests to Screen Applicants," by Ariana Cha, the personality tests employers give which were once considered experimental are now standard practice-they found that in a recent survey about 30% of all companies use these assessment tests as part of the hiring process.
The tests are usually multiple choice and ask a candidate to agree or disagree with a number of different statements.
While the companies usually tell the candidates that the personality tests they give are merely a formality, they can actually be a hoop necessary to jump through in the hiring process.
What Do Personality Tests Look For?
While every company looks for different skills they want for their employers most tests look for similar characteristics such as:
- Is the job candidate emotionally stable?
- Will the job candidate work hard?
- Is the job candidate outgoing or introverted?
- What type of personality does the job candidate have (different jobs match with different personality types)
Other jobs test for more specific knowledge or skills. For example, a candidate applying to be a financial planner might be tested on his math skills, as having strong math skills is a necessary component for being a successful financial planner.
How to be Prepared for an Employer's Personality Test
There is no real study book or guide to acing an employer's personality test but the best way to be prepared is to know what kind of candidate an employer in a specific field would want to hire ahead of time and to try and answer the questions accordingly. For example, if someone is applying for a sales job, he would want to indicate that he is outgoing and truly dedicated to making sales.
The best way to really be prepared in the job market is to know what kind of career is best. There are many different free career assessment tests online that can point a person in the right direction so that a person's skills and talents can be matched with the right job!
Resources
"Job Personality Tests," Essortment.com
Cha, Ariana. "Employers Relying on Personality Tests to Screen Applicants" The Washington Post. March 27, 2005.
Rebecca O'Sullivan - Rebecca O'Sullivan is a high school English teacher with a BA in Comparative Literature. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and is a member of ...
