Behavioral Assessment in the Interview Process

Personality Assessment Use By Employers

Personality assessment, sometimes referred to as behavioral assessment, is increasingly growing in the interview process of employers and recruiters. Far from being a new phenomenon, early origins of assessment theory date back to 460 BC with the work of Hippocrates. Although commonplace in the United Kingdom for decades, North American jobseekers have only recently begun to experience personality assessment as a norm.

Poor hiring decisions are costly in time and money. Much like behavioral interviewing, personality assessment has been adopted by employers as a means of reducing uncertainty in their hiring and advancement processes. In behavioral interviews, the interviewer’s goal is to elicit information that will give them a sense for how a candidate will perform in a given role. The theory behind the technique is that the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. A seasoned hiring manager will pose a series of questions designed to get the candidate to discuss how he or she handled specific situations in the past. For instance, if the candidate is unable to provide examples that demonstrate their ability to act as a team player, to problem solve, to give attention to detail or other aspects relevant to the role, through personality assessment, the employer may determine that the candidate’s past behavior does not indicate a strong likelihood of future success.

Personality assessment instruments come in a range of formats based on differing theories of human behavior. They include normative personality tests such as the Myers Briggs Type Instrument (MBTI) and ipsative personality tests such as DISC theory developed by Dr. William Molton Marston (Harvard). Normative personality tests are inter-individual, meaning that they describe the individual against others who have taken the test (i.e. a norm group). Ipsative personality tests seek to describe the individual in a self-referential way (i.e. against themselves).

In North America, the use of personality assessment instruments by employers is governed by standards set by the USA’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and The Canadian Human Rights Act. These guidelines require that personality and psychometric assessment instruments should not be used in isolation to make a hiring decision but rather guide the interviewer to ask the right questions in order to reach the right hiring decision. As such, personality assessments are typically used in conjunction with behavioral interviewing. A well-designed assessment instrument will produce reports that identify the respondent’s work strengths and potential weaknesses related to certain roles. The interviewer then simply probes each candidate on these points. Those who lack awareness of their own personality or behavioral strengths and weaknesses are typically less successful in the interview process.

Assessment Use By Jobseekers

Most candidates find interviewing stressful. Behavioral interviews can be particularly daunting.

Behavioral interviewers typically provide definitions of desirable personality characteristics and then ask for examples of past work situations where the candidate exhibited these characteristics. After responding, the interviewer will often ask for another example to test the candidate’s depth of experience.

The theory is that candidates cannot prepare for these questions in advance. This is not always, as it depends on how self-aware the candidate is. Some individuals have a well-developed sense of their behavioral weaknesses and consciously work to modify their behavior. Others require objective third-party feedback. With the increased adoption of personality assessment tools among employers, jobseekers have begun to follow suit. There are several consumer-oriented personality assessment tools available to help candidates refine their job search and prepare for interviews. In fact, some of these consumer-oriented tools have been developed by the same providers that are offering the corporate personality assessment instruments.

While a well-designed personality assessment tool can be used to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate for the employer’s use, the same information can be used by the candidate to develop an effective interview strategy. This involves:

• gaining an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in advance (through the use of personality assessments and related reports)
• anticipating the types of questions they might receive;
• scanning their memory and resume for examples of past behavior in order to formulate the answers to those questions.

Knowing one’s behaviour and assessing their personality traits is the key to a successful interview. Candidates should be able to predict some of the questions by analyzing the job requirements ahead of time. With the help of personality assessment tools, combining self awareness with a solid understanding of the job requirements will enable a candidate to better prepare for an interview. Good luck!