The Limitations of Utilizing Personality Tests in the Hiring Process

Are you a Type-A or a Type-B person? 

If you found a wallet on the ground with $10 in it and no ID, what would you do? What if it was $1000?

What if your answers to these types of questions could take you out of the running for a job?  What if asking these types of questions in the hiring process is limiting your organization’s ability to thrive?

A friend of mine - let’s call her Sarah - recently told me about a time she made it past several rounds of interviews for a job and, before hiring her, the company administered a personality and aptitude test.  Despite being qualified for the position, Sarah did not get the job, and the company pointed to the test as the reasoning for that decision.  

That company missed out on adding her voice to their team, and especially missed out in closing the gap on the gender disparity in tech.  

Diverse teams not only are the heart of an organization’s culture, they’re the heart of an organization’s long-term productivity.  In a 2002 linguistics article by Janet Holmes and Meredith Marra, they point out this unique development as “joining a community of practice inevitably involves acquiring the cultural norms of the community.”  Every workplace, every company, every team will have its own culture that is truly unique, and that’s because of the people.  Diversity and inclusion efforts within organizations have gained more visibility in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing global outcry in summer 2020.  In the process of organizations taking a hard look at their hiring practices, one assessment that must be reviewed is the personality test.