Is a personality test a relevant pre-employment assessment?

One pre-employment assessment that is often used is a personality assessment, but some people are questioning their usefulness and wondering whether they should be used at all during the recruitment process, specifically the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator).

The author of the article referenced above questions the validity of the MBTI, given that he can see aspects of his own personality in many of the different personality categories. He goes further to say that the use of a personality assessment could be vastly improved if it actually predicted and modified behaviours.

Well, there actually is a personality assessment that can achieve these goals and it is called the DISC. Pre-employment testing using the DISC personality profiling tool helps to predict an employee’s behaviour at work, based on their everyday behaviour.

How can DISC help expand a personality test?

Simply basing your recruitment on personality testing doesn’t always work, because it doesn’t help to differentiate candidates with the same qualifications or experience. This is where DISC can be successfully included in pre-employment testing, because it helps recruiters to select which candidate is the best fit for a specific role and for an organisation, based on their behaviour.

Founded using the theory of psychologist William Moulton Marston, DISC focuses on four behavioural traits: dominance (D), inducement (I), submission (S), and compliance (C). As you can imagine, being able to predict a candidate’s responses and behaviour based on these traits, gives recruiters much more information on which to base their final decision.

Even more importantly, a DISC personality test that is used as part of a pre-employment assessment can help to improve communication and productivity within an organisation. For example, a supervisor who scores heavily on ‘compliance’ will need more information and greater detail from their staff in order to fulfil their own role.

If staff are aware of this personality trait in their supervisor, they can predict the type of information that will be requested at meetings and in so doing, they can actually alter their own behaviour to better aid communication and productivity. In turn, the supervisor who is aware of DISC staff profiles can alter his or her behaviour to better communicate with other members of staff.

DISC is a personality assessment that gives recruiters greater power to not only recruit the best candidates for an organisation, but it also helps staff to understand one another and communicate more effectively. For more information on how to use pre-employment testing in your organisation, call us on 07 3535 1220 or complete our online enquiry form.