Use career simulation, computer-based technology and video training to enhance knowledge of personality tests for employees. Video training for employee personality type tests for example, may show job-related scenarios with outcomes in which participants select the best or least effective consequence. Feedback for this type of testing assesses the test takers performance of job-related skills.

Educate yourself about employee personality type tests. Think of the tests as tools for measuring personality qualities that may mirror job performance. For instance, business personality tests contain a collection of questions asking participants to indicate the extent that they agree or disagree with proposed statements. Seek training for employee personality type tests that reflects the purpose of personality profile testing: assessing an individual’s suitability for job performance.

1. Train online for home-based learning of employee personality testing.

2. Align educational efforts with certified employee personality assessment training programs.

3. Experience the benefits of a customized employee personality test.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Engage in home-study programs to advance your knowledge of employee personality type tests

Training from home generally includes online programs with course material such as books, informational CDs and sample assessments. Pursue your home-based education with the added convenience of computer-based learning.

I recommend: Register for courses at Applied Personnel Research Testing Services, a company that provides study-from-home continuing education credits for employee personality type tests and other areas of workplace psychology. Educate yourself about the connection between psychology and employee personality assessment with the DeGarmo Group, an award winning organizational psychology group.

Seek credentialed programs to ensure reputable employee personality test training

Find training programs that offer company certification, accreditation or approval by the American Psychological Association. Programs with credentialing generally offer high quality education.

I recommend: Invest in Grier Learning International, a vigorous accreditation train-the-trainer program that gives participants a thorough system of assessments for business personality tests. Communicate with Hogan Assessment System (HAS), a company that provides training for individuals seeking certification in HAS employee personality type assessments.

Learn about personality type tests for business with tailor-made training

Gain from educational programs customized to fit your individual and company needs. With individualized programs, you can understand your own strengths and challenges before helping others identify theirs.

I recommend: Work with Caliper, a company that provides participants with tailor-made cohesive programs. Get in touch with AlignMark, a principal provider of human capital products and services including customized programs and training for personality profile testing.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Read industry literature about new developments in the field of personality profile testing to broaden your horizons. Keeping up-to-date on industry changes is a good way to enhance your educational efforts.

"Who are you?" asked the Who in their song of the same name. Often, employers want to know who their employees and prospective employees are and turn to employee personality assessments to find the answers. According to David Keirsey, in his book Please Understand Me, personality is divided into two areas: temperament, a set of behaviors to which one is pre-disposed; and character, a set of habits one follows. While habits can be determined through observation, identifying the underlying temperament is the goal of employee personality testing.

Personality testing for employees is available in both printed and online formats, allowing it to be administered by human resource specialists or self-administered by anyone wishing to have greater insight into his or her personality traits.

Business personality tests may be given in any of the following situations:

1. Personality profile testing before hiring a candidate to determine if the prospective employee will fit into the corporate culture.
   
2. Personality testing in corporations before assembling a work team to ensure that the prospective team members will work well together.
   
3. Employee personality assessment before promoting an employee to a position of greater responsibility to ensure that the employee is suited to the contact that the position requires with superiors and subordinates .

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Choose reputable personality test vendors

Look for vendors with experience in psychological testing who will work with your company to choose the type of employee personality test that meets your business needs.

I recommend: Psychological testing experts Infinet Assessment, Inc. have provided business personality tests to companies nationwide since 1997. Their mainstay is the Pre-Interview Challenge (PICk) a customizable test to determine which applicants are most compatible with a position. Profiles International also earns high marks for its tools to assess prospective employees’ abilities and interests and the quality of its customer service. The Association for Psychological Type International offers a network of experts in employee personality testing and the application of those results.

Consider online employee personality profile testing

Online testing is an excellent option for small companies or companies that wish to handle as much of the pre-interview process online as possible before meeting with the interview candidate.

I recommend: The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is an online assessment based on the Meyers-Briggs Personality Type Index that organizes the 16 Meyers-Briggs types into four major categories (Guardian, Rational, Idealist, Artisan) with four subcategories for each for easier understanding. ANSIR offers the 3 Sides of You Self Perception Profiling System, a personality test to identify employees’ strengths in thinking, work and emotional intelligence, and a set of software tools to interpret its results. Axiom Software offers both downloadable personality testing software and online assessment tools.

Join a professional organization for employee personality testing administrators

Professional organizations provide access to a diverse group of experts in the types of personality tests, their administration and their application to various types of businesses and positions.

I recommend: Founded in 1979, the Association for Psychological Type International is open to anyone interested research on personality types and the ethical applications of that research. Members hold positions in business and industry, religion, education, organization development, counseling and psychotherapy. The APTi provides international conferences, regional conferences and local chapter meetings as well as assorted training programs.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Provide yourself or the person you are administering an employee personality test adequate time to take the test and freedom from distractions during that time.
• •  Respond honestly and to the best of your ability on employee personality assessment questions. Choose the answer that reflects who you are, not who you want to be or who other people think you want to be. If two answers seem equally apt, pick the one you like better. There are no right or wrong answers.
• •  Never use the results of an employee personality assessment as the sole reason to hire or fire someone. Employee personality testing should be used in conjunction with skills evaluation and personal interviews to determine an employee's fitness for a particular position.

Facilitate your hiring process by keeping up with employee personality type tests news and trends. Developments in the field of employee personality testing include research about personality testing for employees. For example, studies offer updates about the effectiveness of such tests. Staying current with employee personality type tests news and trends also yields new data about how well the tests predict job performance.

Monitoring industry news and trends means staying connected with the latest business personality tests and use of these tests. For instance, an employee personality test assesses personality characteristics that may reflect job performance. Remain informed by regularly tracking trends and taking steps to use appropriate employee personality testing.

1. Review employee personality testing industry research and clinical data.

2. Peruse products and publications about employee personality type tests.

3. Utilize personality profile testing appropriately.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Study data that examines the effectiveness of personality tests for employees

Read literature that outlines the newest updates regarding employee personality assessment. Blogs and human resource articles often contain fact-based information interlaced with writer opinions. Additionally, these types of resources generally provide up-to-date intelligence.

I recommend: Connect with the Criteria’s Employee Testing Blog. Look through their lists of articles such as their study about personality traits by states and their primer about employee personality profile testing. Check out HRhome to see an article on rules for employee personality assessment, which discusses testing rules of thumb to ensure success.

Obtain products and newsletters about employee personality testing

Purchase current products that best meet your business personality tests needs. For example obtaining personality test software and knowing personality test vendors can facilitate your efforts. Receiving regularly printed publications is another way to track news about personality tests.

I recommend: Contact HR-Guide.com and select from a comprehensive listing of employee testing products. Subscribe to Front Page News from PreVisor. Their quarterly newsletter features trends affecting employee personality testing.

Monitor the appropriate use of personality type tests for business

Balance the pros and cons of using employee testing by acquiring legal knowledge about the use of such tests. Gain knowledge to help reduce potential employer liability affiliated with personality profile testing. In addition, understand the effective use of personality testing in corporations by working with companies that specialize in this area.

I recommend: Contact Performance Programs, Inc., to learn how to enhance the quality of employees hired while decreasing turnover through employee testing. Review legal cases about personality type tests for business at FindLaw, a resource for legal professionals and consumers.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  An employee personality assessment may include a collection of questions asking individuals who take the test to demonstrate the level that they agree or disagree with specific statements. Therefore, an employee personality test shows no right or wrong answers but rather indicates an employee's suitability to perform certain careers.

With hiring becoming a more precision-oriented field, many HR departments in all sizes of businesses are turning to an advances set of tools for figuring out predictions on the potential of those who go through a company's doors. One main tool is employee personality testing, where a business can use data on the individual to find out where he would fit into a company. HR staff have several different kinds of options for employee personality testing and knowing about some of the key terms will help beginners make better decisions.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Self perception

Self perception is one tactic involved in a lot of employee personality type tests in which an employee gives direct feedback on themselves.

I recommend: Learn more about self perception personality type resources at Social Style.

Temperament

This term is very important to employee personality type profiling. Temperament is a way of measuring certain factors in a person's general psychological makeup.

I recommend: Read a definition of temperament and other terms used in employee personality type tests at Self Growth.

Employer liability

Although employee personality type tests can be great resources for figuring out potential, employers have to be careful, as there are legal issues around using this kind of HR tool. This can lead to 'employer liability' if a court finds that the tests were not compliant with federal regulations or discrimination laws.

I recommend: Find more on employer liability issues with personality tests at Business Management Daily.

Meyers Briggs

The Myers Briggs test is a very common personality test that businesses may use to evaluate employees. The Myers Briggs contains several basic personality types that employers contrast with each other to determine best roles and policies for employees.

I recommend: See the basics on Myers Briggs at this Myers Briggs Introduction.

Profile

A profile is a set of data about an individual that HR departments or others use to make good decisions, usually with the individual's participation. An employee personality profile is the results of tests that show a 'portrait' of the person who was tested.

I recommend: Check out a definition on a personality profile from What Is. Read up on using employee personality type profiles and tests at the Rainmaker Group.

Psychometric testing

Along with 'personality tests,' some employers opt for psychometric testing. The difference is that psychometric testing covers more general behavioral aspects that would not fit into a 'personality' type profile. Psychometric testing can test an individual's strengths and weaknesses, cognitive abilities and more.

I recommend: Find out more about psychometric testing at Psych Press online.