Table of Contents

Cover

Copyright

About the Author

Other titles in the Perfect series

Perfect Personality Profiles

Content

Introduction

1 Why do employers measure personality?Personality and work performanceThe impact of situations on behaviourJob fitOrganization fitWhat are questionnaires used for?

2 What is personality?Behavioural styleTraits

Types

3 Measuring personalitySelection interviewsPsychological measures of personalityExample question stylesOther approaches to measuring personality

4 What questionnaires measurePersonalityCompetenciesEmotional intelligenceMotivation, values and interestsWork styles

5 How employers use personality questionnairesExample personality profile and reportRelating personality profiles to jobs

6 Completing a questionnaireMode of presentationPreparation ahead of timeCompleting the questionnaireHints on answering questionsAfter completing the questionnaire

Standards in the use of questionnairesFrequently asked questions

Further readingNotesAlso available in Random House books

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About the Author

Helen Baron is a Chartered Psychologist who has spenther career researching and developing psychometric tests.An active member of the British Psychological Society, shewas a founder member of its Standing Committee for thePromotion of Equal Opportunities and is currently amember of its Standing Committee on Test Standards.She lives in central London.

Other titles in the Perfect series

Perfect Answers to Interview Questions, Max EggertPerfect Babies’ Names, Rosalind FergussonPerfect Best Man, George DavidsonPerfect CV, Max EggertPerfect Interview, Max EggertPerfect Numerical Test Results, Joanna Moutafi and Ian NewcombePerfect Psychometric Test Results, Joanna Moutafi and IanNewcombePerfect Pub Quiz, David PickeringPerfect Punctuation, Stephen CurtisPerfect Readings for Weddings, Jonathan LawPerfect Wedding Speeches and Toasts, George Davidson

PerfectPersonalityProfiles

Helen Baron

Contents

Introduction

1 Why do employers measure personality?Personality and work performanceThe impact of situations on behaviourJob fitOrganization fitWhat are questionnaires used for?

2 What is personality?Behavioural styleTraitsTypes

3 Measuring personalitySelection interviewsPsychological measures of personalityExample question stylesOther approaches to measuring personality

4 What questionnaires measurePersonalityCompetencies

Emotional intelligenceMotivation, values and interestsWork styles

5 How employers use personality questionnairesExample personality profile and reportRelating personality profiles to jobs

6 Completing a questionnaireMode of presentationPreparation ahead of timeCompleting the questionnaireHints on answering questionsAfter completing the questionnaire

Standards in the use of questionnairesFrequently asked questionsFurther readingNotes

Introduction

You may be looking at this book because you think you, orsomeone you know, might have to complete a personalityquestionnaire in the near future, or perhaps you have filledone in recently. The purpose of this book is to help youunderstand more about personality questionnaires and theprofiles they produce. As with much of what psychologistsdo, there are some myths and misunderstandings aboutquestionnaires. Some people think they have some magicpower to unearth deep secrets about them, while othersbelieve they are all nonsense and are no more valid thanhoroscopes or tarot cards.

The reality is that psychologists apply scientific methodsto thinking about human behaviour. They developpersonality questionnaires and profiles as tools to providedescriptions of how individuals behave, and they aim to dothis in the most straightforward way that is effective. For themost part there is no magic about the way personalityquestionnaires work. They ask a series of often very simplequestions about how you think, feel and behave and thencollate the answers in a standardized way. At their mostbasic, questionnaires ask you whether you like being withpeople and then feed back as a result whatever you said.

If questionnaires are so simple why do employers usethem so much? Test publishing is a multi-million pound

them so much? Test publishing is a multi-million poundindustry in Britain, and as someone who works in the fieldof test development I am constantly being contacted by newclients who would like me to help them develop anotherquestionnaire. The reason people want psychologists todevelop tests and questionnaires for them is that there is alot of evidence that such measures are more efficient,effective and accurate than most other methods ofassessing people. Psychologists have researched themost important factors in understanding people andencapsulated these into questionnaires. This is good forthe employers, who can quickly gain a clear and objectivepicture of an individual. Personality profiles provideaccurate, easily comparable information about eachapplicant for a job.

Questionnaires also benefit candidates and others beingtested. The process of being tested is relatively quick andpainless. Some questionnaires take up to an hour tocomplete, but they usually take much less time. Moreimportantly, they produce objective and accurateinformation that is not subject to the individual biases of aninterviewer. Your results won’t be different if you haveginger hair or speak with an accent.

In this book I describe what personality is and how it ismeasured. There is a section on some commonlymeasured personality traits and characteristics, and thisincludes some concepts that are related to personality andthat you might encounter in questionnaire-basedassessments such as competencies and emotionalintelligence. You can use this chapter to think about yourself

intelligence. You can use this chapter to think about yourselfand understand more about your own personality.

This book does not contain a full questionnaire for you tocomplete. It is not possible to do this effectively because ofthe variety of needs and backgrounds that readers mayhave. A full questionnaire is likely to be misleading for atleast some people. There is, however, a section with lots ofexamples of different types of questions so that you cansee what questionnaires are like if you have nevercompleted one before and would like to practise answeringquestions. There is also a section describing howemployers might use your questionnaire results.

The chapter on preparation is more about how you don’treally need to do much preparation to complete aquestionnaire. After all, you are probably quite an expert onthe subject of yourself, and what you are being asked to dois describe yourself. However, there are some hints andtips about answering questions and getting the best out ofthe experience.

At the end of the book are sections on standards in usingquestionnaires and answers to some frequently askedquestions.

I hope the book will help you understand more aboutpersonality questionnaires and what they do and, if you areanxious about completing one, that it will allay your fears.Undergoing assessment for any reason, whether you areapplying for a job or being assessed to help yourdevelopment, can be unnerving. The best of us can worrythat we won’t come up to scratch or will be found wanting.

Although the book is called Perfect Personality Profilesthere are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ personalities. It isn’t better tobe extrovert than introvert or flexible than structured. Theseare just different ways of being. Of course, somepersonalities are better suited than others to some roles:sales people need to be outgoing and friendly rather thanshy and retiring; administrators can be introvert, but they doneed to be structured in their approach; journalists need tobe flexible and confident. A person who is suited to onerole might be hopeless in another. Understanding peopleand matching them to roles is where personalityquestionnaires and profiles can be so useful.

1 Why do employers measurepersonality?

Personality and work performanceEmployers are looking for people who will work well in a joband have the skills and knowledge necessary to do theirwork to a high standard. Having the right skills doesn’talways make the best employee, however. It is not onlybeing able to do the job that is important, employers arealso concerned about how the person approaches workand how well they fit into the organization. Some peopleapproach work in a structured fashion, whereas others tendto develop better relationships with other members of staff,customers or suppliers. Some people like to do things inthe same way all the time, and others like variety and willchange the way they do things as often as they can.Depending on the job and the organization, these differentapproaches may be more or less suitable.

People have different levels of motivation for work anddifferent things satisfy them. Some people work only for thepay and have little interest in the job itself. Obviously, somejobs are intrinsically more interesting than others, but somepeople are more likely than others to gain satisfaction froma task, no matter what it is. They gain satisfaction from a

job well done, whether it is a happy customer, a problemsolved, a project delivered on time or a clean floor. Peoplecan find motivation in interacting with others, working in ateam, helping someone else, solving a problem, workingout how something functions, wielding power andresponsibility, being active and in many other ways.

Different jobs and organizations have a different potentialto satisfy these personal needs. Jason, who likesachievements, might prefer a job with difficult goals andtargets to reach. Jacinta might find constant striving fortargets annoying or anxiety provoking. She might prefer arole where the pace of work was more measured andpredictable, where she felt confident that she couldaccomplish everything that was needed and not have toworry about whether she could achieve what was required.Jason might find a job in sales with targets to achieve eachmonth satisfying but an administrative job keeping recordsrather boring. Jacinta might find the administrative jobappropriate and hate working in the sales environment. Theway each person felt about a role would affect how theyperformed. All things being equal, it is likely that eachperson would work best in the role that best suited theirpersonal style. It is, therefore, in both the employer’s andthe job seeker’s interest to place people in jobs that suittheir motivation and personality.

Working in a job that does not suit your personalitygenerally requires more energy than one that is more in linewith how you naturally behave. As an example of thisconsider Joanna and Josh, two tourist guides. Joanna, who

is generally extroverted, likes talking to people and beingthe centre of attention, is happier in her work as a guidethan Josh, who is naturally rather shy and is slow to developa relationship when meeting new people. Josh has lots ofinteresting information to impart, but he can be perceivedas a little cold and detached by those listening. He makesan effort to seem bright and entertaining to others and toamuse the group with jokes and humorous stories, and thisdoes make his performance more successful. However, itis an effort for him, and at the end of the day he feels quiteexhausted with putting on this act. When he is tired he findsit more difficult to maintain the façade and thereforebecomes even less successful. Joanna, the more extrovertperson, finds being bubbly and amusing quite natural andcomes over to the group as warmer and more interested inthem – at least superficially. It costs her little effort to belively – in fact, she usually finds it energizing and ends theday on a high. The group enjoy Joanna’s more naturalperformance more than Josh’s efforts. Thus the personwhose behavioural style best suits the job performs betterin the role and gets more satisfaction from doing it. This isa win – win situation for the employer and employee. Theperson who is less suited to the role in terms of personalityenjoys it less and produces a reduced level ofperformance, and this is a less good outcome for both theemployer and the employee.

Personality style also affects the ease with whichsomeone might learn the new behaviours required in a role.In sales or customer service roles staff need to learn how to

interact with people, perhaps how to deal with a difficultcustomer, how to handle a complaint and how to close asale. All of these require interacting with other people andinfluencing them to modify their behaviour or attitude –become less aggressive, less angry or agree the purchase.There are techniques that are helpful in these situations,and with training anyone can become better at handlingthem. However, a person who is naturally comfortableinteracting and influencing others is likely to find it easier topick up such techniques and use them effectively thansomeone who is less outgoing or more task focused thanpeople focused. The person with a personality that suits therequirements of the role is likely to take more away fromtraining of this kind than the person who finds thesebehaviours more alien.

The examples so far are based on jobs that requireinteraction with people, and they contrasted people whoare more extrovert with those who are more introvert.However, similar examples can be found that reflect otherpersonality characteristics. For instance, some people aremore rigid in their approach, preferring to do thingsaccording to the rules and to work in a consistent manner,whereas others are quite flexible, like to try differentapproaches, tend to ignore rules and do things as thefeeling takes them. The former are better suited to roleswhere it is important to follow rules and structures – wherethere are health and safety procedures that must befollowed, for example. They are likely to learn proceduresmore easily and will naturally follow them once they know

them. On the other hand, they will feel uncomfortable in lessstructured jobs where there are no set procedures andeveryone finds their own way of doing things or where theyare dealing with constant change. The more flexible peoplewill feel comfortable in this type of role but are likely to feelconstrained when they are working in a more rule-boundenvironment. They are more likely to break rules or skipsome stages in a task, and this could lead to errors or evenserious accidents. Studies have shown that people withsome personality characteristics are more likely to havedriving and work-related accidents. When health and safetyofficers investigate accidents they frequently find that lackof concern for procedures is in large measure to blame.Even where there are other contributing factors, such asfaulty materials or equipment, the accident could often havebeen avoided had proper procedures been followed. Forinstance, a recent marine accident investigation found twocrew members on a fishing boat were hurt when they fellover 4 metres from lifting gear, which they had used to getthem out of the hold. Using the lifting gear was quicker andrequired less effort, but was much more risky than climbingthe portable ladder that was the safe (and prescribed) wayof exiting the hold. People who are adventurous and risktaking in their personality are much more likely to take thiskind of dangerous short cut than those who are cautiousand follow rules.

The impact of situations on behaviour

Personality is not the only determinant of behaviour.Extroverts are more lively and talkative, and introverts tendto be quieter and more reflective. While some people aremore extrovert than others, we all behave in a moreextrovert manner in some situations than in others. Whenthey are with close friends or family, people are more likelyto be lively and talkative and share amusing stories; at workwe may behave in a more formal manner, and at a jobinterview a person may talk only to answer questions. If youwere to observe a teacher giving a lesson to a (well-behaved) class, it might seem that the teacher was theextrovert – doing all the talking, moving around the room,initiating interactions with the students. The students wouldseem like introverts sitting quietly listening, speaking onlywhen asked.

However, the initial impression is likely to be false. Boththe teacher’s and the students’ behaviour are determinedlargely by the situation – that is, how it is appropriate tobehave in class if you are a teacher and if you are astudent. It is not possible to determine from this type ofobservation the personalities of the students or the teacher.If we were to examine the people’s behaviour more closelywe might gain some more clues, but these also could bemisleading. An extrovert teacher might tend to focus moreon the individuals being taught, whereas an introvert mightbe more detached and less connected with the individualclass members. But an experienced introvert teacher mighthave learned that it is important to maintain a connection

with the class and make an effort to do so. Extrovert classmembers may find it more difficult to sit still and listen, andtheir discomfort with their role might be evident throughfidgeting or other signs of restlessness. They may bequicker to respond to the teacher’s questions and morelikely to take opportunities to interact with others orcontribute and speak up when doing so. On the other hand,an introvert student might be bored with the topic and alsorestless or have a high need to please others and thereforebe willing to contribute when called on to do so.

If we consider the way we behave, particularly at work, farmore of what we do is determined by the situation – thedemands of the job or the expectations of our supervisor,colleagues or customers – than by anything to do with ourown personality. When we speak and when we are silent,whether we sit still or move around, how much we helpothers, what we spend time thinking about, even how wedress and how we speak – these are all constrained by therequirements of the work we do and the organization wework for.

Job fitIf situations were the only determinant of our behaviourpersonality would not be a very important factor in the waypeople perform jobs. However, this is not the case. Afterthe basic ability and skills of the job – word processing,cooking, dentistry, for example – research suggests that

personality is the next most important indicator of suitabilityfor a job. This is because although we can all moderate ourbehaviour to fit the needs of a situation, it can be hard tomaintain the change over an extended period. The ‘true’personality tends to come out, particularly in times ofdifficulty, fatigue or stress. The waiter who has beenpleasant and attentive becomes tacitum and apathetic asthe shift progresses; the computer programmer starts tolose concentration and make coding errors when adeadline is approaching.

Someone whose personality suits the role can behavenaturally, but the person whose personality does not matchthe requirements of a role has to act a part, and this takesenergy. Some roles require taking calculated risks. Forinstance, a buyer for a department store has to make thedecision in summer about what quantity of winter coats toorder for the next season, but the number sold will dependon how cold the winter will be and when the cold weatherarrives. Order too few, and the store will miss out onpotential sales; order too many, and the store will be leftwith stock it cannot sell. A buyer who is risk averse will findthis type of decision very stressful and may tend to err onthe side of caution or spend too much time seeking moreinformation and therefore postpone the decision, leading toincreased costs or delayed delivery dates. Someone whois a moderate risk taker will probably deal with the situationmore easily, and because they experience less anxietyabout the decisions they will be able to focus on what isknown about the situation (trends in previous years, the

accuracy of long-term weather forecasts, the quality of thegoods on offer and so on) and not be distracted byworrying about things that cannot be known. Of course, anextreme risk taker might not make good decisions bytending to underestimate the potential downside ofdecisions. So, while anyone with the appropriateknowledge and experience could make the necessarydecisions, someone with the most appropriate personalitycharacteristics would be more likely to make a gooddecision and would feel comfortable with the need to makedecisions when, of necessity, many of the facts areunknown.

Overall, the appropriate skills, knowledge andexperience and/or the ability to learn them will be mostimportant when selecting people for jobs, but after this theperson’s personality will be the next most important thingfor ensuring a superior level of performance.

Organization fitPersonality can be important in judging if a person will besuccessful in doing a job, but it can also be relevant todetermining how well a person will fit into a particularorganization. Every company or organization has its ownculture, its own way of doing things. Some organizationsare very friendly, egalitarian and informal. Others may bemore structured and hierarchical. In some companiespeople are expected to spend time helping other

employees with their work, while in others people areexpected to get on with their own jobs. Some companiesmonitor quite closely how people work, but others letemployees get on with things as long as the outputs are allright. The quality of the product produced may be ofparamount concern to one organization; another may paymore attention to the quantity produced. As you read this,you may already have sensed that you would feel morecomfortable working in certain of these organizationalcultures rather than others. Personality is a large factor inthis kind of fit. Someone who is flexible and has a hightolerance of ambiguity will fit in better in Company A, whichis unstructured and deals in a spontaneous manner withissues as they arise. The same person might find CompanyB, which has a very planned and controlled approach withlots of procedures that must be carefully followed anddocumented, stifling and bureaucratic. Someone who ismore regulated and prefers a more predictableenvironment might be very happy with Company B but findCompany A chaotic and disorganized.

What are questionnaires used for?Personality questionnaires are used for a number ofdifferent purposes. One of the most frequent is in makingrecruitment, selection and promotion decisions. Theinformation about candidates’ personality style and howthey approach things, relate to people, express their

feelings and so on is relevant to how well they will performin the job and fit into the organization. Personality profileshelp in understanding how candidates might approach thejob and the strengths and weaknesses associated withtheir approach.

Questionnaires and other tests are an efficient way ofproviding a lot of information about candidates. Oneadministrator can administer a questionnaire to a numberof candidates at the same time. Questionnaires can alsobe administered via a computer and over the internet, andcomputer-based report generation helps make the use ofquestionnaires very efficient. Interviews and other selectionprocedures tend to take up a lot of time, often of seniorpeople. Questionnaires are objective and standardizedmeasures, and they provide an additional perspective tothat gained through other selection means.

Questionnaires are also used in development contexts.On an individual basis they can be used to help peoplebetter understand their personal style and how this mightaffect their performance. Insight into your personality isimportant in improving performance, and understandinghow you naturally react to situations and people is a firststep to developing more effective responses. For instance,being aware that you are the sort of person who dislikeschange may help you check an immediate negativeresponse to suggestions from others and consider themmore on their merits. Being aware of how you seem toother people is also useful in adapting and developing yourwork style. All this can be gained through the use of

personality questionnaires. Leadership development workoften focuses on how people respond to others, and theuse of questionnaires can facilitate this. Coaches usequestionnaires with their clients to understand them betterand to develop an appropriate plan of action with them.

Team building has the aim of helping groups of people towork better together. Questionnaires can help teammembers understand themselves and other team membersbetter, and this can facilitate working together. When youunderstand why people respond as they do, it is ofteneasier to be patient with them rather than becomingexasperated. For instance, realizing that Jose, one of theteam members, likes to focus on one thing at a time willencourage you not to interrupt him unless necessary and tobe less upset if he is a little impatient with you if you dointerrupt him. Equally, being aware of how you come acrossto others may help you moderate your behaviour. Forexample, understanding that you are more of a risk takerthan other people in the team will help you understand thattheir negative response to your suggestions is not personalbut stems from their aversion to a more hazardousapproach. You may need to set out your ideas more clearlyand explain how you think the risks can be managed.

Personality questionnaires can also be useful when anemployee is not performing well in a role, experiencesconflict with colleagues or has other types of problems atwork. The results from a questionnaires can provide insightinto the individual’s behaviour, the causes of friction or adifficulty with the job itself. This understanding can be used

to help improve the individual’s performance. It cansometimes identify and help the person understand afundamental lack of fit with the role or organization and inthis case may encourage a search for more suitableemployment.

Career counsellors and outplacement consultants usequestionnaires to understand people’s behavioural style,interests and motivation. This helps them to suggest newand adapted career tracks for clients that are likely to suittheir needs but that might not have been thought ofotherwise. Young people finishing their education canbenefit from this help, but it can also be useful for peoplewho are looking for a change of career in later life, perhapsafter having been made redundant or giving up a jobthrough ill health or disability. Questionnaires can also helppeople understand the impression they make on others atselection interviews and develop better strategies for‘selling’ themselves to new employers. In Chapter 4 there issome discussion of how different personality styles mightaffect how people go about searching and applying for jobsand how they approach different types of assessment.

2 What is personality?

Personality is a word used in everyday language, and inone sense it is well understood. However, the sense inwhich psychologists use the word is a little specialized. Ineveryday language we talk about people who have ‘lots ofpersonality’ or who are ‘lacking in personality’. Forpsychologists everyone has personality, but the word refersspecifically to people’s typical behavioural and emotionalcharacteristics. It is what makes people into distinctindividuals with their own patterns of thinking, feeling,responding to others and doing things. Someonedescribed in everyday language as ‘having personality’might actually be someone who is lively, animated andvivacious. Someone who is described as ‘lackingpersonality’ might be someone who is reserved, modestand quiet. For psychologists personality refers to people’spreferences in a range of areas, including how they relateto others, their thinking and action style and their typicalfeelings and emotions.

The ancient Greeks referred to ‘temperament’ anddifferentiated four humours – sanguine, phlegm, choler andmelancholy – which Shakespeare also used to describe hischaracters. Chinese philosophy uses the five elements –metal, water, wood, fire and earth – to classify many things,including people’s temperament. Star signs are alsoassociated with personality factors: Aries are said to beenergetic and restless, Pisces are considered to be shy.

Although the nature of man has been discussed inphilosophy and literature through the ages, it was the latenineteenth century before psychology was born as ascience and personality began to be studied morecarefully. Early theorists suggested that personality mightbe related to physical characteristics – for example, thatstout people were outgoing in nature. One theory,phrenology, was based on relating irregularities in the skullto personality factors. The work of people like SigmundFreud and Carl Jung was influential in changing the waythat personality was perceived. Their theories wereparticularly concerned with how personality might developout of early childhood experiences.

The formal measurement of personality is mostly aninvention of the twentieth century. In 1936 US psychologists

Gordon Allport and H.S. Odbert collected over 18,000English language adjectives that could describe peopleand researched them to determine how they might becategorized and systematized. This work has been centralto the development of modern personality theory. Theyrecognized that some words referred to physicalcharacteristics – tall and plump, for example – and somereferred to very temporary states – excited and surprised.The words most relevant to personality were those thatreferred to more enduring or stable characteristics thatwere not physical, such as bold and friendly.

We concentrate on characteristics that are stable andenduring because these will characterize people and aretherefore relevant in thinking about people’s behaviour overa long period – years rather than hours or days. We all havetransitory moods – everyone experiences anger, sadnessor exhilaration from time to time, for example – and thesemoods are typically a response to what is happeningaround us. This is not what we mean by personality.However, someone who has a tendency to anger easilymight be described as fiery, excitable or irritable. Thesedescriptions reflect a more stable characteristic ordisposition, which can be thought of as part of the person’spersonality.

Although personality is made up of stable characteristics,this is not to say that personality cannot change over time.Our experiences throughout our lives, particularly inchildhood, influence the way we see the world and how werespond to it. Such changes could be thought of aschanges to our personality, but they are just as likely to bedue to our better knowledge of ourselves. We developways of responding that suit us and our personality.Research suggests that personality is relatively stable overtime. Old people who are extroverts were almost certainlyextrovert as children. However, experience can modifysome aspects of personality, and particularly traumaticexperiences can have a major effect. Counselling andtherapy can also effect change in some aspects ofpersonality.

There is strong evidence for a genetic component inpersonality. This means that some of our personality traitsare inherited from our parents and grandparents. Identicaltwins are found to be more similar in personality thanfraternal twins, and twins who are reared apart – that is,adopted by different families at birth – are often found toshare personality characteristics later in life. New parentsbecome aware of the personality of their baby even in its

first few months of life. This does suggest that someaspects of personality may be ‘hard wired’ into our make-up, and it might explain why personality tends to berelatively stable over time. Because personality tends to bestable, it makes sense to take it into account when lookingat the suitability of people for jobs and developing theirperformance at work.

Although personality is relatively unchanging, behaviourcan change. Introverts can learn to be socially skilled and tointeract with others. They can become effective at typicallynon-introvert activities such as making presentations andleading a team. Equally extroverts can learn to behave in aquiet, restrained manner, and they may learn to appreciatemore internally focused experiences, such as meditating.This does not mean that extroverts have become introverts,or vice versa. Rather, each has developed a broaderperspective than that which comes naturally to them andhas expanded their behavioural repertoire.

Psychologists sometimes invent new words to describespecific aspects of personality – for instance, it was Freudwho invented the terms extrovert and introvert. However, forthe most part, ordinary words are used to describepersonality, although psychologists may be more exactabout what they mean by a term than when it is used ineveryday speech. Many adjectives can be thought of aspersonality descriptors – optimistic, cantankerous,cautious, ambitious and so on. The four humours discussedabove can be thought of as personality traits. The cholericperson is irritable; a phlegmatic individual tends to belethargic; the melancholic person is brooding and morose;and a sanguine person is cheerful and optimistic.

Behavioural styleBehavioural style refers to personality characteristics thatrelate to how people act or respond to their environment –how they interact with other people, how they approachtasks and difficulties, how they feel and respondemotionally to things. Thus the same event or situation canbe perceived positively and as attractive by one personand negatively by another. For instance, someone who ishighly extrovert may be pleased to be invited to a party,look forward to the event with pleasure, behave in a livelyand engaged manner at the party and afterwards feelenergized by the event. Someone who is highly introvertedmay look forward with trepidation to a party and perhaps try

to find excuses not to attend. At the party the introvert maybe diffident, sitting on the sidelines and speaking to just afew very familiar people. Attending the event may be quitestressful and leave the person feeling tired and jaded withthe effort of being sociable. This illustrates how personalitycan affect how events are perceived, how people think andfeel about them and how they most naturally behave inresponse to those events.

Although it is difficult to control the way we perceive theworld or what we think about it, we can control ourbehaviour. If we hear an upsetting remark or some criticismwe think is unfair we can feel angry or humiliated, and wecould give vent to these feelings by answering back in anangry manner or by running away. However, we do not haveto act out these feelings. We can hide the degree to whichthe remarks affected us and offer a gentler denial or ignorethe remark. It takes an effort of will to smother our feelings,but we all control our behaviour to some extent according towhat we think is right or appropriate or because of the waywe would like others to perceive us. It is harder to changethe way we feel about the remark, to learn to take criticismas a positive learning opportunity and not to be hurt by it orbecome defensive. It is even harder to change the way weperceive the world, to stop seeing the remark as a criticismand to understand it as something else – the other person’sattempt to help us improve or even the result of their ownneed for attention rather than any real response to ourperformance. However, all these elements are potentiallysubject to our own conscious control to some degree, if wehave the desire and the energy to control our more naturalresponse.

When we describe someone’s personality we arethinking about their natural response rather than how theymight have learned to respond. However, if learnedresponses become so well embedded that they becomesecond nature then we can think of them as part of thepersonality. For most people, these learned responses area thinner veneer, which can be maintained only with someinvestment of energy.

When employers measure personality they areparticularly interested in how people behave in worksituations. However, people do not change theirpersonalities at work. Although they may moderate theirbehaviour in line with work requirements and conventions,they still have the same types of thoughts, feelings andbehavioural instincts.

Personality can be broken down into a number of

Personality can be broken down into a number ofdomains – for instance, motivation, attitudes, values,interests, behavioural style and thinking style – and we willexplore some of these areas in more detail in Chapter 4.First, however, we will consider two ways of thinking aboutpersonality. These are traits and types.

TraitsPersonality is often described in terms of traits orcharacteristics. A personality trait is a disposition tobehave or respond in a particular manner. The idea of apersonality trait is that it is a dimension of personality alongwhich people can differ. We might think of people as havinga little or a lot of a particular trait. Often the two extremes ofa trait reflect contrasting personalities. Examples might beextrovert and introvert or highly anxious and calm people.People at either extreme of the trait typically tend to haveopposite reactions to the same situation. Extroverts, forexample, have a positive response to meeting new people,whereas introverts might find this rather a trial. Introvertsenjoy an evening engaging in a solitary pastime such asreading or craftwork; extroverts, on the other hand, wouldfind this at best a dull way to spend so much time.

The trait can be thought of as a continuum, with somepeople distinctly at one end and some people distinctly atthe other. Most people, however, will be somewherebetween these two extremes. We could imagine taking aclass full of people and lining them up with the most anxiousat the extreme right of the line and the most relaxed at theextreme left. We could order the people in the line so thateveryone was at least as anxious as everyone to their leftand no more anxious than everyone to their right.

Figure 1: People lined up by their level of anxiety

In personality assessment we try to assign numerical

scores that reflect where individuals fall on this line betweenthe two extremes of a trait. A scale of a personalityquestionnaire is a set of questions that can be used toassign scores to an individual for a particular trait. It istypically found that there are many people with a moderateposition on the line or scale and relatively few people withmore extreme scores – that is, most of us are neitherextremely relaxed nor extremely anxious. Rather, themajority are reasonably calm and alert rather than overlyanxious or extremely relaxed. There is also a substantialproportion of people who are more anxious than this, butfew who are very anxious and stressed most of the time.Similarly, there is a substantial proportion of people whoare moderately relaxed most of the time, but few who arenearly always severe and relaxed.

In understanding individuals we look at their position onscales measuring a variety of personality traits. This isoften referred to as a personality profile. For instance, Jaymay be described as a very structured individual, who ismoderately extroverted, is imaginative and likes change, ismoderately helpful and sympathetic to others but can bequite anxious. Personality profiles are often provided indiagrammatic form. For instance, Jay’s profile might looklike this:

Figure 2: Personality profile for Jay

Unstructured <> Structured Introvert <> Extrovert Down to earth <> Imaginative Independent <> Sympathetic Anxious <> Relaxed

Of course, this description and the profile are anabbreviated description of the person. Jay is described as‘structured’, and this may be the name of the scale used inthe personality questionnaire, but ‘structured’ will have anexact meaning in this context that will have been defined bythe questionnaire’s developers, and it would not bepossible to know exactly what it implied without beingfamiliar with the questionnaire itself. It might, for example,include some or all of the following: planful, tidy, inflexible,disciplined, conscientious, rigid, neat, punctual, ordered,controlled and forward thinking.

The principle of a profile should be clear, however. Itprovides a picture of the individual in terms of thepersonality traits measured, and this can be interpreted by

someone who is trained in the use of the personalityquestionnaire. From the profile an experienced tester canderive a portrait of the person’s behavioural style andemotional responses, and this can be used in determiningthe person’s suitability for a job. Of course, it can havemany other uses, including helping a person to understandthemselves better, advising individuals on theirdevelopment needs or helping them to work better in ateam or as a manager.

Traits can be quite broad, encompassing a wide rangeof behaviours, or narrow, relating to only a specific aspectof behavioural style. Extroversion is a broad trait as it refersboth to the way a person feels and acts with other peopleand also to their mood (extroverts tend to be lively andcheerful). Extroversion can also encompass narrower traitssuch as emotional control, outspokenness, energy,optimism and (lack of) modesty. These traits are groupedtogether in the broad extroversion trait because theytypically occur together. Someone who is outgoing is morelikely to be energetic than lethargic. A trait such asemotional control is much narrower than extroversion,because it refers only to how a person controls theexpression of their emotions to others. Extroverts tend tobe lower on emotional control than introverts, but this is onlyone aspect of their behaviour.

Broad traits provide a description of personality at a verygeneral level, whereas narrow traits are needed for moredetailed descriptions. Broad traits allow for short, relativelysimple descriptions of personality, which can provide agood overview without becoming bogged down in detail.However, they may be over generalized and not reflect theexact personality style of the individual. They may overlookways in which a person is different from the norm of peoplewith similar positions on a broad trait.

Narrow traits are more useful when a detaileddescription of a person’s behavioural style is neededbecause they can be used to make fine discriminations.Someone who is generally highly extrovert may have moreemotional control than is usual for people in this group, andnarrower trait descriptions make it possible to elicit thesefine distinctions. However, this will require a longer andmore detailed description, which may be more than isrequired for some purposes. When working with narrowertrait descriptions it is possible to lose sight of the overallpersonality of an individual through concentrating on thedetail of specific aspects of their behaviour.

Questionnaires designed for a broad level of description

typically have between four and eight scales.Questionnaires that have narrower scales tend to have 16to 30 scales to cover all aspects of personality, and theytypically take longer to complete. When employers aredeciding which personality questionnaire to use, they will tryto choose one that will provide an appropriate level ofdescription of the individual for the purpose in question, butwhen a broad level of description is appropriate it must beremembered that this can conceal some fine distinctions.Measuring at a fine level will require a longer questionnaire.Some broad traits are described in Chapter 4, along withsome of the narrower traits that could be embedded withinthem.

TypesSome personality theorists disagree with a trait-basedapproach. One criticism of the approach is that it is purelydescriptive – that is, it tells us how people behave or thinkbut not why they do what they do. It cannot explain whysome people develop in one way and others in another.Type theories of personality are also generally used in adescriptive manner, but they are often supported by anunderlying theory of how types emerge and develop.

In the discussion of traits above we looked at the fourhumours as personality traits. However, it might be better tocharacterize these as personality types. Although we couldimagine a person who is both irritable and lethargic, thehumours were actually conceived as personality types.People were not thought of as being moderatelymelancholic and moderately sanguine, very choleric but notat all phlegmatic. Rather, each person was thought to be ofone particular humour. The rather strange names arebecause the humours were thought to be caused byexcesses in different bodily fluids – for example, thesanguine personality was fed by the blood. The star signsare also types in that your birthdate determines the zodiaccategory you belong to. Even if you are born close to thecusp between two star signs it is the controlling sign at thetime of birth that is most important. You are not a mixture ofthe two.

One type theory of personality that is the basis for acommonly used personality questionnaire, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator(®), is founded on the work of CarlJung. He initially worked closely with Freud but over timedeveloped his own theory of personality. He suggested that

developed his own theory of personality. He suggested thatthere are different modes of interacting with the world, andwhen we are quite young we develop preferences forcertain of these modes. Because of these preferences wedevelop some modes more than others, and these becomeour typical behavioural style. For instance, we can focus onthe here and now of what we see, hear and sense in otherways to gain a practical acquaintance with the world, or wecan perceive things more indirectly through ourunderstanding of what they are or their possibilities andpotential. One person, for example, might experience agarden in terms of the colours and scents of the flowers, thesound of bird song and the feel of walking on grass. Foranother person the same garden might trigger a raft ofthoughts – about the ecosystem as a whole, the signs of theimpact of pollution or how symbolic it is of theinterconnectedness of all living things. These two modes ofperception, one with a practical focus on perception andthe other with a more abstract focus on intuitions andpossibilities, are not on a continuum: they are fundamentallydifferent ways of approaching things.

Having developed a preference for one of these modeswe will tend to use it more than the other. We will, therefore,become more skilled and used to using that approach, andwe will be more comfortable using that way of perceivingthe world. It will become natural to us to adopt thatapproach rather than the other, and it will become ourdominant way of perceiving things. We will still be able touse the alternate mode, but it will be less well developed,more awkward and less familiar to us. We will mostnaturally use our chosen way. Thus the theory explains howtypes develop as they do.

Because these alternate modes are fundamentallydifferent, people belong to either one or the other. Further,the theory says that once you have chosen a preference fora particular mode you develop the behaviour and thinkingstyle that are typical of that mode even further. If we were tocharacterize a class full of people by type they would be inseparate silos, each belong to one group or the other.

Figure 3: People arranged by type

In the questionnaire based on Jung’s theory a person’stype is determined not just by the mode of perceiving (seeabove) but by three other areas or personality dimensions,each of which has two alternate modes. One of thesedimensions is extroversion and introversion. Thisdimension can be thought of as a continuum, as discussedin the section on traits. However, Jung’s view was thatextroverts and introverts represent fundamentally differenttypes. Extroverts are focused on the outside world of otherpeople and things, whereas introverts are directed by theirown inner world of thoughts and feelings. Introverts evaluatethings internally before trying them out in public. They thinkthings through before acting. They are more socially self-sufficient than extroverts, who need to try out ideas on otherpeople to see how they will react. Extroverts need to usethe outside world as a sounding board in order tounderstand their own behaviour and feelings. Extrovertsoften feel that they need to talk through an idea withsomeone in order to evaluate it. This leads to a strong needto be with other people, and extroverts have a more activeexperimental approach to doing things than introverts.Introverts tend to think things through internally beforeengaging in any action. Again, these are fundamentallydifferent ways of approaching things, and Jung’s theorysays that once we have a slight preference for one over theother, it will tend to develop more so that we become muchmore effective and more comfortable at using thatapproach than the other, and it will colour our way ofinteracting with the world.

We have now discussed two of the dimensions of theMyers–Briggs Type Indicator: sensing–intuiting and

extrovert–introvert. The other two are: thinking–feeling andperceiving–judging. As with the sensing–intuiting andextrovert–introvert dimensions, these also have specificmeanings within the theory rather than what might beexpected from everyday language. A person’s personalitytype is revealed by evaluating which four choices theymake. There are 16 possible personality types, and theseare determined by four choices between two modes. Oneof the most common personality types is the extrovert–sensing–thinking–judging type (ESTJ). These people tendto be realistic and practical and good at organizing andmanaging. They take a rational rather than an intellectualapproach, come to decisions quickly but may sometimesride rough shod over other people’s feelings. A differenttype is the introvert–sensing–feeling– perceiving type(ISFP). They have one element in common with ESTJs, butare very different in style. ISFPs are quiet, friendly and loyal.Modest about themselves, they dislike disagreements. Youmay need to get to know an ISFP well to appreciate theirwarmth and flexibility. Each of the other 14 types can besimilarly characterized.

One of the advantages of a type approach to personalityis that it is possible to combine the different facets ofpersonality into an integrated understanding of the wholeperson in terms of their particular type. The individual’soverall personality type, which may stem from acombination of a number of type dimensions, is seen as aunited whole rather than as a series of independentfeatures. Most people find their type descriptions quiteaccurate and insightful. One of the difficulties with typetheories is that the approach is about sorting people intocategories, and some people may not fit any of the positedcategories very well. It is not possible to take anintermediate position on any of the dimensions. Forinstance, types based on Jungian theory do not allow you tobe both analytic (thinking) and warm (feeling).

3 Measuring personality

While the science of measuring personality is relativelyyoung, people have been assessing personality for a longtime. The Book of Judges in the Bible describes howGideon chooses his fighting men for a battle (7:6). Hewatches all the soldiers drink from a spring after a longmarch and chooses only those who remain alert and readyto fight while drinking, rejecting those who put down theirswords and shields and bend down to the water to drink.He was selecting those who were fully focused on their dutyas soldiers over those who were sidetracked by theirpersonal needs, in this case thirst.

Whenever we meet people we do in some sense assesstheir personality. When we are introduced to someone wewill quite quickly make some judgements about whetherthey seem friendly and warm or cold and distant, whetherthey are quiet and reserved or lively and outspoken. Theseare all personality factors. However, we are not always veryaccurate in making these judgements. Research suggeststhat we make judgements about another person within onlya few seconds of meeting them and that we are quiteresistant to changing these judgements, even if theperson’s later behaviour does not exactly match our initialevaluation. One study found that people can make thesejudgements within milliseconds of seeing a picture of

judgements within milliseconds of seeing a picture ofsomeone yet have no possibility of understanding theirpersonality or behaviour from this exposure.

Deciding on what sort of personality an employer mightbe looking for and how this is determined is discussed inChapter 5. Here we are concerned with how personalitycan be assessed.

Selection interviewsThe most common way of evaluating job candidates isthrough the selection interview. This is used almostuniversally by employers to check out a candidate’ssuitability for a job. Although interviews are versatileselection tools that can provide information on manydifferent facets of a person’s suitability, research suggeststhat they are not always effective and are neither the mostefficient nor most accurate way of measuring someone’spersonality. An interview allows the employer and thecandidate to interact and evaluate each other. It allows theinterviewer to ask about any relevant topic – thecandidate’s education and experience, previousemployers, ambition and motivation and expectations ofthe workplace. Many employers will also say that they wantto evaluate the ‘fit’ of the candidate to the job and theorganization through the interview. This often means thatthey are trying to assess something about the person’spersonality and whether it is suitable. The interviewer wantsto know if this is the sort of person who would work well

within the organization, get on with other people andrespond well to the way things are done in the organization.

There are, however, some problems, both general andspecific, about using an interview to assess a person’spersonality. Research suggests that the interview is notalways an effective way of collecting information aboutcandidates. Unstructured interviews in particular are poorat differentiating promising from unlikely candidates. Onereason for this could be the skill of the interviewer. Manyinterviewers are affected by our tendency to make quickevaluative judgements about people (see above). It hasbeen found that typically interviewers decide quicklywhether they think that the person they are interviewing is alikely candidate. If they think the person has potential theytend to concentrate on collecting evidence to support thisview. They might, for example, ask the candidate to tellthem about a successful project. On the other hand, if theirinitial judgement is that the candidate is poor they will lookfor evidence to confirm this view. They might for example,ask the candidate to tell them about a project that wentwrong.

This seeking for evidence that confirms preconceivedideas is a typical strategy for evaluating information. Usedalone, however, it is quite a poor strategy. People have tobe trained to look for evidence that might contradict theirinitial impression to avoid making mistakes. Interviewerslook for failings in people they expect to fail and successesin people they expect to succeed but not always vice versa.They need to be trained to look for success and failings in

all candidates.Structured interviews by trained interviewers are much

better tools for identifying effective workers. However, evenhere there can be problems. Not all candidates are able toexpress themselves well at interview. Some people find itdifficult to put into words their past experience andsuitability for a role, whereas others are willing to sing theirown praises and give a positive image at interview. Somepeople are more modest and underrate their skills andsuitability. Some people become anxious at interview orwhen they are meeting new people, and this can affect theimpression they make even when social skills are notrequired in the role. If you are the sort of person who finds itdifficult to ‘sell’ yourself at interview you will appreciate theproblem.

If the interview is the only method used to evaluatecandidates, those who are poor communicators will loseout, even if good communication is not an important factorin the job. Using a number of different methods ofassessing candidates means that the employer can get amore rounded picture of the candidate, which will not bebiased by how well a candidate performs in a particulartype of exercise. Using personality questionnaires, writtenexercises or role plays are all ways of extending theselection process to look at candidates in different waysand gain more information about them.

A further problem with interviews is that they can be quitesubjective. An interviewer may have a personal response tosomething the candidate says. For instance, an interviewer

may dislike a particular turn of phrase and make a negativeevaluation of a candidate who uses it a great deal inspeech or dislike a candidate because they have a hobbyto which the interviewer has an aversion. It is quite difficultnot to be swayed by your own personal likes and dislikes inevaluating another person.

Finally, assessing personality at interview can beparticularly difficult. It requires great skill as an interviewerand a deep understanding of personality and how it affectsbehaviour. In particular, as the interviewee is trying to makea positive impression, they are probably not behaving in atypical manner. For instance anxiety and tension can affecthow the person comes across.

Psychological measures of personalityThere are many different ways of measuring personality.Some personality measures were developed for use inclinical and educational psychology. Many people haveheard of the Rorschach inkblot test, which is a measure ofpersonality and which belongs to the category of projectivetests. The person being assessed is shown an inkblot andasked to say what it looks like. The task is vague, and theperson being assessed projects their own ideas of whattype of response to make. Another projective method ofassessment is the sentence completion, in which theperson being assessed is provided with the beginnings ofsentences and asked to complete them. For instance:

When I think of my mother I . . .I am most happy when I . . .

Projective tools are primarily designed for use inunderstanding psychological problems and pathology, andhighly trained psychologists are required to interpret theresults. They are not intended for use in selecting peoplefor work or in other occupational contexts. The types ofquestionnaire used by employers that you might meet whenapplying for a job tend to be much more straightforwardand focus on typical personality characteristics, notabnormal ones.

Personality questionnaires

You might have come across psychological questionnairesin newspapers and magazines. These are usually notprofessionally developed questionnaires, but rather aselection of questions put together to illustrate a particularissue. The questions are often poorly written, and it is notunusual to find that none of the responses really describeshow you would behave. These are not the kind of questionsthat are put in properly developed questionnaires that aredesigned for use in staff selection and development.

Example of a magazine type quiz: ‘Are you a good

“best friend”?’

1. How often do you call your best friend?a. Once in a whileb. Everydayc. Every hourd. Never, my friend calls me

2. On meeting your best friend after a long time apartwhat do you say?a. Let me tell you what has happened to me!b. Tell me all about what you have been up toc. Why haven’t you been in touch?d. You don’t say anything special, it’s as if you hadn’tbeen apart

3. Your best friend does not like you newboyfriend/girlfriend. What do you do?a. Find a new best friendb. Trust your best friend’s judgement and drop the newboyfriend/girlfriend.c. Try to find time to see your best friend separately.d. Expect your best friend to put up with your newboyfriend/girlfriend as a loyal best friend.

4. You have just got back from work after a late shift,you are hungry and tired and you still have a pile ofpreparation to do for tomorrow. Your best friend ringsin tears. Do you

in tears. Do youa. Arrange to see your friend later in the week whenyou are not so busy and tired and can be more helpb. Drop everything and rush round to be with yourfriendc. Talk to your friend on the phone while you getsomething to eatd. Tell your friend you will ring back later when youhave done your work

There are various names for personality questionnaires.Some people refer to them as tests, but this is not accuratebecause the word implies something that can be passed orfailed. The word ‘test’ is usually reserved for assessmentsof ‘maximal performance’ – that is, where a skill,knowledge or ability is being measured and the focus is tofind out how well a person can perform. Most school testsare assessments of maximal performance, as arepsychometric ability tests commonly used in staff selection– verbal or numerical reasoning tests, for example. Youmay be asked to complete ability tests together with, orinstead of, a personality questionnaire when you areapplying for a job. The word ‘inventory’ is often usedinstead of questionnaire, and it suggests going through allthe elements of a person’s personality and listing them.Inventory can be used interchangeably with questionnaire.Sometimes a questionnaire is called a ‘survey’. This canbe misleading, because it suggests market research ratherthan personality assessment. Personality questionnaires

can also be referred to as ‘personality measures’ or‘personality instruments’. These different titles do not haveany specific implications for the content of thequestionnaire.

The proper development of a personality questionnairerequires the involvement of a team of psychologists,including experts in questionnaire design, in personalitytheory and in psychometric statistics. It is a process thattakes, at the least, many months and often a number ofyears. The project includes conceptual phases, when theideas of what is to be measured and how to measure it aredeveloped, writing and reviewing phases, when thequestions are created, trialling phases, when the embryoquestionnaire is completed by hundreds of people, andstatistical analysis phases, when the results of trials arereviewed to check whether the results meet the appropriatepsychometric benchmarks. If necessary, the questionnaireis revised in the light of the results and retrialled. There arerarely fewer than two revisions, and often many more. Inaddition to this basic process of questionnairedevelopment, research is performed to understand in moredetail how well the questionnaire works and how to use itmost effectively.

The result of this is that well-developed questionnairesencapsulate a great deal of knowledge and expertise inpersonality assessment and make this accessible to amuch less expert user. They are sophisticated tools thatenable a relatively unskilled person to assess personalityeffectively and accurately. While questionnaires are

sophisticated tools, most questionnaires are essentiallystraightforward. They provide job candidates, or otherscompleting them, with a way of describing their personalitythat is simple and easy to understand. The detaileddevelopment work is to create an instrument that is clearand unambiguous.

The last stage of development is the creation of acomparison group to use in interpreting the questionnaireresults. Most questionnaires are interpreted by comparingan individual’s results with that of a large relevantpopulation, such as working adults or managers andprofessionals. Rather than looking at people’s absolutescore on a scale, their relative position is considered. Thishelps to put the score in context and enables moreaccurate differentiations between different scores on ascale. A typical scale score will be assigned to between 5and 10 score categories or bands for the purpose ofinterpretation.

The information that questionnaires provide is typicallystraightforward. The purpose is to elicit from the peoplecompleting the questionnaire the knowledge they alreadyhave about their personality. However, the questionnairehelps to structure the knowledge and provide a metric, or ascale, in which to understand it. If you know yourself well,the results of the questionnaire will probably tell you whatyou already know. What it will do is put this information intoa structure that may allow you to make better use of it. It willalso help another person to understand you.Questionnaires used in staff selection will restrict

themselves to appropriate aspects of personality. You willnot be revealing information about yourself that a normalperson would not be happy to reveal in other job selectioncontexts such as an interview or application form.

Advantages of the questionnaire approach

All psychometric tests and questionnaires have a numberof attributes that make them effective measures of people’squalities. They are standardized tasks to which people canrespond on the basis of their own skills, abilities andcharacteristics. Each person receives the same questionsor tasks and is given exactly the same instructions. Allresponses are scored in the same way to provide thepersonality profile or type. This standardization allows us toinfer that the differences in the way that different peoplerespond are due to differences between them rather thanthe task itself or particular circumstances. This is not true ofmuch other information collected during the selectionprocess, when the interviewer might phrase questionsdifferently for different candidates, or the ‘chemistry’between the interviewer and the interviewee will differ,which can affect the way questions are asked and how thecandidate responds.

Questionnaires are developed by experts whounderstand what it is they are trying to measure and how tomeasure it. They structure information about personality sothat it is easier to understand. Rather than a series of

stories or disconnected facts, personality questionnairesprovide structured information within a profile that can bemeaningfully interpreted.

Questionnaires also provide objective information aboutthe individual. Because their administration and scoring arestandardized there is no place for the opinions or biases ofany individual to affect the results. While most employersattempt to make their selection processes as objective aspossible, the reality is that every assessor or interviewerhas their own personal prejudices and preconceivednotions about people. They may, consciously orunconsciously, find a particular accent suggestive ofcompetence or incompetence, or they may discount someexperiences and overvalue others – for example, they maynot realize the experience that can be acquired in helping inthe home but overestimate what can be gained fromparticipating in team sports – or they may be more likely tobelieve someone who is attractive over someone who isplainer in looks. A common finding of people who haveunclear speech because of a disability is that other peopleunderestimate their intelligence. This type of subjectiveattitude can lead to errors in assessing people, butobjective questionnaires help to counter this subjectivity.

Research shows that well-developed questionnaires canbe effective tools in selecting people for jobs. The use ofquestionnaires can help in the appointment of people whoare likely to be more successful in jobs, who fit in better toorganizations, who are less likely to fail in the job, who areeasier to train and who are less likely to leave after only a

short period of service. This makes them very useful foremployers. It is also in candidates’ interests to be selectedfor a job in which they are likely to succeed. Candidates arelikely to be happier and more satisfied in their roles, andbeing successful in a role is, in itself, a benefit. We wouldall rather succeed than fail.

Questionnaires are developed to provide a high degreeof consistency – that is, if you take a questionnaire twice,your results should be very similar. If two people who aresimilar in personality both complete a questionnaire theyshould each receive similar results. Typically,questionnaires are more consistent or reliable than othertypes of assessment. Different interviewers can come todifferent opinions about the same candidate, andcandidates may perform better in one interview than inanother. This can be because they get on better with oneinterviewer than another or because their ideas flowedbetter on one occasion than another. The standardization ofquestionnaires is helpful in maintaining a high level ofconsistency, but the detailed development process, duringwhich the degree of reliability is carefully measured andmonitored, ensures that precision of measurement is high.

Because of their standardization and objectivity,questionnaires are also likely to be fairer than many otherselection processes. Everyone receives the same task inthe same way. There are no helpful hints for one candidatethat others do not also get. In addition, during thedevelopment process a great deal of attention is generallypaid to ensuring that the content of a questionnaire is

appropriate for all types of respondents. This was notalways the case, however, and in the past somequestionnaires included material that was inappropriate orunsuitable for certain groups. Questionnaires designed forselecting managers might have assumed, for example, thatthe candidates would be male, and culture differencesbetween groups were not taken into account. Modernquestionnaire developers are much more sophisticatedand aware of these issues and will take them into accountin developing and researching questionnaires.

Questionnaire designsThe majority of questionnaires used in a work context arebased on the individual choosing or responding tostatements or words according to how well they describethem. Typically, you will be presented with a series of wordsor statements and asked to rate or rank them in some way.On the following pages are some examples of the kinds ofquestions you might be asked in a personalityquestionnaire. Such questionnaires are measures of‘typical performance’ – that is, they are trying to assesshow a person usually behaves, not the extremes of howthey might behave in extraordinary circumstances. Othertests, either psychometric tests of ability, such as numericaland verbal reasoning tests, or school examination, aretests of ‘maximal performance’, which are designed tomeasure the best a person can possibly do in a field ofperformance.

Some questionnaires are very short, with only a single

page of questions. However, questionnaires are oftenmuch longer and may have 200 or more questions. Longerquestionnaires tend to provide more accurate and moredetailed results, but they take some time to complete – upto an hour is not unusual. There is a trade-off between thelength of the questionnaire and the detail of informationabout personality that can be gathered and the accuracy ofmeasurement. Short questionnaires generally provide lessdetailed results but are quicker to complete. Somequestionnaires look at as few as four or five aspects ofpersonality, whereas others measure 30 or more.Employers will choose the design that best suits theirneeds, depending on how they want to use the results.

Some questionnaires are designed specifically for use inan employment context. These have questions or othercontent that are chosen to be relevant to the way peoplebehave at work. Other questionnaires are designed formore general use, not only employment, and they tend tohave broader content, which may include references totopics that are not relevant to work – relating to friends andhobbies, for example, not just employment and workcontacts. A further group of questionnaires has beendesigned for clinical use with people who havepsychological problems, and these can have very variedcontent and may sometimes even seem bizarre. They arenot appropriate for use in a mainstream occupationalcontext, and you should not be presented with them duringa selection process. Only on rare occasions, such as whenan employer refers an employee to a psychologist with

some emotional problems, might such a questionnaire beused within employment.

Questionnaires can sometimes feel quite repetitive whenyou complete them. Some themes seem to be repeatedthroughout the questionnaire, and you may feel that youhave already answered some of the questions. This is, infact, unlikely, because questionnaires rarely repeatquestions exactly. However, they frequently use a few quitesimilar questions to enhance the accuracy of measurementand the ability to differentiate between people. Repetitioncan also check the consistency of responses.

Because questionnaires are standardized instrumentsnot all parts of every questionnaire will be relevant to everyjob. You may become aware of this when you areanswering a questionnaire and some of the questions donot seem important for the sort of job you are applying for.Typically, an employer will look only at the relevant parts ofthe questionnaire in deciding on someone’s suitability forthe job.

There are several styles of content in questionnaires.Some ask you to rate or otherwise respond to single words– ‘friendly’ or ‘focused’ – and others use simple phrasesand statements, such as ‘Honesty is the best policy’, ‘I willsay what I mean’. Some questionnaires use quite long andspecific statements, such as ‘When working on a project Ineed to understand what the main purpose of the work is tohelp me focus.’ Much of the content of the type ofquestionnaire you will meet in an occupational context isquite transparent – that is, it is clear what is being asked

and what its relevance is to work situations.Some questionnaire developers feel that this approach

encourages people to try to distort their answers. Theyprefer to use a more opaque style of question, which isdifficult to relate directly to performance at work or commonpersonality traits but which has been shown throughresearch to relate to them. For instance, if it were knownthat introverts had a slight preference to write with a pencilwhereas extroverts were more likely to prefer writing with apen, you might include a question like ‘Do you prefer towrite with a pencil or a pen?’ These relationships areusually quite weak, and many questions of this type arerequired to be sure of a person’s personality. However,because this type of question can appear to be unrelated toany job or employment context, it is not possible to guesswhat they are measuring or what would be the desirableresponse. You will see that some of these more opaquequestions are included in the examples below.

Example question stylesSome questionnaires ask you to rate statements indifferent ways. This may be just agree or disagree, true orfalse, or it may be according to different types of ratingscales. Below are some examples of rating question types.

1. Say whether you agree or disagree with the followingstatements.

I like learning new facts. Agree Disagree I generally feel confident in company. Agree Disagree I rarely get emotional. Agree Disagree It is better to try and fail than not to try at all Agree Disagree People cannot always be trusted. Agree Disagree People like me because I am always willing tohelp them when they have problems. Agree Disagree

One of my favourite things is starting to write in anew note book. Agree Disagree

2. Use the rating scale below to show how accurately eachstatement describes you.

1 2 3 4 5 Veryinaccurate

Moderatelyinaccurate

Neither inaccuratenor accurate

Moderatelyaccurate

Veryaccurate

RESPONSE

When I meet a new person I am usually the one to start aconversation.

People describe me as friendly. I am the sort of person who nails my colours to the mast. I generally do what I am told. It makes me uncomfortable to have to tell a lie. I enjoy being in charge of others and telling people what todo.

I sometimes listen to the radio and watch television at thesame time.

3. Rate the extent to which you agree or disagree with eachof the following statements using the following scale.

1 2 3 4 Strongly disagree Disagree Agree Strongly

agree

RESPONSE

It is important to me to achieve my targets. I like to do a good job. I sometimes get upset. I enjoy meeting new people. When I hear a word I don’t know I like to find out itsmeaning.

I set myself achievable targets, make plans to achievethem and set up milestones so I can tell how I am doingagainst the targets.

I prefer listening to the radio than watching television.

4. Ask yourself, how frequently do I engage in the behaviourdescribed? The rating scale runs from one to eight; choosethe number that best applies to each statement. 1 Almost never 5 Fairly often 2 Rarely 6 Usually 3 Once in a while 7 Very frequently 4 Sometimes 8 Almost always

RESPONSE

Not do something that I have promised to do. Tell other people honestly what I think of them. Go out of my way to help someone with their work. Let my hair down after a hard week. Set myself challenging goals to achieve. Do something I have never done before just to experiencethe novelty.

Check what the weather will be the next day.

Some questionnaires ask you to choose betweendifferent options. Sometimes the choices are twoopposites – being alone, being with people, for instance –but sometimes the options are a selection of differentthings – being with people, doing something creative. Hereyou are being asked what your preference is. For somesets of options the choice may be quite clear for you. Atother times you may find that you quite like all the optionsand sometimes you may not really agree with any of them.Even if you have only a minor preference for one thing overanother, choose that. Across all the choices in thequestionnaire your real personality should come through.Here are some examples for you to try.

5. Circle the answer that best describes you for eachstatement.

A B When I am with other people Itend to be Lively Quiet

When I am working I would Start a new Finish something I

rather place of work am doing I would most like to workwith People Animals

When I am upset I am mostlikely to

Find a friend totalk to

Think thingsthrough on my own

I prefer work that is Stimulating Organized I am more likely to givefeedback if someone has

Donesomething well Made an error

I like to wear clothes that Have a strongpattern Are plain colours

6. Circle the answer that best describes you for eachstatement.

A B C

I prefer to work On my own Withanotherperson

In a team

I like work that is Familiar Inbetween Novel

When things arechanging I find it Exciting In

between Worrying

If someone is rude to meI am most likely to Be angry Ignore it Feel hurt

If I give a presentation Ilike to

Prepare wellin advance

Inbetween

Talkspontaneously

When it is very importantto me to achieve a goal I

Ask othersfor help

Just do mybest Work late

When I go out I ammostly likely to go to

A theatre orcinema

Arestaurant A club

7. Which statement in each pair is most like you?A B I am easily bored. I keep my work space tidy. I am a good listener. I like to beat the opposition.

I always meet deadlines. I want to be surrounded bybeautiful things.

I have a lot of creative ideas. I think people should sort outtheir own problems.

I often take work worries home. I play by the rules. I look for innovative ways ofimproving my performance.

I persuade people byexplaining my ideas clearly.

I always know how much money Ihave in my bank account.

I take time to get some freshair every day.

8. For each set of four words choose the one that is mostlike you and the one that is least like you. MOST LIKE ME LEAST LIKE ME

Lively Focused Caring Outspoken

Trustworthy Imaginative Tidy Soft hearted

Gentle Dependable Special

Flexible

Firm Energetic Emotional Curious

Analytic Competitive Friendly Structured

Garden Lighthouse Castle Library

9. For each set of three statements choose the one that ismost like you and the one that is least like you. MOST

LIKE MELEASTLIKE ME

Choosing something from a menu I have never hadbefore

Doing things by the book Making new friends

MOSTLIKE ME

LEASTLIKE ME

Lending an ear to someone’s problems Worrying about the future Thinking up new ways of doing things

MOST LEAST

LIKE ME LIKE ME

Planning a project Telling a joke Saying what I think

MOSTLIKE ME

LEASTLIKE ME

Analysing numerical data Looking for the flaws in a plan Focusing on achieving my targets

MOSTLIKE ME

LEASTLIKE ME

Coordinating the team’s activities Telling people what I think Asking other people for their opinion

MOSTLIKE ME

LEASTLIKE ME

When I make an error I see it as a learningopportunity

I think it is more important to tell people why weare doing something than how to do it

When I make a promise I will keep it, even if itcosts me a great deal of effort

MOSTLIKE ME

LEASTLIKE ME

Sharing a sandwich with a friend Staying up all night Worrying about what to wear for work

Other approaches to measuringpersonalityThere are other approaches to measuring personality apartfrom questionnaires and other psychological tools. The useof the interview to evaluate personality was discussedabove and found generally wanting in the hands of mostinterviewers. However, as a candidate you should beaware that an interviewer may well be looking at yourgeneral demeanour and patterns of response to peopleand situations as well as evidence of your skills, experienceand competence that are relevant to the role. In addition tothe interview, facets of personality may be assessedthrough other kinds of exercise. The rest of this chapterreviews the main types of assessment you may meetduring recruitment, selection or development activities,which might be being used in part to understand yourpersonality.

Role plays

Many employers use a variety of interactive exercises inassessment, including various kinds of role play, where thecandidate must interact according to a given brief. In adevelopment or promotion context these exercises allowparticipants to show how they might cope with scenariosoutside their current responsibilities. The content is typicallyrelevant to the job or employing organization, but not

always. For external candidates for a job, role plays can bedesigned to provide an opportunity to display behavioursthat would be relevant to the job but that do not requirespecific job or organizational information that someonefrom outside the organization may not have.

The assessment of the candidate is made by anobserver who watches how the candidate goes about thetask. Typically, a number of different areas of competenceare evaluated. Some of these may relate to skills andabilities, but generally some will be related to personalityfactors. The competencies to be evaluated will depend onthe requirements of the role for which the candidate isapplying.

Examples of personality-related factors that might beevaluated include:

• Influencing – did the person influence others to his orher point of view?• Leadership – did the person tend to take a lead inthe discussion, coordinating how the groupapproached the task?• Team working – did the person promote teamworking, encourage quiet group members toparticipate and allow others to speak?• Organization – did the person approach the task inan organized manner, consider all the issues, use thetime effectively and so on?• Empathy – did the person show an understanding ofthe perspective and feelings of other people in the

scenario?

Role plays may be one-on-one exercises in which thecandidate speaks to an individual with a particular purpose.Examples of individual role play exercises include:

• The candidate plays the role of a customer servicesofficer and talks to a customer who has a complaint.The candidate is required to find out the details of thecomplaint and resolve it, keeping within companypolicy but leaving the customer satisfied.• The candidate is given the role of a sales executivewho must introduce the product range to a new clientand try to gain an initial order.• The candidate plays the role of a supervisor whomust give feedback to a member of staff who hasseveral performance issues.• The candidate plays the role of buyer who must try tonegotiate a more advantageous contract with a keysupplier.

Role plays can also involve more than one person. In agroup exercise several candidates will be asked toperform a task together. Sometimes all the candidates areprovided with the same brief, but sometimes eachcandidate is given a slightly different brief. In general, thetask of the group is to discuss the matter in hand and reachsome conclusions on how to deal with it or the next steps totake. In some group exercises one person is appointed theleader, but more often there is no designated leader. Group

exercises might include:• The group play the role of managers in anorganization and are asked to make arecommendation on whether to accept a proposal tointroduce a new product line to a factory.• Each group member is given the results of acustomer survey and asked to come up with someideas to address the issues raised in the survey.• The group are asked to create a recovery plan afterone of the organization’s offices was damaged by fire.• The group are asked to agree a budget for theorganization. Each member is briefed about a differentdepartment and must argue the case for theirdepartment’s needs.• The group are asked to agree the design and spaceallocation for some new offices. Each represents aparticular section and is briefed about therequirements of their section.• The group are asked to decide how to use a givenbudget to purchase equipment to allow them to surviveif they were stranded in the Arctic.

Practical exercises

As an alternative, or in addition, to role plays, someemployers ask candidates to participate in a group activity.As with role play, observers evaluate how the personapproaches the task and works with the group. In this case,

however, rather than playing a hypothetical role, thecandidate is just themself performing the task. This type ofactivity is more common in assessments for developmentpurposes than assessment for selection or promotion.Remember that what is being assessed is how participantsgo about the task – for example, do they help each other,can they agree a strategy, do they get on with other groupmembers – rather than how well they complete theassignment. However, the members of a group that failscompletely with the assignment probably haven’t performedwell.

Examples of tasks might be:

• Agreeing a method to pass a message around thegroup without speaking or using written notes andsuccessfully using it to transfer messages.• Making a video to promote a health and safetymessage.• Finding materials and making a collage to decoratethe staff room.• Creating a training programme for new staff.• Using simple equipment to get the team to the otherside of the room without touching the floor.• Building a raft and using it to cross a pond.• Using planks and ropes to transport some heavybarrels over a high wall.

Objective personality testing

Some personality traits can be measured by looking at theway people complete simple paper and pencil exercises orcomputer-based tasks. For instance, a person’s attentionto detail can be determined through a task requiring use ofthis trait, such as colouring in all the o’s in a piece of text.Someone with low attention to detail is likely to miss someof the o’s. This approach to measuring personality issometimes used in providing careers advice, and it can beuseful for measuring a limited range of personality traits. Itis called ‘objective’ because rather than asking people totell you about their personality from their subjective view,the personality information is taken from observing the waythey complete a task, and in that sense it is completelyobjective.

Situational judgement tests

Another type of exercise that is used to elicit a person’sbehavioural style is called a situational judgement test. Inthis type of exercise the candidate is presented with ahypothetical situation and asked to choose the option thatbest reflects how they would respond. These exercises arequite versatile and can be used to measure many thingsapart from personality traits, but they provide someindication of how a person might behave in a particularsituation or how they think it would be appropriate to

behave. Situational judgement tests are more likely to beused to measure competencies (see Chapter 4) than purepersonality.

These questions may ask you what you would do in aparticular situation. Some situational judgement testquestions focus on what you should do – that is, what is theright thing to do in a particular situation – and they are,therefore, less about how you would behave and moreabout your understanding of what is the correct thing to do.Some questions ask you to choose one best answer. Otherformats might ask you to mark the best and worst answersor to rank all the answers from best to worst. Alternatively,you might be asked to rate the answers according to howeffective they are.

Some situational judgement test questions have a clearcorrect answer. More often the best answer will depend onthe context. For instance, in the first example below someorganizations might prefer people who would speak toJohn directly. A more hierarchical organization might prefersomeone who would refer the matter to a manager. Somesituational judgement tests measure personality usingoptions that reflect different personality styles. The thirdexample below is like this. Options 1 and 2 suggest a morepeople-focused management style, whereas 3 and 4 aretypical of a more task-focused one.

Example situational judgement test questionsYou could try responding to these questions in the differentways described above, such as rating and ranking the

ways described above, such as rating and ranking theitems.

1. You have noticed that John, one of the people who worksin your team, is not pulling his weight. He always says heis busy with his own work when anyone asks for his helpwith a team assignment. How should you deal with thissituation?

1. Explain to John that his behaviour is not fair to therest of the team.2. Speak to your manager about John’s attitude.3. Take John aside and try to find out why he behavesas he does.4. Ignore the situation; it is for your manager to dealwith if necessary.

2. A colleague asks you to review a report she has written.It has to be ready tomorrow. You think that although ithas some merits it is poorly written and misses outseveral important topics. How would you deal with this?

1. Tell her that the report is fine and praise the bestparts.2. Point out a few errors that need correcting.3. Tell her honestly the problems that you see in thereport.4. Offer to help her correct the report after work.

3. You are appointed as manager of a new department. It isyour first day in a new role. Which of the following would

you do first?1. Call a meeting of the whole team to introduceyourself.2. Walk around the department and introduce yourselfinformally to all the team members you meet.3. Ask to be briefed on the main activities andstructure of the department.4. Arrange a meeting with your manager to hear whatis expected from you.

4 What questionnairesmeasure

In Chapter 2 we looked at what personality is, and it israther obviously personality that personality questionnairesare designed to measure. However, personality can beinterpreted quite broadly to include all those factors thatmake us different from others. This includes those thingsthat are typically thought of as the core or personality – theway we think, feel and behave, and how we relate to others.More peripheral, but still sometimes included as part ofpersonality, are interests motivations and values. Inaddition, questionnaires are used to measure emotionalintelligence, competencies, leadership style, team typesand many other things. Questionnaires measuring thesedifferent things can be surprisingly similar, but they can alsobe very different in style. In this chapter we look at thedifferent areas to be measured, starting with the moremainstream parts of personality and then looking at morespecific measurement focuses.

PersonalityThe core elements of personality can be thought of as a

person’s behavioural style: how a person interacts with theworld. There are hundreds of characteristics that can belisted under this heading, but research suggests that thesecan be grouped under five broad headings. These aresometimes called the ‘big five’ personality factors or traits.Some personality questionnaires are designed to measureat this broad level, others look at more specific traits.

Each of the big five traits is conceived as a continuumfrom one extreme of the trait to the other extreme, andmeasurements suggest that many people have anintermediate position on the scale between the twoextremes. The title of the trait will reflect one of theextremes. Although it could equally be described by anadjective describing the other extreme, a conventionaldescription has developed for four of the five, withdescriptors usually at one end. For instance, theextroversion trait is actually the continuum between extremeintroversion and extreme extroversion. Most people aresomewhere in between the two extremes. The trait could bedescribed as introversion, but convention is to use the termextroversion. We talk about people being high on the trait –that is, they have a behavioural style that is typical of theend of the scale used to describe it. Someone who is lowon the trait will be best described by the opposite of thescale name.

This language is purely conventional. There is nosuggestion that it is better to be high on a trait than low.They are purely descriptive of the person’s behaviouralstyle. There are no good or bad personality traits. What is

true is that certain behavioural styles will be more suitablefor certain types of activities – for example, extroverts arebetter suited to interacting with lots of people, whereasintroverts are better at work where there is little opportunityto interact with others.

The descriptions of each of the big five personality traitsthat follow explain the typical behavioural style of people atthe two extremes of each trait, as well as describing whatthe average person, who is moderate on the trait, may belike. Remember that there are actually very few people whoare extreme on any trait and far more who are in the middleor moderately towards one end or the other. As well as adescription of the trait there is a short discussion of thetypes of work that might suit people at different positions onthe trait and how they might approach the task of applyingfor a new job.

You might find that you can place yourself on each ofthese traits from the descriptions in this chapter. However,you might sometimes find that although some of thedescription applies to you, some of it does not. This maybe because you have a middle position on the trait – youare neither strongly at one extreme nor the other, and soyour behaviour is intermediate. Because these are broadtraits it could be that you are at one end of a scale for someaspects of the trait and at the other for different aspects.There are some questions at the end of each section tohelp you decide where you are on the trait.

Openness to experience

High opennessThis trait reflects the person’s attitude to experiencing andlearning about their environment. People who are high onthis trait – open to experience – like having newexperiences, they are curious about their environment andwant to learn more about things. These people tend to bemore positive about change. They are often moreintellectual and conceptual in their approach to things,wanting to understand and enjoying learning. They mayenjoy thinking about abstract concepts or consideringhypothetical situations. They tend to be imaginative, haveartistic tendencies and be sensitive to beauty. They arelikely to be innovative and creative in the way they think anddo things. People who are open to experience may easilybecome bored with routine and crave constant novelty.They may prefer the theoretical over the pragmatic, and thiscan make them rather impractical.

This sort of behavioural style is appropriate for artistic,creative and intellectual pursuits. It can also be desirable inthose involved in research and development. People whoare open to experience may be better at coming up withsolutions to problems and dealing with constantly changingenvironments. This style is not suited to performingrepetitive or recurring tasks, where things must always bedone the same way. People with this personality style mayalso find it difficult to work in ugly or unattractive situations.

A job seeker with this personality style might be quite

creative at finding job opportunities or moulding a CV toparticular job requirements. Artistic tendencies could help aperson create an attractive CV. Curiosity might spur actionto find out more about the employing organization, whichcould impress an interviewer and help understand what sortof person the organization is looking for.

Someone who is open to experience might be used tothinking about how they approach tasks and be able to givegood reflective answers to an interviewer’s questions.Creativity could be helpful in providing imaginativeresponses that are likely to make the candidate morememorable to the interviewer. However, the dull, repetitiveside of searching for a job, reading through hundreds of jobadverts or filling in yet another similar application formmight not appeal to this sort of person, and someinterviewers might find unusual responses wacky andunrealistic rather than creative.

Low opennessPeople who are low on this trait, closed to experience orconformist, take a more straightforward view of things. Theyprefer the familiar to innovations. They will tend to takethings at face value rather than engaging in a lot of analysisor considering alternative possibilities. They may not havea great interest in art or science and will be moreconcerned with what is happening in the here and now.They tend to be conservative in their approach and mayfind dealing with change quite difficult. They are oftenpractical and ready to get on with things rather than

practical and ready to get on with things rather thanengaging in a great deal of analysis or searching foralternative approaches.

This behavioural style is suited to coping well with jobswith little in the way of novelty, where the day-to-day tasksmay be quite repetitive or where there is little change orvariety in the situation or the way things are done. On theother hand, people who are low on openness to experiencemay be less suited to work requiring the generation of newideas, where there is a great deal of change andreorganization and where there are no familiar patterns toreturn to. As a job seeker, someone like this would be lesslikely to be put off by the dullness of searching throughsituations vacant listings or filling in yet another similarapplication form. The lack of curiosity typical of someonelow on openness may mean that they neglect to researchthe company’s background because they do not see it asan interesting activity. Answers to the interviewer’squestions are likely to be practical and matter of fact ratherthan creative and original, and people who are low onopenness to experience may struggle to analyse their ownbehaviour for the interviewer.

Moderate opennessPeople who are intermediate on openness to experiencemay have a moderate, rather than all-consuming liking forintellectual or creative pursuits, and they may be able tocope with and even welcome some change and variety butfind too much change difficult to deal with. They will have a

reasonable tolerance of repetition and sameness inaspects of a job and like a balance between the new andthe familiar. They may have a degree of imagination andcreativity and be able to come up with some new ideas andapproaches to problems, but they find it difficult to becreative all the time. They may be better at adaptingexisting ideas than developing new ones. This balance canmean that they cope well with work that has some elementsthat do suit those who are open to experience but someelements that suit those with low openness to experience.For instance, copywriters may need to be creative in someparts of their role but may also have to spend much of theirtime rewriting and checking copy, which can be quite dull.

However, some people who are intermediate onopenness to experience may have some of the traitsassociated with openness but some related to a moreclosed approach. For example, a person may be veryimaginative and creative in their thinking but prefer workingin familiar surroundings and dislike dealing with change.

Assess yourself on openness to experienceCircle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostlyin the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both or youfind it difficult to decide between the answers you are likelyto be moderately open to experience.

HIGH LOW

Do you prefer to do something new orsomething familiar? New Familiar

Are you good at coming up with ideas to solve Usually Rarely

a problem? Usually Rarely

Do you prefer the practical or the abstract? Abstract Practical If you don’t understand something are youcurious to know more or do you tend to let itpass?

Curious Let itpass

Conscientiousness

High conscientiousnessPeople who are high on conscientiousness tend to get onwith their work well; they are self-disciplined and will keeptheir word if they say they will do something. They like tofinish what they have taken on. They pay attention to detailsand check the quality and accuracy of their work. Theyprefer to work in a structured manner and will generallyfollow rules and guidelines where they exist. This sort ofperson can be relied on to get on with the job, even whenthey are not being monitored. They like to plan what theyare going to do before embarking on it and may beuncomfortable if this is not possible or if plans areconstantly changed. People who are strongly conscientioustend to dislike working in unstructured environments; theymay find it frustrating when others do not keep to the rules,put things back in their place and so on or where there islittle guidance on how things should be done. They mayalso dislike working where it is difficult to do thingsproperly, perhaps because of a lack of time or resources.They will feel uncomfortable cutting corners or producing

work that is not of the best quality. They dislike working inmessy or disorganized environments. They may be quitecautious in their approach and uncomfortable taking riskseither in the decisions they take or in the way they dothings, and this can mean that they can miss some goodopportunities.

It may seem that this sort of behavioural style would bepositive for any kind of work, and certainly there is muchresearch that shows that people who are high onconscientiousness will tend to be good employees acrossmany different roles. They will usually get on with their workon their own, and they can be trusted to follow rules andguidelines and to meet deadlines. They generally producecareful, error-free work. A person with this behavioural styleis likely to use safety equipment when it is required and totreat an employer’s machinery with respect. Because theyare focused on their work and they take theirresponsibilities seriously they are likely to be among themore productive members of a team, making the most oftheir working time.

However, because of their structured approach toworking there are some types of work for which they areless suited. In some jobs a structured approach is lesshelpful because circumstances are constantly changing andplans become out of date before they are implemented.There are situations where it is necessary to extemporize,to cut corners or to do something quickly, even if it is notperfect. They may find multi-tasking difficult because theyhave to move from one thing to another without being able

to finish anything properly or tie up loose ends.A highly conscientious person can become caught up in

minor details and lose sight of the main priorities. While itis the role of managers to make sure that other staff arefollowing procedures, they often have to decide whenprocedures should be abandoned or ignored to meet newpriorities. For example, a manager might decide not tocheck a new delivery according to procedures in order toget the raw materials on to the production line to keep itrunning or to meet an urgent order. Someone high onconscientiousness might find this kind of decision difficult.People working in sales often need to capitalize onopportunities as they arise, and this may mean abandoninga lead that does not look very promising. This kind ofbehaviour can make a conscientious person feeluncomfortable.

Highly conscientious people will tend to take amethodical and structured approach to job seeking. Theywill be careful to meet deadlines for completing applicationforms and sending in information, and they are likely to turnup to an interview smartly dressed and on time, carrying allthe information they need in a neat folder. They will try hardto provide interviewers with the answers to their questions,but they could find that their tendency to focus too much onminor details makes their responses less effective. Theymay find assessment procedures quite stressful when theydo not know what to expect and are unable to preparethemselves appropriately.

Low conscientiousnessPeople who are low on conscientiousness see deadlines,procedures and work demands as flexible. They prefer notto be constrained by set plans and rules and to be able torespond to the requirements of the moment. They tend todislike work that requires a meticulous or careful approach.They prefer looking at things in more general, global or ‘bigpicture’ terms to getting tied up in detail. They may be moreconcerned with getting things done and prefer not to spendtime checking quality and accuracy. They may becomeimpatient if they are slowed down by someone who wantsto do things with greater care and attention. They don’tmind taking some risks and are likely to be willing to gowith new opportunities that arise even if this meanschanging plans. They tend to be unstructured in theirapproach. They can be untidy and messy in their workhabits, miss deadlines and fail to finish things properly,leaving loose ends for others to tie up. They may be easilydistracted on to other tasks and leave some things undoneunless reminded.

Low conscientiousness people are better suited to workin unstructured environments where the focus is on meetingconstantly shifting priorities, where it is important to workwith the needs of the moment rather than to plan ahead tomeet fixed deadlines. They can be suitable for roles wherea flexible approach is helpful, such as sales. They can bebetter at working in multi-tasking or swift-movingenvironments than people who are high onconscientiousness, but they are not well suited to doing

conscientiousness, but they are not well suited to doingcareful, meticulous work, and they may find it difficult tomeet deadlines without external prompting and support.

As job seekers, low conscientiousness people will tendto take quite a haphazard approach and often missopportunities through being late for deadlines or failing toprepare thoroughly. They may arrive late for interviews andforget to bring important documents with them. On the otherhand, their natural tendency to extemporize may stand themin good stead when they are dealing with questions theyhad not expected or exercises they had not prepared for.They are likely to be able to take a broad perspectiverather than being distracted by minor details when they areanswering an interviewer’s questions.

Moderate conscientiousnessPeople who are intermediate on conscientiousness may bemoderately careful and meticulous in their work and place areasonable degree of importance on meeting standardsand deadlines. However, they will not be too rigid in theirapproach and will balance the need for structure with anunderstanding of the need to shift priorities to moreimportant tasks and to sometimes leave tasks unfinished.They will be moderately tidy and careful, but they may makeerrors from time to time or sometimes leave things in a bitof a mess, although they might have a burst of tidying upfrom time to time.

People with this behavioural style will be well suited tojobs that require a moderate degree of structure and

attention to detail. They will also be suitable for jobs thathave elements of structured, careful, detailed work as wellas elements that require more global thinking or flexibleworking.

Others who are moderately conscientious may be highon some of the traits associated with conscientiousnessand low on others. For example, a person might be verystructured and tidy in their work but pay little attention todeadlines and be very willing to restructure what they weredoing to meet new priorities. Alternatively, a person mightbe very risk averse and safety conscious but pay littleattention to detail and quality in their work. Depending onwhich elements of conscientiousness were high and lowsuch people could be suited to roles that required strongconscientiousness in some aspects and lowconscientiousness in others.

Assess yourself on conscientiousnessCircle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostlyin the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both you arelikely to be moderately conscientious.

HIGH LOW

Are you usually early, on time, or latefor meetings?

Early or ontime Late

Are you structured or spontaneous? Structured Spontaneous Do you focus on detail or the broadpicture? Detail Broad

picture Do you find procedures and qualitystandards helpful guides or a bureaucratic Helpful Nuisance

nuisance?

Extroversion

High extroversionExtroversion is one of the best-known personality traits –indeed, the word has entered the general vocabulary.Extroverts are lively and gregarious, and they like to spendtime with other people, partying and having fun. However,as well as these better known characteristics, there aresome others that are related to extroversion. Extrovertsseek excitement and like to be stimulated in all manner ofways. They are often eager for novel experiences, and arethe first to want to try out something new. They tend to bequite optimistic in their outlook, which makes them willing totake on new and difficult tasks. They prefer to be in noisysurroundings with lots going on. They like to be the centreof attention and tend to enjoy having an audience to listento them. They are confident and are rarely reticent aboutputting themselves forward or singing their own praises.Extroverts may prefer to discuss things with others tothinking things through in their heads. They often want toshare their thoughts and feelings with others, and this canlead them unintentionally to say things that are indiscreet orinappropriate on occasion. They make their presence felt ina group and can be quite forceful and assertive. Theytypically dislike spending time alone, and they may not begood listeners, preferring the sound of their own voice.

Their optimism and excitement seeking may mean that theyunderestimate the risks or difficulties involved in a courseof action and take on more than they can deliver.

Extroverts are well suited to roles that require a lot ofcontact with others, especially jobs where it is important tobuild rapport with someone quickly, such as many customerservice and sales roles. Extroversion is helpful when othersneed to be motivated or engaged, and this might includepositions as team leaders, teachers or trainers and tourguides. It is a positive factor if a role requires much publicspeaking or influencing and persuading others, and it canalso be useful where there are many challenges and it willbe necessary to take risks. Extroverts are less well suitedto roles where much of the time is spent concentrating andworking alone. They are easily distracted, and their needfor contact with others may lead them to spend timechatting rather than working. Strong extroverts maysometimes find it hard to be constantly diplomatic anddiscreet. Equally, they may underestimate the need forcaution in some situations.

Extroverts are likely to do well in interviews. They arecomfortable meeting new people and are likely to easilystrike up a rapport with an interviewer and make a strongimpression. They are not shy about talking aboutthemselves and do not tend to suffer from any falsemodesty about their abilities and achievements. They maysometimes find that their mouth runs away with them andthat they give away more than they intended in response toan interviewer’s questions. Role plays, presentations and

group exercises are also likely to suit the extrovertpersonality. However, exercises requiring quietconcentration may be more of a challenge, and extrovertsmay struggle to concentrate on tests and questionnaires orfind it hard to focus on completing an application formaccurately.

Low extroversionPeople who are low on extroversion are described asintroverts. These are people who like to balance time spentwith others with time on their own. They like to think thingsthrough in their heads before sharing their ideas withothers. They may find meeting new people difficult orawkward and they prefer to avoid noisy gatherings withmany people because they are uncomfortable in suchsituations and prefer to interact with a few people theyknow well in less hectic surroundings. They are often quitereserved and would rather be ignored than made the centreof attention. They are more comfortable deferring to othersthan behaving in an assertive manner, and they may notenjoy influencing or leading others. They tend to be modestand may be reticent about their own skills andachievements or even underrate their capability. Theyusually keep their feelings to themselves, and others mayfind them difficult to read. This can make them slow todevelop rapport with others and to develop newfriendships.

Introverts are particularly suited to roles where there isminimal interaction with others, such as working with

machines, tending land or animals, and working withinformation or computers. In jobs such as driving oroperating machinery people spend a great deal of timeentirely on their own or with very little opportunity to interactwith others, and introverts are much more tolerant thanextroverts of this type of work. Introversion may also be apositive trait for jobs that require being with others in alistening rather than a more active role, such as being acounsellor or running focus groups. Introverts can also begood team workers, but they are most comfortable in a low-key role.

Introverts can find the whole process of job seeking quitedifficult. Their ability to concentrate alone will help them incompleting application forms and collecting information inpreparation for a selection day, but they may find the socialside of selection more difficult. They may be uncomfortabletalking about themselves at interview, and their naturalmodesty will make it difficult for them to sell themselveseffectively. Their natural tendency will be to give short,direct answers to questions, and interviewers may struggleto get them to talk more openly about themselves and theirapproach to work. Group exercises, requiring interactionswith many people, may be particularly difficult, andintroverts may find a selection day a tiring experience.However, introverts can learn to present themselveseffectively at interview and may show their strengths inwritten exercises, tests and questionnaires.

Moderate extroversion

The majority of people are neither strong extroverts norstrong introverts. The typical person is mildly to moderatelyextrovert, and this sort of person may be similar to theextrovert described above, but in a more moderatemanner. They like having fun with others and enjoy partiesand excitement, but in moderation. They like to balance thistype of experience with quieter, more restrained activities.They don’t mind being the centre of attention from time totime, but they like to be able to shade into the backgroundsometimes. They are reasonably comfortable meeting newpeople and establishing rapport but are more comfortablewith people they already know. They can cope withspending time alone but like to connect with others whenthey can.

People who are moderately extrovert are suited to rolesthat have some elements that require extrovert behaviourand some that do not. For example, someone working in ITmaintenance may spend time working directly oncomputers without human interaction, but another part ofthe role may involve training users on how to use thesystem and providing support, which will require contactwith people.

Less commonly, some people who are overallmoderately extrovert may have some features of a veryextrovert behavioural style but not others. For example,someone might be strongly gregarious and prefer livelysurroundings but not be very assertive and dislike trying toinfluence or persuade others. People with these mixedtypes of behavioural style will be best suited to work that

matches their own characteristics.

Assess yourself on extroversionCircle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostlyin the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both you arelikely to be moderately extrovert.

HIGH LOW

If you are tired, would you rather spend timeon your own or with friends?

Withfriends Alone

Are you more of a talker or a listener? Talker Listener Do you enjoy meeting new people? Yes No Do you prefer lively and loud environments orquiet and calm ones?

Livelyand loud

Quiet andCalm

Agreeableness

High agreeablenessPeople who are high on the trait of agreeableness tend tobe considerate and helpful in their behaviour. They can begood friends and are often sympathetic listeners, and theywill try to help others with their problems and concerns andare concerned for the welfare of others. They prefercooperation to competition when they are working withothers and will generally like working in teams. They tend tobe trusting and tolerant of others and are not easily irritatedby other people’s behaviour. They may, however, find itdifficult to keep a professional distance and become tooinvolved in other people’s problems. They tend to dislike

and avoid conflict and will try to smooth overdisagreements between others. Their dislike of conflict canmake it difficult for people with this behavioural style todeliver bad news or to challenge other people’s behaviouror opinions, and they can be too gullible and easily taken inby other people.

People with this behavioural style can be good insituations where helpfulness and sympathetic listening arerequired. Suitable positions include some of the caringprofessions as well as the service industry, such ascustomer care. However, highly agreeable people willstruggle with roles that are competitive or that involveconflict. Roles where there is a recurring need to beassertive with others, such as dealing with difficultcustomers, enforcing performance and quality standards,and selling and negotiating on behalf of an organization,could be a problem, and people who are too agreeablemay have difficulty with staff management roles for thisreason. They may find it difficult to maintain an emotionalseparation from people they work with, and where thishappens it can lead to burn-out in caring rules.

Agreeable people will be accommodating as jobseekers. They will try hard to meet the needs of theemployer, such as being available for interview when itsuits the recruiting organization. Their cooperative andhelpful attitude may be appreciated by an interviewer, buttheir dislike of conflict will tend to make them less effectivewhen it comes to negotiating terms and conditions orsalary. Where agreeableness is a positive factor for the job

they are likely to come across well in interpersonalexercises such as role plays. However, they may findcompeting with other candidates in a group exercise moredifficult.

Low agreeablenessPeople who are low on the trait of agreeableness are moreselective in their sympathies and support for others. Theymay be quite competitive in their approach to manysituations and generally consider their own, or theirdepartment’s or organization’s, needs before others. Theywill tend to invest energy in getting the best outcome fromsituations for themselves and those with whom they identify.They are likely to be independent thinkers and to take quitea sceptical approach to what they see and hear. They mayquestion other people’s motives and intentions rather thantaking them on trust, which means that they are unlikely tobe taken in. When there is a difference of opinion they willexpress their own view and try to influence others to theirway of thinking. They will not shirk from delivering bad newsor expressing views that may be controversial.

Someone who is low on the agreeableness trait will besuited to work in a competitive environment or wherestraight talking is required. This could include many roles insales and where there is the cut and thrust of businesscompetition. They will generally be able to maintain aprofessional distance and not become emotionally involvedin other people’s problems. They may be suited to roleswhere standards or policies need to be enforced, such as

roles in security or managing difficult people. However,their general lack of empathy may mean that they lackinsight into other people’s problems and ride roughshodover their feelings.

The competitiveness typical of low agreeablenesspeople may stand them in good stead as job candidates. Itmay give them the extra drive needed to put some effortinto preparation for job interviews and to presentthemselves effectively on the day. They need to be carefulnot to behave too aggressively with interviewers, but theirassertiveness may help them stand out from the othercandidates and negotiate a good deal if they are offeredthe job.

Moderate agreeablenessPeople who are intermediate on agreeableness will begenerally sympathetic and supportive of others but will bemore easily able to maintain an emotional distance fromother people’s problems than those who are high on thetrait. They will be willing to help others but will balance thiswith meeting their own personal needs. They are likely tohave the flexibility to work in both cooperative andcompetitive modes without being extremely competitive orextremely compliant. Although they may not enjoy givingunpleasant messages, they will face up to doing it whennecessary. They will express their own views in adiscussion but will also listen to what others have to sayand be ready to be persuaded by a stronger view.

A moderately agreeable behavioural style is suitable for

many types of work because people like this will becomfortable working cooperatively or competitively. Theycan deal sympathetically with other people but can alsomaintain sufficient professional distance not to becomeinappropriately emotionally involved in their problems.

Others who are moderate on agreeableness may havesome of the traits of agreeableness very strongly but be atthe non-agreeableness end of the spectrum on others. Forexample, a person might be trusting of others but notsympathetic to their difficulties. Another person might becaring and cooperative in their approach but rather low ontrust and be wary and suspicious of others.

In terms of suitability for different types of work, thebehavioural style of this sort of person needs to bematched to the job requirements. It will depend on the exactnature of the job and the behavioural style of the individual.

Assess yourself on agreeablenessCircle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostlyin the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both you arelikely to be moderately agreeable.

HIGH LOW

Do you go out of your way to help others? Yes No Are you trusting of people or are you wary ofothers? Trusting Wary

Do you have quite a competitive streak? No Yes Are you soft and sympathetic when peoplehave problems or tough-minded and expectthem to sort themselves out?

Soft andsympathetic

Tough-minded

Emotional stability

High emotional stabilityPeople with high emotional stability tend to have a relaxedand laid-back approach to life. They are not easily upset bypeople and events and tend to be able to take life’sproblems in their stride. They are likely to be quite confidentand optimistic in their outlook and not anticipate problemsbefore they have happened. They tend to be quite thick-skinned, brushing off criticism and insults from others, andthey can be quite insensitive to others. They are difficult toanger and can cope well with pressure without becomingnervous or anxious. They are less likely than others to getworked up before important events. Sometimes their calmapproach to things may mean that they do not becomesufficiently energized to deal with a crisis or pressurizedsituation, and this behaviour can seem like a lack ofinterest or motivation.

People with this behavioural style are well suited todealing with stressful jobs. They can keep calm in a crisisand keep functioning without panicking. This is appropriatefor jobs requiring crisis management skills or working in apressurized environment. They can cope with having tomake difficult decisions and will also be able to deal withadverse criticism without becoming unduly upset or takingthings personally. This is helpful for roles where people dealwith complaints and problems for much of the time.

However, their approach may be too relaxed for some rolesbecause they may not take problems or issues sufficientlyseriously and not invest energy in finding solutions anddealing with matters.

As job seekers their laid-back approach will mean thatthey do not suffer too much from nerves when attendinginterviews or completing tests and exercises. Their calmand together approach is likely to impress an interviewer,but their lack of nerves may mean that they fail to reachtheir full potential at interviews because a little bit of anxietycan be helpful in spurring performance.

Low emotional stabilityPeople who are low on emotional stability tend to be quiteanxious and tense. They find it difficult to relax and switchoff, and they may find themselves continually worrying aboutthings. They can become quite agitated before importantevents, and this can lead to poor performance. They can bepessimistic in outlook and anticipate difficulties andproblems before they arise, which can lead them to beindecisive or overly cautious in their approach. They aresensitive to criticism and can be easily upset by theremarks of others. This may exacerbate their feelings oftension, and they may be easily irritated or angered. Theycan sometimes misinterpret innocuously intended remarksas critical and react accordingly.

Their nervous energy can be helpful in motivating them toget on with things and make them more vigorous in trying toachieve their goals. However, their highly anxious approach

can come across as neurotic and difficult. They may bedifficult to manage, not least because their oversensitivity tochance remarks makes them touchy and demanding. Theymay find it difficult to calm down or switch off from outsidepressures when they are at work and from work pressureswhen they are at home.

The nervous energy of low emotional stability can be asource of motivational force to invest in tasks. Such peoplemay be able to harness this nervous energy positively in acrisis to help increase their effort and surmount difficulties,and they sometimes have a strong need to achieve or toproduce high quality results. They may work hard to dealwith anticipated problems and to calm their own nerves.However, their oversensitivity makes them unsuitable forjobs where they are likely to face much criticism and do nothave a supportive manager. Their general level of anxietymay make them susceptible to stress-related conditions.

The high anxiety levels of someone low on emotionalstability will mean that interviews for new jobs can be verydifficult. People like this may not perform at their bestbecause of nerves, and interviewers may pick up on this. Asympathetic interviewer may do their best to calm thecandidate down, but someone less sympathetic couldbecome impatient, which could make the situation evenworse. A pessimistic outlook will not help because thecandidate’s expectations that something will go wrong willonly increase their nervousness. There are manytechniques that people who do tend to get nervous can useto calm themselves down before important events, and it is

worth spending time mastering one or two of these if youdo suffer from nerves. Many people, for example, findconcentrating on calm, even breathing for a minute or twovery effective.

Moderate emotional stabilityThose who have an intermediate level of emotional stabilitywill tend to be reasonably relaxed for the most part,although they may be susceptible to nerves beforeimportant events or when they are approaching deadlinesor important milestones in projects. This nervous energymay be helpful in achieving peak performance underpressure, and they may, therefore, be able to channel theiranxiety positively for the most part but also be able to relaxand calm down after difficult periods. They are likely to beable to balance a realistic view of the potential success of aproject with a pragmatic understanding of the possibleproblems and pitfalls that could arise. Although they will notbe indifferent to how they are seen by others, they will notbe overly sensitive to criticism and should generally be ableto take it in their stride and learn from constructivecomments.

Other people who are moderate in emotional stabilitymay, on the other hand, have some of the traits associatedwith emotional stability and some that are more related tothe more neurotic end of the trait. They may, for example,be highly anxious, find it difficult to relax, be generallyirritable and easy to anger, but on the whole they may bequite thick-skinned and not worried by the criticism or

comments of others.

Assess yourself on emotional stabilityCircle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostlyin the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both you arelikely to be moderately emotionally stable.

HIGH LOW

Do you worry a lot? No Yes Are you generally optimistic orpessimistic? Optimistic Pessimistic

Do you take decisions easily orworry about them a lot? Easily Worry

Are you confident and relaxed ortense and stressed?

Confident andrelaxed

Tense andstressed

CompetenciesCompetencies are similar to personality traits in someways but rather than trying to explain how people think, feeland behave in a general way, competencies focus on aperson’s ability to do a job or at least some aspect of it.Competencies are often related to one or more personalitytraits but may also require relevant skills, abilities andknowledge. A person with a competency has thosecharacteristics that result in effective job performance. Anexample of a competency might be problem solving, whichis something you might have to do in many jobs. To begood at this you need to be good at analysing situations,

but you also need to be quite creative to see the problemfrom different perspectives and come up with some ideasfor solutions. If you had learned some problem-solvingtechniques this might also help improve your problem-solving competency.

Another example of a competency is team working,which requires a different set of characteristics. In this casethey would be mostly personality characteristics. A goodteam worker relates well to others in the team and is willingto help other team members. They will also work hard tohelp complete the team’s tasks and activities rather thanleaving it to others to do the work. In term of the ‘big five’personality dimensions discussed above, a good teamworker needs to be moderate or above on agreeablenessand moderate or above on conscientiousness. It would,therefore, be possible to use personality questionnairescores to learn about some of a person’s competencies,and many employers do this with personalityquestionnaires. However, some employers prefer tomeasure competencies directly through questionnaires.These questionnaires may look like personalityquestionnaires, but the questions will be more focused onworking effectively than on your style of working.

Unlike personality traits, where there are no good or badscores, competencies are directly about effectiveness atwork, and so it is better to be high on a competency thanlow. However, it is the nature of competencies that some ofthem are not compatible with others – that is, if you are highon one you are unlikely to be high on another. For example,

someone who is good at planning and organizing is lesslikely to be good at adapting to change and vice versa. Thevery traits that make you good at one tend to interfere withthe other.

Also in contrast to personality, there is no consensus oncompetency models. Typically, each organization developsits own set of competencies, and sometimes each role hasits own series of competencies. In addition, competencieswith similar titles can be quite different in differentcompetency models. One organization might focus theirleadership competency on setting objectives andmanaging work, for example, whereas another might focusmore on the interpersonal aspects of leadership, such asenergizing and motivating a team.

Following are descriptions of some typical competenciesand some questions that might be used to measure them.You will see that these questions are quite transparent, andit would be easy to paint a very rosy picture of yourcompetencies. For this reason these questionnaires arenot often used for selection but to aid in personaldevelopment. In this context a 360-degrees approach isoften used. This is where as well as completing aquestionnaire yourself, others who know you well and workwith you, such as your manager, several colleagues and thepeople who report to you, could all be asked to completequestionnaires. Customers and clients are also sometimesasked to complete the questionnaire. In this way an all-round perspective on your competence, reflecting differentviews of your performance, is gained.

Where a competency approach is used in selection youmay find that rather than rating individual items you areasked to choose which statement from a number drawnfrom different competencies is most true of you – that is,you have to say which your strongest competencies are.Some competency questionnaires ask you to rate youragreement with statements or say how true they are of you.Others might ask you to rate how frequently you dosomething. The examples below use different formats sothat you can practise different response options.

Don’t worry if you don’t have all these competencies.Most people are competent in a number of areas, but few,if any, people are competent in all areas. Employers knowthis and focus on the competencies that are most importantfor the role they are selecting for. For instance, drive andinitiative is not a requirement in all roles. Where managersand supervisors set policy and deal with problems, otherstaff do not need to show much initiative. If the role does notrequire it, someone with strong drive and initiative mightbecome frustrated and unhappy. However, competenciesare a useful way of thinking about your particular strengths– what you can bring to a role. Equally, if there is acompetency that you don’t have a great deal of but that isimportant for the work you would like to do, you couldidentify this as a development need for yourself. Althoughyour personality is fairly fixed and difficult to change,competencies can be developed.

Drive and initiative

People who are high on this competency are good atmaking things happen. They don’t wait to be told what todo; rather they see what needs to be done and go and doit. They have energy and initiative and are self-motivated.They are willing to take decisions where needed to makethings happen and will act on opportunities when they arise.

Example drive and initiative questionsRate how frequently you do each of the following at workusing the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

RESPONSE

I use my own initiative when something needs doing. I can make decisions on partial information if necessary. I make sure I achieve my objective at work.

Adapting to change

People who are high on this competency cope well withchange. If their priorities are changed or the organizationrestructures, they adapt flexibly and quickly to the newcircumstances. They don’t get upset but keep on working

as effectively as they can. They don’t become stressedunder pressure or in a crisis but remain composed andfocused on their work.

Example adapting to change questionsRate the extent to which you agree with each of thefollowing statements using the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Stronglydisagree Disagree Neither agree nor

disagree Agree Stronglyagree

RESPONSE

I am calm in a crisis. I cope well with change. I have a flexible approach to my work.

Influencing

People who are good at influencing have the ability to gainpeople’s agreement to their proposals. This might be in thecontext of getting a team to accept a new way of working orselling a product to a client. They can present ideaseffectively and adapt their message to the needs of others.They are good negotiators.

Example influencing questions

Rate the extent to which you agree with each of thefollowing statements using the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Stronglydisagree Disagree Neither agree nor

disagree Agree Stronglyagree

RESPONSE

I can easily persuade others. I am good at selling. I negotiate effectively.

Communication

People who are good at communication can expressthemselves clearly either in writing or orally. They have aclear, effective style and understand the needs of thelistener or reader. They will check that their message isunderstood and adapt it if necessary to the recipient.

Example communication questionsRate how frequently you do each of the following at workusing the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

RESPONSE

I take account of my audience when presenting. I write effective reports. I explain complex information straightforwardly.

Managing tasks

People who are good at managing tasks can plan andorganize well. They set clear goals, establish priorities andmonitor progress to make sure that things get done. Theymake sure that deadlines are met and monitor standards.They work in an organized manner.

Example managing tasks questionsRate how frequently you do each of the following at workusing the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

RESPONSE

I take time to organize my work before I start. I get things done on time and within budget. I make sure that quality standards are maintained.

Problem solving

People who are good at problem solving can collect andanalyse information about people or situations. This mayinclude interpreting data as well as verbal and visualinformation. They can see to the core of a problem andfocus on the most important issues. They find practical andrational solutions that are simple and effective.

Example problem solving questionsRate the extent to which you agree with each of thefollowing statements using the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Stronglydisagree Disagree Neither agree nor

disagree Agree Stronglyagree

RESPONSE

I am good at analysing data. I can find practical solutions to problems. I understand complex information.

Innovating

People who are good at innovating can easily generateideas and options. As well as developing their own ideasand solutions to problems, they can build creatively on the

ideas of others. They can see the possibilities in a situationand develop new opportunities. They often come up withideas others haven’t thought of.

Example innovating questionsRate how frequently you do each of the following at workusing the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

RESPONSE

Others come to me for ideas. I can think up several different ways of solving a problem. I can adapt my ideas for different situations.

Strategic thinking

People who have a good strategic perspective look atissues in a broad context and see the relationshipsbetween different parts of a business or organization. Theycan see the implications of decisions across a wide rangeof functions and over a longer time scale. They look beyondtheir own day-to-day responsibilities to take a broaderperspective.

Example strategic thinking questions

Rate the extent to which you agree with each of thefollowing statements using the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Stronglydisagree Disagree Neither agree nor

disagree Agree Stronglyagree

RESPONSE

I take a strategic view of issues. I understand problems from a broad perspective. I take a long term view.

Team working

Good team workers work well with others, contributingtowards achieving the common goal. They will support andhelp others to improve the team’s performance, and theyare cooperative and will give way to the team consensus ifothers do not agree with them.

Example team working questionsRate how frequently you do each of the following at workusing the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

RESPONSE

I work well in a team. I help others when they need it. I encourage others to express their views.

Leadership

Good leaders inspire and motivate others to work towardsorganizational goals. They can create and share a visionfor the future and generate enthusiasm in others to achieveit. They relate well to others and are well respected bythem. They encourage others to give of their best.

Example leadership questionsRate how frequently you do each of the following at workusing the scale below.

1 2 3 4 5 Rarely Occasionally Sometimes Often Nearly always

RESPONSE

Others will follow my lead. I treat others with dignity and respect. I celebrate the achievements of others.

Example competency comparison questions

For each set of four statements choose the one that is mostlike you and the one that is least like you. MOST LIKE

MELEAST LIKEME

I use my own initiative when somethingneeds doing.

I am calm in a crisis. I negotiate effectively. I write clearly.

I get things done on time and within budget. I am good at analysing data. I can adapt my ideas for different situations. I take a strategic view of issues.

I help others when they need it. Others will follow my lead. I’m an effective presenter. I make quick decisions.

Emotional intelligenceIn recent years the concept of emotional intelligence hasbecome popular within the business world. It waspopularized in a book by Daniel Goleman in the mid-1990s. The idea is that there is a parallel betweenintelligence in terms of thinking skills, which allows people

to work well with information, and the ability to work wellwith people, which is seen as work in the emotionaldomain. It is certainly the case that there are people whoare very bright in conventional terms but who do not seemto perform well in work roles. Equally, there are people withonly moderate intelligence who are very successful. Wehave already looked at the importance of personality inpromoting effective working, and it could certainly beargued that ability without an appropriate behavioural stylemight not be effective. The idea of emotional intelligencegoes further by arguing that it is specific aspects ofbehaviour and understanding of the self and others that arenecessary for effective performance.

Emotional intelligence is defined as the capacity toidentify and understand your own emotions and feelingsand those of others and use this awareness to guide yourthinking and actions to promote overall effectiveness – thatis, people who are emotionally intelligent are aware of theirown feelings and also those of others in a given situation.They understand how these feelings affect the situation andwill take them into account in what they do, and they usethis understanding to bring the best out of people.Consider, for example, a shop assistant who is dealing witha customer who is angry because an order he placed hasnot arrived. If the shop assistant is emotionally intelligentshe will realize that the customer is angry about the orderand will have insight into her own feelings in dealing withthe customer. Perhaps she is feeling frightened or upset atthe customer’s behaviour. She will consider whether it

would be better to let the customer see how she is feelingor to hide her emotions and remain calm. She would knowhow to control her own emotions if necessary and would actto manage the customer’s emotions. She might, forinstance, let him vent his anger for a little while before tryingto calm him because she understands that he needs anoutlet for his emotion. She might then try to find aconstructive solution that would be acceptable to him.

There is some controversy about these ideas amongacademics, and also about how emotional intelligenceshould be measured. Some argue that it is not possible tomeasure it by way of self-report questionnaires and that itneeds to be assessed through external assessment e.g. bypeople who know you well. Some see emotionalintelligence as part of a person’s personality and others asbehaviours that can be learned and therefore more akin tocompetencies. This is also reflected in measures ofemotional intelligence which can be more like personalityquestionnaires or more like competency questionnaires.Some measures of emotional intelligence focus relativelynarrowly on the areas contained within the definition. Otherstake a broader view and include competencies orpersonality traits which are more peripheral to the coredefinition.

A typical emotional intelligence questionnaire mightmeasure 5 or 6 domains or scales. The following areas arelikely to be covered in a measure of emotional intelligence.

• Self-awareness – This is the extent to which you are

aware of your own emotional states and moods andhow they affect the way you think and feel. Ouremotions can affect the way we evaluate the world.Someone with self-awareness realizes the differencebetween not enjoying a film because it is bad and notenjoying a film because they are in a bad mood.• Self-control – This is the ability to keep your emotionsand moods in check and to control impulses. It allowsyou to manage your behaviour and stay composedand positive, even if you are feeling upset ordistressed.• Social skills – There are a number of factors underthis heading. First, the ability to recognize theemotions and motivations of others. Second, thecapacity to take their emotions into account wheninteracting with others. Third, the capacity to build andmaintain good relationships with others.• Empathy – This is the ability to understand what otherpeople are feeling and see things from theirperspective. This is more than just recognizing anemotion – seeing that the person is angry, forexample. It is appreciating why the person might beangry in that situation – for example, how frustrating itmust be to have to make another trip to collect anorder.• Motivation – This is the enthusiasm and persistenceto keep working towards your goals and to maintaineffort in the face of potential failure. An optimisticoutlook helps to prevent emotionally intelligent people

from giving up too early and to counter feelings ofhopelessness or despair.

Motivation, values and interestsMotivation, values and interests can be thought of as part ofpersonality or as separate concepts. Elements ofmotivation, values and interests are often included withinpersonality questionnaires – for instance, an importantmotivator for many people is the need for achievement, andachievement orientation is often a scale in personalityquestionnaires. Within the ‘big five’ model of personality itis usually thought of as part of conscientiousness. Severalpersonality questionnaires have scales that look at yourinterest in art and culture (part of openness to experience).However, there is value in looking at these areasseparately and in more detail, and there are questionnairesthat focus on each of these.

Motivation

Motivation concerns what drives you to invest energy inthings (to work at them), and questionnaires seek to identifywhat are the strongest motivators and demotivators for you– that is, what is important to you in your work life and whatyou would try to avoid. For instance, for some people anelement of competition is an excellent driver. They are

energized when there is an opportunity to compete withanother person, team or company. This could be throughtrying to reach the highest sales figures, make the fewesterrors, have the highest customer ratings or produce themost product. This type of person would probably not put inthat extra effort if there were no way of comparing theirperformance against that of others. For other people,however, competition is not a motivator. They might evenbe put off by a competitive spirit among other workers andfind it difficult to get excited by competition. This could leadthem to invest less effort in their work because they didn’twant to compete.

If a person’s motivators match the job and organizationalenvironment they are likely to work harder in the job andenjoy it more. If there is a mismatch between a person’smotivators and the job or organization, the person is lesslikely to work hard through lack of motivation, and indeedthey may be more likely to leave and seek work elsewhere.For this reason the employer using a motivationquestionnaire might be most interested in what mightdemotivate you or turn you off. As with a personalityquestionnaire, the employer might want to discuss thesewith you at interview and understand the implications if youwere to take up the job. Equally, you would be unlikely towant to take a job that you found demotivating, unless, ofcourse, there were some strong motivators associated withthe work as well.

Motivation questionnaires typically have between 10 and20 scales. They are likely to follow one of the formats used

for personality questionnaires, although you could be askedto rate how important something is to you or how it affectsyour motivation rather than whether you agree with astatement. Some common motivators that are likely to beincluded in a motivation questionnaire are describedbelow.

AchievementPeople with a strong need for achievement like to havesomething to strive for. They get a kick out of making theirtargets and objectives. They can feel demotivated if theyhave nothing to achieve. The more challenging the targetthe more motivating it is, although targets that peopleperceive as impossible do not usually have motivatingpower.

PowerPeople with a high need for power enjoy being in control,having responsibility and being able to set the direction.They are likely to be quite unhappy if they are not consultedin decision making or are countermanded or ignored.

AffiliationPeople with this need want to have warm relationships withpeople. They will be motivated by working with friendlyothers and be demotivated by work that is too much aloneor in circumstances where there are disagreements andconflict.

CompetitionPeople who are motivated by competition define theirgoals in terms of doing better than others. They like to win,and it is the effort they put in to be the best that makes themwork hard. They may be demotivated in highly cooperativeenvironments where there is no one to compete with.People who are low on this motivation may prefer to work ina cooperative manner and dislike, and can be demotivatedby, competitive environments.

AutonomyPeople who are motivated by autonomy want to beindependent and set their own course. They dislike beingtold what to do and find being closely manageddemotivating. There are also people who find autonomydemotivating. They feel more comfortable being given clearinstructions on what to do and having a supportivesupervisor.

RecognitionMost people find recognition of their contribution andachievements motivating. They work better when they feelthat what they do is appreciated. However, for somepeople this is a very strong need, and they may becomedemotivated and insecure if they are ignored or constantlycriticized.

Interest

For some people the most important motivator is doingsomething they find stimulating or interesting. This is anintrinsic motivator because it is the nature of the work thatis interesting. Just doing the work provides the motivation.These people may have little tolerance for dull or repetitivework and find it demotivating. People with a low need forinterest are better suited to this type of work.

GrowthPeople with a need for growth get a buzz from developingtheir own skills and learning. They will enjoy work thatstretches them in new areas or requires them to masternew skills. They may be demotivated by unchallenging workthat is easily within their capacity.

RewardFor some people it is the extrinsic rewards from work thatare most important. Key among these is monetary reward.Knowing that their work is directly connected to what theyare paid – through bonuses, pay rises or commission – ismotivating. They will put in more effort to earn more. Forsome people being paid well is a form of recognition. Forother people money is much less important, as long as theycan pay the bills.

Values

Our values reflect what we think is a desirable state. For

example, a person might think that it is good for people toexpress their emotions openly – sharing feelings issomething that that person values – but another personmight think that it is better for people to keep their emotionsto themselves, particularly in work situations. This secondperson values rational, rather than emotional interactionwith others.

Values are often more strongly related to the type ofenvironment we like than to the work we can do, and theyare therefore used to provide an indication of how a personmight fit with the organization and its culture rather than thework itself. Someone who values cooperation may not behappy in a competitive environment, and a person whovalues getting things right or the quality of produce wouldprefer to work in an organization with similar values ratherthan one that valued quantity and turnover.

There is some overlap between motivation and values,but whereas motivation focuses on the drive to perform,values focus on feelings about what is and is not desirable.However, if you think it is a good thing for people to achievedifficult objectives you will probably be motivated by havinga challenging target to achieve. Because of this overlap thecontent of values questionnaires is often quite similar tomeasures of motivation.

Interests

Interests are very much what the name suggests. Different

people have different interests: some like train spotting,some find people watching fascinating, some enjoyworking with their hands, and some people just like to beoutdoors. Interest measures are most often used in careercounselling to understand what areas of work might appealto a person. They typically ask about different types oftasks, such as organizing information, helping people withproblems, mending things and so on, and from your resultson the questionnaire, you will often receive a list of careersthat match your interests.

Interest domains are often related to personalitydomains. For instance, an interest in helping or caring forpeople is typically related to the personality dimension ofagreeableness. A common model used in interestinventories is one developed by US psychologist John L.Holland, and this divides people into six major types interms of their career interests. These are described below.

Realistic, practicalPeople with this interest type like working with their hands,using tools and machinery or doing physical work or sports.Related jobs include driver, optician, plumber, radiologistand fire fighter.

InvestigativeInvestigative types like working with ideas rather thanthings. They enjoy learning, exploring, researching andtrying to solve intellectual problems. Related jobs includebiologist, historian, academic, doctor and researcher.

ArtisticThe artistic type enjoys expressive creative activities, suchas performing, designing and writing. They likeopportunities to use their imagination and express theirfeelings. Relevant jobs include artist, designer, graphicdesigner, copywriter, writer and photographer.

SocialPeople belonging to this type are interested in promotingthe welfare of others. They like interacting with people tohelp, teach or serve them. Related jobs include teacher,nurse, care assistant, therapist and customer serviceofficer.

EnterprisingPeople with this interest type like leading, managing andorganizing. They enjoy influencing others and workingtowards ambitious goals. Typical jobs for this type aremanager, entrepreneur, sales person, marketing executiveand shopkeeper.

ConventionalConventional interest types prefer to work with informationand data. They like exploring numbers, organizinginformation and work that requires attention to detail.Typical jobs for this type are administrator, accountant,librarian, office manager, bookkeeper and computer

programmer.

Work stylesSome questionnaires are based on a more functionalapproach. They look at an aspect of work, such asleadership or working in a team, and try to determine aperson’s style of doing these things. In addition, informationon work styles may be derived from more generalquestionnaires. Detailed personality questionnaires oftenallow this sort of analysis, and you may be told that thequestionnaire is profiling your team type or your learningstyle.

Some of the specific work style questionnaires aresimilar in style to personality questionnaires. Others aremore like a competency questionnaire and can even take a360-degree approach (see page 61). For instance,measurement of leadership style may take this approach.

For each area of work there are many different models –far too many to list here – that might be measured, butbelow are some examples of these types of model to giveyou an idea of the sort of information they provide.

Team types

Meredith Belbin developed one model of how people workin teams. He suggested that there are a number of roles

that people can take in a team, and depending on the workof the team different roles are required. Belbin’s researchsuggested that for complex tasks teams in which a widerange of roles are represented often produce the bestresults. Understanding the roles that you are comfortabletaking in a team can help you work better with others, andthe whole team can better understand its strengths andweaknesses through an analysis of the roles teammembers typically take. For example, if a team has toomany people who want to lead and direct the work therecould be conflict. On the other hand, if no one takes this rolethe team may be without direction.

Below is a short description of the team types that Belbindeveloped.

Team role Description

Coordinator Acts as chairperson, coordinates action;can be manipulative.

Shaper Energetic, drives others forward; may beinsensitive to others’ needs.

Implementer Well-organized and practical; wants to getthings done; can be inflexible.

Completer/finisher Conscientious; checks detail; can be aworrier and poor at delegating.

Plant Comes up with ideas for the team; may beimpractical and less involved in getting workdone.

Monitor/evaluator Reviews what is happening and flags whenthere may be problems; may seem negativeand critical.

Specialist Has or develops expertise in key areas.

Team worker Cooperative; cares for team members andtries to smooth relationships in the team.

Resource/investigator Good networker; can pull in useful resourcesfor the team; can be too optimistic.

Leadership styles

There is something of a growth industry in developingmodels of leadership. Many different models are used, anddifferent models fit different purposes. Many of thesemodels are quite complex, and they may have a great dealof overlap with personality domains. A simpler model that isfrequently used looks at how much a person focuses onmaking sure things get done (the task) and how much onthe people being led.

LEADERSHIP STYLE

HIGH

FOCUSONPEOPLE

Leader creates a comfortableand friendly environment;people are cared for but there islittle direction and work outputmay be poor; turnover is likelyto be low also.

Balanced approach;provides direction and showsconcern for individuals;consultative approach todecision making; output ishigh and turnover is low.

LOW

Leader does as little aspossible; relies on the team todo the work, with littleinvestment in the team orproviding direction; output maybe low and turnover high.

Focused leader whoprovides direction;authoritarian approach withlittle concern for people;output is good but turnovermay be high.

LOW HIGHFOCUS ON TASK

Selling styles

There are many models of selling styles, but they generallyfocus on how someone might go about selling rather thanwhether they can actually sell. Below are some examples ofselling style types.

Sellingstyle Description

Relationshipbased

Is sociable and friendly; relates well to others anddevelops trust with clients; is emotionally aware; sellsthrough personal relationships.

Informationbased

Analyses customer needs and understands productswell; good style for complex product lines; rationalapproach.

Energybased

Uses enthusiasm and drive to make sales; isconfident and persuasive.

Dark side

There has been some interest recently on what has beentermed the ‘dark side’ of personality. This involves lookingat how people who have quite extreme personality traitsbehave. Extreme personality traits are very unusual, andonly a very small percentage of the population is at theextreme. However, the impact of an extreme personalitytrait on a person’s behaviour could be critical. In certaincircumstances, it is argued, behaviour of those at theextremes of some traits can become difficult anddysfunctional. Someone who is low on trusting could bedescribed as shrewd, and being shrewd is a positivequality in many circumstances: shrewd people are unlikelyto be taken in easily, they take a critical view of informationthey are given, and they check out people and assumptionsrather than taking them at face value. A shrewd, astutepolice officer, for instance, would probably be moreeffective than a trusting but gullible one.

However, shrewdness in the extreme can turn intosuspicious mistrust. A high degree of mistrust might bedebilitating, and assuming that all information is invalid andnobody’s intentions are what they seem could lead toparanoia and an inability to function. There would beparticular concern if a manager showed these tendenciesin supervising staff. To work for someone who didn’t trustyou at all would be very difficult. A mistrustful managermight not share important information with subordinates,thereby preventing them from working effectively. Themanager might also be overly critical of others andundermine their motivation by constantly challenging their

intentions.Dark side questionnaires concentrate on identifying

extreme tendencies in people’s personalities rather than onunderstanding behaviour that is more usually seen. Theyare usually used only for senior positions, where thenegative behaviours could be most harmful and mostdifficult to manage. They are sometimes used in selectionbut more often in development activities to help managersbecome aware of any dysfunctional tendencies they mayhave.

Unlike other personality questionnaires, the inferencefrom dark side measures is that some personalities areundesirable. That said, it is not claimed that all people withextreme scores show negative behaviours. Rather, there isthe potential for negative behaviour to develop in peopleidentified as belonging to an extreme group.

5 How employers usepersonality questionnaires

There are a number of ways in which an employer mightuse a questionnaire as part of a selection exercise. Theymight use the questionnaire in a relatively early stage of theselection process to eliminate highly unsuitable candidates,or they might choose to use it later in the process toprovide quite detailed information about individuals tosupport the final decision. Equally, the employer might usethe questionnaire to apply quite simple selection rules – toinclude people who have scores in a certain region of oneor more scales and to reject people who have scores inother regions of some scales. Alternatively, the employermight use the questionnaire in a more qualitative manner tounderstand the typical behaviour of a person. In this casethey will often use the outcome of the personalityquestionnaire as the basis for some interview questions toverify the results and elicit more details. We will discussthese different ways of using personality profiles in moredetail.

Before a personality questionnaire can be usedeffectively, information about the role and the rolerequirements must be collected, and there are a number ofways that this can be done. Questionnaires designed for

this purpose can be used, although more usually adescription of the role requirements will be developedthrough structured interviews with relevant people. Themanager in charge of the role and also sometimes seniormanagers, other people who work in the same role isnearly always interviewed and people who work with thosein the role. This process is called job analysis.

Once a good understanding of the requirements of therole has been developed it can be used to understand theimplications for personality. For example, if the rolerequires frequently dealing with conflict the person will needto be reasonably confident and able to developrelationships with others. If it is critical that no errors aremade someone with good attention to detail is required.For any role there will usually be a few clear personalityindications that can be used to select people, but there willgenerally be several areas of personality for which thereare no specific requirements. This means that an employerwill not be looking for a specific personality profile butrather focusing on a few critical areas.

Early in the selection process the focus of the employeris on weeding out unsuitable applicants. The idea is tocreate a shortlist of candidates who will be assessed at thenext stage in more detail through one or more interviewsand exercises. At later stages the focus changes to findingthe most suitable candidates. In using a personalitymeasure to deselect people who are unsuitable, employerswill be looking at aspects of personality that relate stronglyto major elements of the role. For example, someone who

was strongly introverted would find a sales role, whichrequires constant contact with customers to develop andmaintain relationships, to understand their needs and topersuade them to buy more, difficult. Someone who prefersto spend time on their own and is shy and retiring will find ithard to relate well to people in the manner required insales. The employer might use a personality questionnaireto sift out applicants like this. Another example might be aclerical role, where an important part of the job is to proof-read documents for errors. This requires goodconcentration, attention to detail and a capacity to toleraterepetitive tasks. People who seek excitement and tend tolook at the big picture rather than focusing on detail wouldbe unsuitable for this sort of role, and using a questionnairecould sift them out early in the selection process.

At this stage it is most likely that the employer is lookingat only a few aspects of behaviour strongly related to thejob and is only sifting out people who are extremelydifferent from the desired behavioural style. Often thesedecisions will be based on previous research that showshow personality results relate to job performance. It isunlikely that the employer will want to talk to you about yourprofile at this stage, although they may be willing to providesome feedback to you on your results.

When a personality questionnaire is used at a later stageof selection there are two main ways in which theinformation is used. One is similar in some ways to theearly shortlisting use of the questionnaire, but the employermay be interested in more aspects of personality. In

previous examples we saw that a highly introverted personwould not be suitable in sales and a highly excitementseeking person would not be suitable for close, detailedwork. At the next stage the employer might consider thedegree of extroversion or excitement seeking of theindividual as one aspect of the individual’s job suitability.The individual is assessed not simply by looking at somescores as suitable and others as not suitable. Rather, therewill be an assessment of how suitable the person is. Themore extrovert the person, the more suitable in one respectthe person is for the role. However, now the employer willbe thinking about suitability in a multi-faceted way. Anumber of aspects of the role will be under consideration,and the person may be thought to fit well to some but lesswell to others. There will be a profile of fit to the role to beevaluated and compared with other candidates. Thepersonality profile will not provide information about all theaspects of the role but may provide information about anumber.

Figure 4: Example of a candidate’s job suitability profile

ASPECT OF ROLE HOW IS ITASSESSED?

RATING OF SUITABILITY (1 =highly unsuitable; 5 = highlysuitable)

Communicationskills Interview 3

Developingrelationships

Personalityquestionnaire 4

Team working Personalityquestionnaire 3

Relevantexperience

Interview +references 2

Flexibility Interview +personalityquestionnaire

4

Problemsolving

Interview +exercise 3

Computer skills Interview +exercise 2

Another way of using personality questionnaires at thisstage of selection is to review qualitatively what theperson’s personality profile implies. For this purpose anexperienced interpreter of profiles will provide a written orverbal report based on the individual’s profile. Alternatively,a computer-generated report may be used. These areprofile interpretations generated automatically usingcomplex expert systems that encapsulate the interpretativeskills of a test expert.

Typically, the report will relate to both the strengths andweaknesses of the individual against the job requirements,but it will also provide a flavour of how the person might goabout different types of task. The employer does not have aparticular personality profile in mind but wants to considerhow this person might function in the role and fit in to theorganizational culture. In this case, the whole personalityprofile is considered. This interpretation of the profile willoften raise some queries about how the individual willperform in the role, and these are noted down to be

explored further at interview. In addition, the employer maywant to confirm the results of the questionnaire through adiscussion with the candidate. This will check whether theexperiences the candidate describes at interview matchthe behavioural style that the personality questionnairesuggests. For instance, if the personality results suggest aperson who is a slow and careful decision maker theemployer might ask the candidate to talk about a recentimportant decision they have taken and consider whetherthe two accounts are consistent.

The nature of the role will determine how the employerwill relate to a particular result and what aspects of theprofile they will concentrate on. For a sales role, forexample, the aspects of the personality profile that arerelevant to relating to people and developing relationshipswill be one focus. For an administrative role, on the otherhand, the information about the degree of structure in theworking style is likely to be more relevant.

Example personality profile and reportBelow is the example of a personality profile we looked atearlier. It is followed by a possible interpretation reportbased on these results. Again, it should be rememberedthat only an outline of the traits measured by thequestionnaire has been presented. In real life the actualresults and the interpretation would depend on exactly whathad been measured and in what detail.

Figure 5: Jay’s personality profile and report

Unstructured <> Structured Introvert <> Extrovert Down to earth <> Imaginative Independent <> Sympathetic Anxious <> Relaxed

Interpretation of Jay’s personality profile

Jay has completed the ‘example’ personality questionnaire.This is a broad measure of personality with five scales. Jay’sresults have been compared to a large group of jobapplicants and incumbents representative of the UKpopulation.

He has described himself as someone who has quite astructured approach to his work. He is likely to prefer to planand organize his work before starting. He will prefer to workin an environment where there are clear procedures and willfollow these wherever possible and expect others to do thesame. He has described himself as having a good eye fordetail and as someone who is concerned to produce high-quality work to deadlines. This strong need for planning andstructure may mean that he finds it difficult to change plansat the last minute or respond flexibly in a crisis. He may findit difficult to work with others who are less organized thanhe is.

Jay is someone who enjoys new experiences and iscurious about the world. It is likely that he will enjoylearning and developing new skills. He has describedhimself as being imaginative and may tend to concentrateon ideas at the expense of the practical side of things.

However, his creative thinking style may help him inproblem solving and finding innovative approaches to hiswork. In addition, his organized approach is likely to helpkeep him grounded and maintain his focus on what needs tobe done.

In terms of his relationship with others he has describedhimself as moderately extrovert, meaning that he does havesome need to interact with others and is capable ofdeveloping good social skills if he does not already havethem. His responses suggest that although he is notexceptionally lively he will be happy meeting new peopleand should be reasonably comfortable developing newrelationships. However, he will also be tolerant of timeswhen it is necessary to work with little interaction withothers provided this is not constantly the case.

He has described himself as someone who balances theneeds of others with his own need for autonomy. He is assympathetic as the next person and is likely to be willing tohelp when others have problems. He should be able to workwell in a team and be amenable and willing to compromiseto meet team goals. However, he is likely to speak up whenhe feels strongly on a topic, and in these cases will notalways be swayed from his own ideas to follow the groupconsensus.

His profile suggests that he is quite an anxious person.This may express itself in terms of general worries aboutwork and other aspects of his life. His anxiety may also be asource of nervous energy for him. He may find that gettingon with his work, checking for errors or making sure thatdetails are correct helps allay his fears about potentialproblems or failure. He may become quite nervous beforeimportant events, such as presenting in front of a meeting.As someone who likes structure in his work, he may findthat having clear instructions and procedures helps him

keep calm. His anxiety may also show itself at times of crisiswhen the usual procedures may need to be abandoned and anew approach found.

Overall, the profile suggests that Jay is someone whowould work well in a structured environment but who islikely to prefer to work where there is some variety oropportunity for some creativity in working or problemsolving. He is likely to be moderately good at developingand maintaining relationships, and his organized approachmay make him a good team member. Of some concern ishis anxiety level, which is quite high, and it would be usefulto explore how well he copes with stress and in anemergency.

Relating personality profiles to jobsThe way an employer might relate to the informationprovided in Jay’s profile (see above) would depend on thejob requirements in question. His profile is suitable for atypical administrative or clerical role, and he might also bewell suited to work in a general call centre. However, hewould be less suited to working in highly stressfulenvironments, such as those in emergency services, or inthose that required a lot of flexibility, such as a travelrepresentative. While the profile contains a mix of positiveand negative statements about Jay, the employer will focuson the statements most relevant to the role in question. Ifthis leaves mainly negative statements it suggests that Jaywould be unsuitable. If it left mainly positive statements Jayis more likely to be suited to the role.

In making decisions the employer would look at a varietyof information about a candidate. Although personality isimportant, it is never the sole criterion for selection. Theperson’s skills and abilities are usually considered first, andexperience is also often an important factor. After thesecomes the way a person approaches their work, andpersonality questionnaires are one source of information onthis, but they will be supplemented, generally with aninterview and often with other exercises as well. Thepersonality profile is only one part of the jigsaw.

Recruiters will be trying to understand the implications ofall the information collected and will be particularlyconcerned about inconsistencies across the differentsources of information. If a candidate says at interview thathe managed a team of five people in his previous job, butthe reference from his employer suggests he was only ateam member and didn’t formally manage anyone, thiswould undermine the candidate’s credibility. In the sameway, if the personality profile suggests an outgoing, fun-loving person but at interview the candidate is quite shy anddescribes preferring to work alone than in a team, thisapparent contradiction will worry the interviewer. This is oneof the reasons why the best strategy is to answerquestionnaires as honestly as possible.

If a questionnaire is being used as part of a developmentprocess it may be used in a similar manner to the laterstages of selection – that is, relating the person’spersonality style to the job requirements. The questionnaireresults will often be related to a more general competency

model. In particular, development processes usually want toidentify a person’s strengths and development needs. Apersonality questionnaire can help identify strengths thatare not being exploited in the current role. These mightsuggest the direction of the next career move. An ITspecialist who had good interpersonal skills could thinkabout moving into management or training, for example.Where development needs are identified these can beaddressed through an appropriate programme of activities.For instance, a customer service operative in a call centrewho was high on agreeableness and struggled to deal withdifficult clients might consider participating in someassertiveness training.

6 Completing a questionnaire

If you are asked to complete a personality questionnaire aspart of a job application process there is less that you cando to prepare yourself than for other types of assessment.The questionnaire is just a structured way for you todescribe yourself and your typical approach to work to theemployer. This section reviews things you might like to dobefore you have to complete the questionnaire, discussesthe best way to approach completing it and how to get themost out of completing a questionnaire.

Mode of presentationThere are a number of ways of completing a personalityquestionnaire. Often the questionnaire is presented in apaper format. These days, however, you might be asked tocomplete a questionnaire on computer or on a personalorganizer. Whatever the format, you should be given clearinstructions on what you have to do, and you should followthese carefully.

Paper questionnaires may be presented on a singlesheet or in a booklet with many pages. You may be askedto mark your responses next to the question, but it is morelikely that there will be a separate answer sheet for you to

mark your responses on. Check that you have understoodhow you are expected to complete the answer sheet. Askthe administrator if you are not sure what to do.

Answer sheets are often read automatically by an opticalreader, which is very accurate but will give an erroneousreading if you have not followed the instructions carefully.For instance, if you mark outside the designated area yourresponse might not be picked up or may be misinterpreted.If you are asked to complete the questionnaire in pencil orblack ink you must do so. The machine may not pick upmarks in other colours as effectively. If you think you havemade an error in completing the form tell the administratorand they will tell you what to do. You might, for example, begiven an additional answer sheet and asked to copy youranswers correctly.

If the questionnaire is presented in an electronic mediumthere should be full instructions on how to use thetechnology and how you should indicate your answers. Thesystem should be straightforward enough for people whoare not experienced in using a computer. Again, make sureyou understand what you have to do, how you shouldindicate your answers and how you can change an answerif you wish to do so. Computer-based systems often have‘help’ screens, which give further explanations if you needthem or allow you to go back to the instructions to checksomething.

Preparation ahead of time

Most employers will provide you with information aboutwhat to expect during the selection process, and this willinclude whether a personality questionnaire is part of theprocess. It is generally considered good practice to providecandidates with clear information about a selectionprocess, but because there is no specific preparationneeded for completing a questionnaire, it may not bementioned in advance.

The only skills you need to complete a personalityquestionnaire are the ability to read the questions and aknowledge of yourself and how you behave, think and feel.There is, therefore, no real need to do any preparation.Each of us is an expert on ourselves: we know what we likeand don’t like, what makes us happy and what makes usangry. You are not required to describe this in words, whichmight take some preparation, but just to answer a series ofquestions about yourself.

If, even so, you feel you would like to prepare you couldtry some of the following:

• Look at the example questions in Chapter 3 and thinkabout how you would answer them. This will help youget used to responding to questions about yourself.You will find that you will sometimes need togeneralize. We all behave in different ways in differentsituations – even the brightest optimist maysometimes expect things to go wrong. However, thereis a general trend in behaviour, and this is what you

should be using to guide your responses.• Think about what sort of person you are and how thisaffects the way you work. Consider different worksituations and how you respond to them. What kinds ofsituations and responses are you comfortable with?What sort of things do you find more difficult orawkward? Are you better working with a team orworking alone? Do you prefer well-defined structuredtasks or would you rather have a less well-defined rolewhere you can make your own decisions on what youshould and will do?• Read through the descriptions of different personalitytraits in Chapter 4 and answer the questions at the endof each section. Think about which description suitsyou best. This will help you develop some insight intoyour own behavioural style and may help you answerquestions more easily. Remember that your behaviourwill differ from time to time and from situation tosituation. Think about what is most typical for you, whatyou are most likely to do or what you would feel mostcomfortable doing.• Check your thoughts about yourself with someonewho knows you well. A good friend or a family membermay be aware of how you usually respond tosituations, even if you find it difficult to say. If theperson you consult sees you differently, try asking themto answer the questions at the end of the section onbehavioural style about you. If you do not agree on theanswers discuss this with the person to try to

understand what you are really like.• Avoid over-analysing yourself. If you generally spenda lot of time analysing your behaviour and thinkingabout how you feel about things, you may find it easierto answer questionnaires if you don’t focus on things inso much detail. Most questions are quitestraightforward and do not require a great deal of self-analysis to answer.• Collect what information you can about the role andthe organization. The employer’s website may be agood source of information about the culture of theorganization. If you know someone who works for thesame employer or in a similar type of job, ask them totell you about what they do. Use this information todecide how your personal style might fit the role.

Completing a questionnaire at the employer’spremises

If you are invited to attend a selection day but have notbeen provided with information about what it will entail, it isappropriate to contact the employer for more information.However, it may be the employer’s policy not to give outsuch information or they may believe telling one candidatesomething that is not shared with all candidates would beunfair. Although you may feel the lack of information reflectspoorly on the employer’s processes it is probably not agood idea to press the point, because this may be seen

negatively by the employer and reflect poorly on youthroughout the selection process.

If you do know you have to complete a questionnairethere are a few important practical steps you should take. Ifyou need glasses or contact lenses to be able to readclearly make sure you have these with you. Some peopleprefer not to wear glasses in public, but the danger ofmisunderstanding the questionnaire through poor vision ismuch more serious than any impact on your image ofwearing glasses.

Plan how you will get to the venue in good time. Work outyour route, find out the relevant transport options, look uptimetables and so on. Employers will often send a map anddetails of how to get to their premises. Apart from the factthat arriving late is likely to create a poor impression, it canput you at a disadvantage in other ways. The employer maybe working to a strict timetable and trying to see a numberof candidates, and someone who is late can put theschedule out. You could find your interview time isshortened and you have less opportunity to impress theemployer with your skills and abilities. If you are late, otherapplicants may already have started to completequestionnaires and tests, and it could be difficult toaccommodate you.

You should also think of the impact on yourself of havingto rush. You could arrive feeling hot and bothered, and ifthere is no time to calm down, you might end up having tocomplete the questionnaire, be interviewed or take part inanother type of exercise while you are feeling flustered.

This is likely to affect your concentration and therefore yourperformance. It is better to arrive too early and have to hangaround for a bit than to rush in at the last minute.

Completing a questionnaire on your own

It is quite common now to be asked to complete aquestionnaire in your own time before you attend for aninterview with the employer, and some employers maysend you a questionnaire in the post to complete. Usually,however, if you are asked to complete the questionnairebefore the interview, you will be asked to do so on theinternet. Typically, the employer will send you an e-mail witha link to a secure website where you can complete thequestionnaire. You will usually be sent a username andpassword to ensure the security of the system.

If you are asked to complete a questionnaire on-lineconsider when and where you will do this and make surethat you set aside sufficient time to complete it. You shouldbe told in advance about how long it will take, and it isimportant that you give yourself the best chance ofcompleting it effectively. This means finding a quiet placewhere you will not be interrupted. If you have a computer athome this may be the best option. If you can, shut yourselfaway in a quiet room to complete the questionnaire, andwarn the other people that live with you that you do not wantto be interrupted. Switch off your mobile phone, musicplayers, radios and TV, and if you can, switch off or unplug

other phones. Alternatively, get someone else to answerthe phone or let it go to answer phone.

Choose a time when you are feeling alert and ready toconcentrate. It may be tempting to complete the exerciselate at night or after you return from a night out, but thinkwhether you are at your best. If you are tired or have beendrinking, you may misread some of the questions orrespond inappropriately. Make sure that you are seatedcomfortably. Get yourself a cup of coffee or tea or a colddrink if this helps you relax, but avoid alcohol or other drugs,which will alter the way you perceive yourself and couldaffect your responses.

If you do not have your own computer or internetconnection at home or if the computer is located in a busypart of the house, think about an alternative place whereyou can use a computer in a quieter location. You may beable to use a computer at your place of work if you can finda quiet place. You will need to think about theappropriateness of using your employer’s equipment tocomplete a questionnaire as part of an application for a jobsomewhere else. If you are applying for promotion in yourown organization or if you are being made redundant, youremployer might be happy for you to use the organization’sfacilities. Otherwise, it is unlikely to be appropriate.

Other places where you can access internet facilitiesinclude internet cafés, libraries and, if you are a student,colleges and universities. If you need to complete aquestionnaire in one of these places consider the following:

• Find a quiet corner to work rather than somewherewhere people are talking or constantly moving around.Certain times of day might be quieter and moreconducive to completing a questionnaire.• Make sure that the time you are allowed to use themachine is sufficient for completing the questionnaire.Libraries and colleges sometimes limit the length ofinternet sessions. Check if you are likely to be cut off inthe middle. If necessary, explain why you need a longertime to an administrator to see if they can help. If youare buying computer time at an internet café makesure that you have enough to finish the questionnaire.• Switch off your mobile phone so you are notinterrupted while you are completing the questionnaire.• If you have not used a particular place before youmay like to check it out in advance to make sure it issuitable.

Try to complete the questionnaire well ahead of any setdeadline. If you leave it to the last minute and you encounterproblems, there may not be time to sort them out. Althoughmost systems are robust, you might encounter problemsconnecting to the site for the questionnaire or you mighthave difficulties with your username or password. Equally,your own computer equipment could just choose thatmoment to be temperamental. If the deadline is loomingthere may not be enough time to find somewhere else tocomplete the questionnaire.

You will usually be given details of a helpdesk or person

to contact in case of difficulty. Do take advantage of thisservice if you have a problem. Remember, however, that itmay not operate a 24-hour, seven-day service. Try to startcompleting the questionnaire early enough so that there istime to get help if you need it.

Similar considerations are important if you arecompleting a questionnaire on paper. Find a quiet,comfortable place to do it, and make sure you will not beinterrupted while you are completing it. Allow sufficient time,and if you have been asked to post your responses back,make sure you send the questionnaire off in good time incase there is a problem with the post. If you want to besure, take a copy of your responses in case the originalgets lost in the post.

Completing the questionnaireFirst, read the instructions carefully. Check that you haveunderstood what you have been asked to do. On a 1–5scale is 1 ‘Strongly agree’ or ‘Strongly disagree’? You alsoneed to read the questions or statements with care. It iseasy to misread a word. People often fail to notice anegative word such as ‘no’ or ‘not’ in a statement andrespond in the opposite direction. Consider the followingstatements:

I make no mistakes in my work.I make mistakes in my work.

I like meeting new people.I dislike meeting new people.I rarely come to work on time.I usually come to work on time.

A careless reader might miss the ‘no’ in the first statementand answer as if it was the second, giving an erroneouspicture of themselves. Similar errors are possible with theother pairs of statements.

You also need to make sure that you are indicating yourresponses according to the instructions. A frequent sourceof error with paper answer sheets is to respond to aquestion on the wrong line of the answer sheet. You may beanswering Question 35 but mark your response againstQuestion 36. This will lead you to mark your next answerincorrectly, that is marking the answer to Question 36against the next empty line, which is the one for Question37. Check that you are answering against the appropriatequestion number as you are completing the questionnaireto avoid this. If you find you have gone wrong, go back andchange your answers. Check the instructions to see howchanges to answers should be marked. Should you erase itor cross it out? If you find you have been marking againstthe wrong number for a long time ask the administratorwhat you should do. You may be given a new answer sheetand asked to copy your answers across correctly.

When you are answering a questionnaire you areproviding a description of yourself and how you typicallybehave and react to things. The questions just help you

structure this and describe the aspects of your personalityin which the employer is interested. There are no right orwrong answers to the questions. Rather, each person’sanswer should reflect their personality. Therefore, youshould think about yourself in relation to the question orstatement. Is it describing something you often do orsomething you rarely do? Does the word describe you wellor not?

It is important to answer all the questions, even if you arenot sure how to respond to some of them. Your score on thequestionnaire will be distorted if you don’t answer some ofthe questions. If you are responding on a computer it maynot let you send your responses until you have answered allthe questions. An administrator will check your paperanswer sheet to make sure you have answered all thequestions and ask you to go back and complete any youhave skipped.

The majority of questions in questionnaires are quitestraightforward, and it should be clear what is being asked,because questionnaire developers try to make the contenteasy to understand. However, you might find somequestions ambiguous and not be quite sure what isintended. Do not worry about this if it is just the occasionalquestion. Make your best guess at what is intended andanswer accordingly. If you are finding it difficult tounderstand many of the questions, check the instructions tomake sure you have understood correctly what you need todo.

Always try to answer questions honestly. This will provide

the employer with the most accurate picture of you as aperson to see how well you would fit into the job and theorganization. By describing yourself as you are, you give atrue impression of yourself. If you believe you are suitablefor the role, this should come across in your responses.Don’t worry about providing the odd response that mayseem quite negative. The employer will be looking at thetotality of your responses rather than the answers tospecific questions.

Don’t try to guess what the employer is looking for. Thiscan make responding difficult, and it is, in any case, unlikelyto help you make a good impression for a number ofreasons. First, you may be wrong and make yourself lookunsuitable for the job when you are, in fact, exactly what theemployer is looking for. It is difficult to predict what sort ofresponses an employer might be looking for, so you couldbe giving exactly the wrong impression. Second,questionnaires often contain checks on response patterns,and these can flag up inconsistent or unusual answers.Third, if you distort your answers you cannot be sure whatimpression you are creating. Last, the employer may wantto discuss your results with you and contradictions betweenyour profile and what you say at interview will becomeevident and be potentially embarrassing.

Some people do find it difficult to respond toquestionnaires and agonize about what to say. They canthink of times when the statement applies to them andtimes when it does not, or they agree with part of thestatement and not with another part. If you are having

difficulty responding to a question try the suggestionsbelow.

Hints on answering questionsAnswer quickly instead of thinking at length over a

question. Your first response is likely to be your bestanswer and the one that reflects you most accurately.Brooding over a question may be what is leading to theconfusion by raising too many possibilities. Questionnairesdo not have fixed time limits, but it is better to work at agood pace than to spend a lot of time over individualquestions.

Think about the question in a work-related context.What is important is how you behave at work. If the way youare at home with friends and family is different from the wayyou are at work, consider how you would behave on atypical work day.

If you do not have a job at the moment, think aboutprevious jobs you have had. If you have never worked orif the jobs you have had are not really relevant, think aboutyourself in work-like situations. This might include studyingin school, college or university, doing voluntary work for acharity or even completing tasks at home like housework. Ifyou have a hobby that you spend time on or have workedwith friends to organize an event, you can use thisexperience to think about how you behave whenresponding to questions.

Consider what you know about the organization orthe job itself. This can narrow down the range ofexperience you need to think about. Does thinking aboutthe question in this context help you decide how to answer?

Try to rule out some options so that you have fewer tochoose from. For instance if you have to answer thefollowing question:

I finish one task before moving onto the next.a. Strongly agreeb. Agreec. Neither agree nor disagreed. Disagreee. Strongly disagree

First, think whether you generally agree or generallydisagree. For instance, if you decide that you generallydisagree you can rule out options a, b and c. Now you needto decide between d and e. Is this something that you neverdo, option e, or do you sometimes finish things beforemoving on, option d? Alternatively, if you can’t decidewhether you agree or disagree then you can rule outoptions a and e. Now think whether you are more likely tofinish something before moving on, or more likely to moveon immediately. Think about this in a work situation. Bringto mind a few occasions recently when you had to start anew task. Had you finished the previous one? Can you seea trend? If you still can’t see a trend then choose option cand move on.

Here is another example of a different type of question.

Select the word that most describes you and the one thatleast describes you.

MOST LIKE ME LEAST LIKE ME

Creative Practical Helpful Obedient

First, think of what is most like you. Can you rule out anywords that are not like you at all? Now consider the wordsleft and compare them in pairs. For instance, are you morecreative or more practical? It is often easier to decidebetween a pair of words than a whole list. Think about awork situation where you could choose between doingsomething creative, such as thinking up ideas to improvethe way you work, or something practical, such as gettingon with a task. If you are more practical than creative thencreative is not most like you. Now compare practical withthe next remaining option. Are you more practical or morehelpful? If you find one of the pairs difficult to decidebetween leave it and go on to the next one. So if you can’tdecide about practical and helpful, compare practical andobedient. Suppose you feel you are more obedient. Nowyou need to compare obedient and helpful. Which is morelike you? If you still can’t decide between the last two words

you can just choose one at random. You have already ruledout two words, so this is more than just a guess. Now youcan do the same thing with the remaining words to findwhich one is least like you.

If you have a disability

Despite the protection of the Disability Discrimination Act,disabled people may still face discrimination fromemployers who overestimate the impact of the disability orfeel that a disabled employee will be a burden. For thisreason people with disabilities do not always want todisclose their disability to an employer early on in theselection process, and there is no requirement for them todo so. If there is any concern that the employer is notdisability friendly, not disclosing is a sensible approach.Some disabilities are readily visible and will becomeevident as soon as you turn up to interview, but most arenot and can remain hidden. However, if there is anythingabout your disability that could affect your performance atinterview it is usually worthwhile to let an employer know.This will trigger your rights to adjustments andaccommodations under the law.

If you have any kind of disability that could affect yourability to complete a questionnaire you should let theemployer know. This might include visual impairments ofvarious kinds, dyslexia, difficulties in concentration or motordifficulties that affect writing or using a computer. It is a

requirement of the Disability Discrimination Act thatemployers make reasonable adjustments to selectionprocedures to allow candidates with a disability to take partwithout being put at a disadvantage.

If you have a disability and have not received anyinformation from the employer about the nature of theselection procedure, do contact them to check whetherthere will be anything in the selection process that mightcause you difficulties. If you prefer this can be done withoutrevealing your disability status: just ask if there will be anyneed to read or write during the selection day. However, ifyou do need some accommodation, you will need to revealyour disability to claim your rights. Employers are notrequired to make adjustments if they do not know aboutyour disability. Even if you have ticked the box on theapplication form to say you have a disability, this is notsufficient to trigger an adjustment. The employer will stillneed further information to know if your disability is one thatneeds an adjustment or accommodation and, if so, whatchanges are needed.

The more information and the more notice you give theemployer, the more you can expect to be done toaccommodate you. For example, if you need quite a largefont size to be able to read, you will need to let theemployer know your needs in sufficient time for them toarrange to have an appropriate version of the questionnaireavailable. If you only mention this need on the day when youarrive, the employer will probably not have a suitable formatavailable for you and you may have to struggle with an

ordinary version. Employment tribunals do not expectemployer’s to make adjustments if they have not beennotified with details of a person’s disability and needs. If thenotification is at the last minute they will not expectemployers to do as much as they could with proper notice.

If you feel that an employer has not made an appropriateadjustment for you or has discriminated against you in theselection process you can contact the Commission forEquality and Human Rights (www.cehr.org.uk) for adviceand help in taking things further. Until 2008 providing thishelp is the responsibility of the Disability RightsCommission (www.drc-gb.org); thereafter it will be mergedinto the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

If English is not your primary language

Questionnaires used in Britain are designed for use withpeople whose primary language is English. If English is notyour first language consider whether you know enoughEnglish to understand and answer the questionnaire.Remember that questions may contain local idioms andmetaphors. Look at the example questions in Chapter 4 tosee if you can understand them easily. If you think yourcommand of English may not be good enough to allow youto properly understand the questionnaire get in touch withthe employer to discuss this problem. It may be possible toprovide the questionnaire in other languages or to provideyou with some help – a dictionary for example – so that you

can complete the questionnaire in English.

After completing the questionnaireAfter completing the questionnaire the employer willarrange for it to be scored. The results will be usedalongside other information in making decisions about you.Depending on the stage in the selection process and theselection process itself, the employer may want to talk toyou about your results, but this will not always happen. Manyemployers will not consider the results of the personalityquestionnaire at the interview but treat them separately.Employers who want to explore your results further maydevote a whole interview to discussing them with you, butmany will integrate a few specific points from yourpersonality results into a general interview

The main purpose of an interview about the results ofyour personality questionnaire is to better understand yoursuitability for the job. The employer might have a fewquestions arising from your personality profile about yourstrengths and weakness in terms of the job requirementsand want to explore these further with you. In addition, theemployer will want to see if your behaviour at interviewmatches your personality profile.

If the employer wants to have this sort of discussion withyou, you should prepare as you would for any otherinterview. Think about how well your approach and stylewould suit the job you are applying for. What are your

strengths in this regard? Where are you likely to beparticularly well suited? Think of some examples of howyour personality style has helped you in other jobs or work-like situations. For instance, if you have a particularlyorganized approach, how has this helped you in your work?Has it made you more efficient and effective? Similarly, ifyou tend to do things spontaneously rather than in anorganized way think about how this has helped you in yourwork. Has it made you more flexible and able to deal withunexpected situations?

You also need to think through areas where you haveless fit to the job requirements and any aspects of yourpersonality that might concern the employer. How will youmake sure that this will not affect your performance? Try tothink of occasions when you have shown that you can beeffective despite a particular aspect of your personality.Suppose the job requires a person who is quite organized.If you have a tendency to be disorganized, does this meanyou have a tendency to miss details or fail to meetdeadlines? Can you show how you have overcome this inprevious work? What is your track record in meetingimportant deadlines? Have you learned tools andtechniques that help you to be more organized when this isimportant? Of course, if you really find it difficult to work inan organized manner, perhaps this role is not suitable foryou and you should look for a job where this trait is not soimportant.

Not all jobs require an organized approach. For somework it is more important to be flexible and adapt to

changing circumstances than to follow plans and have astructured approach. If you tend to be very structured in yourapproach how do you manage when circumstances changeand you need to adapt or when you have to work in ratherdisorganized surroundings? If you would really hate workingin this kind of environment, a job that requires it is probablynot for you, but if you think you would like the jobnevertheless, think how you would cope with a workplacethat may be disorderly and constantly in flux. Can you thinkof an example when you have faced this kind of situationand coped well? Do you have strategies and techniques fordealing with this kind of situation? How would you persuadean employer that, despite your natural tendencies, youwould be effective in the muddle surrounding you?

Do not feel downcast because the personalityquestionnaire might have revealed some areas where youhave a less good fit to the job requirements than others.The employer will be looking for a variety of things fromcandidates. As well as some aspects of personal style andfit with the organization, there will be skills, abilities,knowledge and experience. It is rare to meet a candidatewho fits the job requirements perfectly. Most candidateshave some areas of good match against the requiredspecification and some areas of poor match. The purposeof the selection process is to find out about the candidate’smatch to the job requirements. In making a decision theemployer will be balancing the different sets of strengthsand weaknesses of the various candidates, and they mighthave to decide between someone who had exactly the right

sort of experience but a poor attitude to work and someonewho had very little experience but seemed exactly the sortof person to fit in to the organization. If you can show howyou can overcome areas where your match is less thanperfect you still have a good chance of being successful.

Requesting feedback

Even if the employer does not want to discuss yourpersonality questionnaire results with you as part of theselection process you may be offered feedback on yourresults separately. It is considered good practice foremployers to offer feedback whenever they usepsychometric testing. Feedback may be offered in anumber of ways. You may be provided with a written reportabout your results, the employer may give a telephonenumber you can call to receive feedback from someone, oryou may be able to receive feedback face to face, eitherduring the interview or at another time during theassessment day. Successful candidates may be able toreceive feedback after they start work. An example of whata feedback report might look like is included in Chapter 5.

If you are offered the opportunity it is worth taking it upbecause you can use feedback from a personalityquestionnaire as a development opportunity. People paysubstantial fees to have their personality profiled and toreceive feedback, and you have the opportunity to do this atno cost to yourself. There are a number of benefits from

receiving feedback on your results. First, you may find thefeedback interesting in itself. In one sense the personalityquestionnaire should not tell you anything you don’t knowabout yourself – it is based on the information you providedabout yourself through your responses – but the way theinformation is organized and presented may give you aperspective on yourself and your behaviour that providesyou with a new insight about yourself.

In addition to your understanding of yourself, thefeedback report may also help you appreciate how youmight be seen by other people, particularly prospectiveemployers. The report might include some of theimplications of your behavioural style for how you work, andyou should use this information to consider how you mightpresent yourself more effectively for jobs. The informationcan also help you appreciate what types of jobs andorganizations you might be most suited to. Think aboutwhere your personality style contributes positively to yourperformance but also where it might sometimes obstructyou in doing your job. What could you do to get round thedifficulty? How could you show a new employer that you cancope well with the situations and tasks that suit you lesswell? How can you present your strengths most effectively?

Your personality profile also has implications for how youapproach being a job applicant, how you respond atinterview and whether you find the process difficult orexciting. Chapter 4 discussed the implications of somepersonality traits for behaviour as a job candidate. Youmight be able to use the information about your own

personality profile to understand your strengths anddevelopment needs for the role of job candidate. If thereare areas where you behavioural style is detracting fromyour effectiveness in selling yourself, you could look at waysof developing a better approach. For example, introvertscould practise singing their own praises, and people low onemotional stability could look at stress-managementtechniques.

You can also use the feedback to think about your owndevelopment more generally. Remember that there are noright or wrong personalities, and it is not that one personhas a better personality than another. Rather, it is a matterof the suitability of a behavioural style for a particular field ofperformance. You can use your personality feedback tothink about your behavioural style and how you can use it tobest advantage. Are there aspects of your personality thatyou do not have the opportunity to express in your currentline of work? Are there requirements of your current workthat your personality makes you less comfortable with?Someone who was quite unsociable and dislikedinteracting with people would be less comfortable with a jobthat required a lot of team work or working with people inother ways. An example of a personality trait making a roleless convivial for someone might be a computer technicianwith low sociability whose role included training people touse their computers and providing support when there werecomputer problems. Such a person might find it quitedraining having to work with people a lot of the time andprefer a role where there was more technical work with

machines and less with people. On the other hand, anexample of an unused personality trait might be a moresociable and friendly computer technician who finds theirpeople skills are little used as they spend all day workingwith machines.

If you are not offered feedback you can always ask tosee if it is available. Even if the employer is not able toprovide feedback, you may encourage them to offer it nexttime. If the results of your personality questionnaire are heldon computer or in a filing system you can request theresults using a data access request under the DataProtection Act. The requirement is to provide you with ameaningful explanation of the data held on you, which in thiscase would be an interpretation of your personality profile.Employers can ask you to pay up to £10 for the results of adata access request. See the Information Commissioner’swebsite for more details (www.ico.gov.uk).

Standards in the use ofquestionnaires

Personality questionnaires, like other psychometricinstruments, are complex tools, which are difficult to createand should be used only by people who have appropriatetraining and skills. There are no legal constraints onpublishing or using tests, but there are standards andguidelines that define a generally agreed benchmark ofgood practice.

A great deal of work goes into developing an effectivetest or questionnaire. A multi-stage iterative process isusually used in developing tests. First, it is important todevelop questions that assess the appropriate personalitytraits. These are then subjected to detailed review andtrialling on large groups of people. Comprehensivestatistical analyses are performed to understand how wellthe questionnaires are working. Following this, the test isrevised, and the reviews, trials and statistical analysis arerepeated until the test can be seen to be fair and effective.It is difficult for an untrained person to assess the quality ofa questionnaire, but the British Psychological Societypublishes a register of tests that have been certified toreach a minimum quality standard. This can be accessedon the British Psychological Society Psychological Testing

Centre website (www.psychtesting.org.uk). You can usethis site to check if the test you have completed wasregistered; alternatively you can call on 0116252 9530.Because a test has not been registered does not mean it isa poor instrument, but reputable test publishers generallysubmit their tests and questionnaires for registration andreview.

Questionnaires should not ask inappropriately intrusivequestions or questions on topics that are not relevant to theworld of work. Questions about your sexual fantasies,religious beliefs or childhood relationships should not beused in a personality questionnaire for standardoccupational use. The questions should cover topics thatyou would feel comfortable talking about to a colleague atwork. The individual questions are designed to sample yourbehaviour in a particular domain, and the specific contentof each question is not of any particular relevance exceptas an example of the trait being measured. The employerwill not be looking at your individual responses to questionsbut at the collated responses from a group of questions.

Employers should notify you that you will be asked tocomplete a test or questionnaire in advance. They shouldexplain to you how and why the test is being used and whatthey will be doing with the scores. You should understandwho will have access to your results and what will happen tothem after the selection procedure is complete, whetheryou are successful or not. This should include acommitment to maintain the confidentiality of your results.They should also let you know how you can have access to

your results.Although there is no requirement to do so, it is

considered good practice to provide test-takers withfeedback on their results. This can be in the form of awritten or oral report. If a written report is provided,candidates should be given contact details for a personwho can help with any queries they may have about thereport.

Test users should be trained in using tests andquestionnaires. The training covers topics such as testselection, test administration and test interpretation.Reputable test publishers require proof of training to usetests before they will sell their instruments, and the BritishPsychological Society runs an accreditation scheme fortest training. People who interpret personalityquestionnaires should have at least an Intermediate LevelB Certificate of Competence. Test administrators require alower level of qualification, a Test Administrators’certificate. Again, this scheme is not mandatory, but youcan check at the British Psychological SocietyPsychological Testing Centre website(www.psychtesting.org.uk) if the person interpreting yourtest is on the register. Individual test publishers also holdmore comprehensive registers, but only of the peoplequalified to use their tests and questionnaires.

If you feel you have not been treated properly and fairly byan employer in their use of tests and questionnaires youshould complain to the employer in the first instance. Theyare often concerned that applicants should feel they were

assessed fairly – especially when applicants may also bepotential customers. As an applicant, however, you havevery few legal rights. You can choose to withdraw, ofcourse, but there is little employment law that has referenceto the selection process. If you feel you have been treatedunfairly because of your race, gender, age, religion, sexualorientation or because of a disability you can make a claimthrough an employment tribunal. (Seewww.employmenttribunals.gov.uk or www.acas.org.uk formore information or contact the Commission for Equalityand Human Rights, www.cehr.org.uk.)

If you feel that the way the questionnaire was used wasinappropriate you can contact the publisher. Most testpublishers are concerned that their instruments are usedproperly, and they will sell questionnaires only to peoplewho have had appropriate training. The test publisher maybe able to tell you if the treatment you received wasappropriate. In some cases they may wish to contact theemployer to investigate further, and test publishers willrefuse to supply tests to people who misuse them. TheBritish Psychological Society will follow up any complaintsabout psychologists who are members of the society.However, it has little jurisdiction over people who havecertificates of competence in testing who are notpsychologists.

If you have been assessed internally within yourorganization for development purposes or other reasonsand you feel your treatment was inappropriate you can useyour company’s grievance procedure to raise any issues if

an informal approach to the people responsible for theassessment is unsatisfactory. You can also contact yourtrade union representative if appropriate. As an employeeyou have more rights than an applicant. For instance, if theoutcome of an assessment procedure was that you aremade redundant, you have the right to be treatedreasonably by the employer and can take complaints toemployment tribunals if they are serious.

As well as expecting an employer to treat you withrespect and consideration during an assessmentprocedure, you should consider your own behaviour in thetesting session. In particular you should:

• Treat others with respect and courtesy during theassessment process. This includes both therepresentatives of the employer and other candidateswhom you meet.• Follow the instructions of the test administrator.• Take responsibility for your own performance. Listencarefully to instructions. If you do not understand whatyou have to do, ask the administrator before youbegin.• Tell an appropriate person about anything that mightinvalidate the questionnaire results or that you wouldwish to have taken into consideration.• Engage constructively with the assessment process.

Frequently asked questions

In this section there are answers to some of the commonquestions people ask about questionnaires. They areanswered in more detail elsewhere.

What am I revealing about myself when I fill in aquestionnaire?Questionnaires used in an employment context aredesigned to elicit information about how someone wouldapproach their work and fit into the organization. Bycompleting a questionnaire you are just describing whatyou are like as a person and providing the type ofinformation that someone who knew you well at work mightbe able to provide. Questionnaires used for employmentpurposes are not designed to provide insights into yourprivate thoughts and fantasies. You should not encounterclinical psychological assessments, which can be moreintrusive.

Why are there so many questions in a test?Questionnaires can be long, and some have hundreds ofquestions. Others are much shorter with perhaps a few tensof questions. There are a number of reasons for lengthyquestionnaires. First, all things being equal, the longer thetest the more accurate it is. Second, the more detailed the

questionnaire the more aspects of personality it willassess, and it will therefore need more questions to makethese finer distinctions. Third, the repeated inclusion ofsimilar questions can be used to assess the consistencywith which the questionnaire has been completed.

Why are some of the questions not relevant for the job Iam applying for?Because personality questionnaires are difficult andexpensive to develop most employers use standardquestionnaires, which they can buy from test publishers,rather than developing a measure tailored to their needs.Typically, these questionnaires will have a mix of relevantand irrelevant content for the job in question.

How do I know if the questionnaire I am asked to completeis reputable?It is difficult for someone who is not trained in the use oftests to evaluate the effectiveness of an instrument. Testpublishers can submit their tests to be registered asmeeting minimum quality standards for use by the BritishPsychological Society. They can also submit a test for adetailed review. Reputable publishers generally do this.You can check whether the test you have taken isregistered and/or see a précis of the test review at theBritish Psychological Society Psychological Testing Centrewebsite (www.psychtesting.org.uk).

Are tests fair?

Questionnaire developers generally invest a lot of work inmaking sure that their instruments are accurate measuresand do not suffer from biases of any kind. In general,standardized objective measures are much less open tobias than other methods of assessment an employer mightuse. For instance, interviews are, by their nature,subjective, and the prejudices of the interviewer can affectthe results. In the past test developers were much lessaware of issues of fairness and bias, and some early testsand questionnaires did contain inappropriate content.These instruments have typically either fallen out of use orhave been revised.

Why won’t the employer tell me my actual score on a test?Scores on tests and questionnaires are just numbers, andwithout an understanding of how these numbers arederived they are not meaningful. If you are told you scored 3on a scale of a questionnaire this will not really help youunderstand what it means. Guidelines suggest that it isbetter to provide people with information about themeaning of their scores rather than the scores themselves.

Why won’t the employer give me feedback on my results?It is good practice to provide people who have completedtests and questionnaires with some feedback on theirresults. This is becoming easier now that there are readilyavailable computer-generated reports for mostquestionnaires. However, some employers do not do thisbecause of the time required and the cost of providing the

information when there are many candidates.

Are psychological questionnaires any better thanhoroscopes?There is a great deal of objective research evidence toshow that personality questionnaires can provide quiteaccurate information about people and that it is helpful inselecting the best candidates for jobs and supportingindividual development. For example, studies on tens ofthousands of people show that people with appropriatepersonality profiles perform better on jobs. There are alsoresearch studies that show that when people are providedwith a standard report and told it is their own personalizedpersonality profile they will often rate it as quite accurate.This shows that it is possible to create generalizations thatmany people find insightful. This could explain why manypeople find horoscopes quite persuasive, although thereare hardly any employers who use this approach inselecting staff.

How do you interpret a questionnaire result?This is a complex topic, and answering it is the maincontent of the training that people must undergo before theyare allowed to use tests and questionnaires (see Chapter 5for a fuller discussion). Most psychological questionnairesare assessed by comparing the individual’s responsepattern to a known comparison group. This allows you tosay whether the person has answered questions in aparticular area, for instance, anxiety, in a more or less

extreme manner than is typical of relevant others. It ispossible to say whether people have described themselvesas more anxious than 10 per cent of the population (so theyhave described themselves as quite relaxed and not veryanxious) or more anxious than 90 per cent of the population(that is, they have described themselves as highly anxious).However, this is just the beginning of interpretation. The testuser must go on to say what is the implication of this level ofanxiety for the job – is it helpful to have a low, medium orhigh degree of anxiety in this role, or is anxiety not relevantto the role? In addition, it is important to look at the level ofanxiety together with the other facets measured by thequestionnaire. For instance, how does the person’s degreeof structure interact with their degree of anxiety? Someonewho is relaxed and unstructured may cope well withstressful situations but may be too laid back to get thingsdone. Someone who is anxious and structured may bequite obsessively careful in their work. This can be veryuseful in safety-critical environments but can be animpediment where work needs to be delivered quickly. Ashop assistant who takes hours lining up goods perfectlymight be wasting time that could be used to encouragesales.

Isn’t there a danger of cloning when employers usepersonality questionnaires?If employers were to specify the exact profile they werelooking for on a personality questionnaire for a particularjob there would be a danger of cloning. However, this is not

the way that questionnaires are used. First, for any job onlypart of the profile will be relevant. Second, while employersmay be looking for scores in a particular range on a scale,this range will be quite broad and encompass a degree ofvariation within it. Third, employers will often take on peoplewho do not exactly match the criteria they set because theyhave other desirable qualities – skills and experience,immediate availability – or because they fit the profilebetter than other candidates assessed. Finally, manyemployers look at profiles qualitatively rather than in a fixedway. They use the information to better understand how acandidate might perform in the role without having aspecific view of what their preferred personality type for therole is.

How can I practise completing a test and get somefeedback?Although there is benefit to be gained from practisingreasoning tests of various sorts, there is no need topractise completing a personality questionnaire. Chapter 6describes things to do to prepare for a test, but the difficultyin taking a test for practice is that proper personalityquestionnaires are carefully conserved to prevent themfrom being overused, so easily available tests, such asthose that can be accessed on the web, are of variablequality. However, if you would like to try a shortquestionnaire as an example, the following link will allowyou to do this: www.bbc.co.uk/science, then search forpersonality. This questionnaire is a short questionnaire

developed to be like the commonly used typequestionnaires.

The University of Waterloo in Canada has a site forstudents that allows you to self-assess your personalitymotivation and interests, although it isn’t quite like astandard questionnaire. Seewww.cdm.uwaterloo.ca/step1.asp. Some of the books inthe Further Reading allow you to self-assess yourpersonality in different ways.

Personality questionnaires prevent some people fromgetting jobs, don’t they?A personality questionnaire is just a tool to help employerscollect information about a candidate. There are no good orbad profiles; it is a question of appropriateness to jobrequirements. It is the employer who decides, based on thisinformation and other sources, whether the candidate issuitable. You should remember that an employer willtypically see between two and ten candidates for everyvacancy, and they may have many more applicants at theinitial stages. This means that in the end most candidateswill be rejected, no matter what selection method is used.Being rejected does not mean that you could not do the job.It simply means that the employer saw someone who, intheir opinion, could do the job better than you. Often most ofthe candidates who apply for a job would be reasonablyeffective, and it is the nature of the selection process thatmany able people are rejected. If you are not having muchsuccess in applying for a job, try not to be too downhearted.

It does not mean that you do not have potential. Always askfor feedback to try to understand why you have not beensuccessful. Look for ways you can develop your skills andapproach. At the same time, consider whether you areapplying for the right sort of job and organization for you.There are many self-help materials to help you with acareer search. See Further Reading for some suggestions.

How can I contact a test publisher?The British Psychological Society Psychological TestingCentre website (www.psychtesting.org.uk) has a directoryof test publishers with up-to-date contact details. TheBritish Test Publishers Association also has a directory ofmembers’ contact details on their website (www.btpa.org).

Further reading

Listed are a range of books about testing and tests,personality, the recruitment and selection process as wellas some self-development books.

More about personality questionnairesand profiles

Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type, IsabellBriggs Myers and Peter Myers (Davies Black Publishing,1995)

The Psychologist’s Book of Personality Tests: 24Revealing Tests to Identify and Overcome Your PersonalBarriers to a Better Life, Louis H. Janda (John Wiley &Sons Inc, 2001)

Testing People at Work: Competencies in PsychometricTesting, Mike Smith and Pam Smith (Blackwell Publishing,2004)

Impact of personality on work

performance

Team Roles at Work , Meredith Belbin (Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd, 2003)

Type Talk at Work: How the Sixteen Personality TypesDetermine Your Success on the Job, O. Kroeger, J.Thuesen and H. Rutledge (Delta, 2002)

Working with Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman(Bloomsbury Publishing, 1999)

Career development aids

Build Your Own Rainbow: Workbook for Career and LifeManagement, Barrie Hopson and Mike Scally(Management Books, 1999)

Perfect Interview, Max Eggert (Random House, 2003)

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R.Covey (Simon & Schuster, 1999)

The Work We were Born to Do: Find the Work You Love,Love the Work You Do, Nick Williams (Element Books,2000)

What Color Is Your Parachute?: A Practical Guide for

Job-Hunters and Career Changers: Workbook, RichardBolles (Ten Speed Press, 2006)

Notes

ALSO AVAILABLE IN RANDOM HOUSE BOOKS

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Table of ContentsCoverTable of ContentsCopyrightAbout the AuthorOther titles in the Perfect seriesPerfect Personality ProfilesContentIntroduction1 Why do employers measure personality?

Personality and work performanceThe impact of situations on behaviourJob fitOrganization fitWhat are questionnaires used for?

2 What is personality?Behavioural styleTraitsTypes

3 Measuring personalitySelection interviewsPsychological measures of personalityExample question stylesOther approaches to measuring personality

4 What questionnaires measurePersonality

CompetenciesEmotional intelligenceMotivation, values and interestsWork styles

5 How employers use personality questionnairesExample personality profile and reportRelating personality profiles to jobs

6 Completing a questionnaireMode of presentationPreparation ahead of timeCompleting the questionnaireHints on answering questionsAfter completing the questionnaire

Standards in the use of questionnairesFrequently asked questionsFurther readingNotesAlso available in Random House books