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Are pre-employment assessments / personality tests effective?
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Are pre-employment assessments / personality tests effective?
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I was checking out http://www.hatefiring.com (I was lured in by their funny, irreverent office ads) and I'm considering using online pre-employment assessments to evaluate new hires. Has anyone had
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Are pre-employment assessments / personality tests effective?

posted at 1/27/2009 4:41 AM EST
Posts: 1
First: 1/27/2009
Last: 1/27/2009
There are a few problems with personality tests for employment when used alone. The first is many HR managers don't do the research on which one best fits their organizations Human Capital objectives. Second HR managers don't look at the scholarly peered reviewed research that points out that personality assessments alone don't work because they can be easily manipulated. The research points out that a personality test combined with Gross mass intelligence tests offer a more accurate representation of a candidates over ability.

Mcbrando, MSHR
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Are pre-employment assessments / personality tests effective?

posted at 1/28/2009 11:59 AM EST
Posts: 544
First: 9/27/2004
Last: 9/13/2011
When I worked in retail we used an integrity test for hiring for years and rarely had issues with theft, then we stopped using it to cut costs; corporate management felt we did good enough background checks and had adequate internal security. But our internal theft went up and morale went down because of searches, the ever-present surveillance, and dishonest co-workers. The tool was valid and we did benefit from it. We tried to go back to using it, but ironically, not enough candidates passed.

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Are pre-employment assessments / personality tests effective?

posted at 1/29/2009 6:23 AM EST
Posts: 79
First: 3/19/2008
Last: 10/15/2009
Ida is right on: "If a test relates to specific job skills (cash handling, equipment operation etc) and has been documented to be a reliable predictor of performance then it could be useful."

The only way a test (personality, ability, integrity) is going to be worthwhile is if it can be demonstrated to be relevant to the specific job (eg, retail sales, management, whatever). Doing that takes someone (not necesarily a PhD) with expertise. If that is done the improvement in your selection and retention will be significant.

PS- The M-B is NOT an appropriate selection device.
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