5 Reasons Why Overreliance on Personality Assessments Can Sabotage Your Hiring Process
A company I worked for made a huge mistake using personality assessments when hiring.
I’ve been certified in DISC personality assessments. I’ve hired and coached teams using these tools.
So this may be a surprise coming from me.
But when you’re using them instead of having real human interaction and understanding, youre going to do more harm than good.
They are a tool to help guide understanding. Not replace it.
Heres what happened to me.
At a previous company, I interviewed for a client-facing Account Management role.
During the interviewing process I completed the Clifton StrengthsFinder. My strengths are:
– Achiever – Arranger – Competition – Learner – Maximizer
I was stoked when I was hired. But surprised to find I wasnt an AM.
They placed me in a Project Manager role because my test results told them I was an “Arranger”.
It wasn’t client facing. And I was the in-between for the AMs and developers.
I was instantly demotivated. First of all, it’s not what I interviewed for so I felt tricked. And second, it wasn’t what I wanted to do.
I could be a successful PM with my strengths. But my other strengths and interests were ignored by the leadership team.
Guess how long I lasted at that company.
These tools arent a shortcut. And they dont give you a full picture to understand other human beings.
They have great information and vocabulary that will give you more context. They will help paint a bigger picture. And make you better at understanding, interacting with, and getting the most out of your team.
Use them wisely.
How has a personality assessment impacted your career?
BTW, for funsies, here are some of my personality assessment results. Share yours if you want 😉
DISC - High D, low C Enneagram - 8 Myers-Briggs - ENTJ
