PeopleKeys Employee Personality Testing
Hiring Right the First Time
By Abraham W.H. “Abe” Lee, M.Ed. (R)
“Congratulations, you got the job.”
You say these words before knowing if you’ve hired a dream or a nightmare. In Hawaii’s tight job market, it’s natural to speed up the hiring process to get that vacant position filled. But, how much can a bad hire cost you?
By some estimates, two to three times the employee’s salary. Plus, you’ve wasted time and aggravation on their training. You may have upset clients, vendors and your existing staff who are busy cleaning up the messes left behind. All for what? To get that position filled.
While there is no silver bullet in selecting employees, there are tools available that can greatly reduce your margin of error. One such program gaining credence and validation with employers ranging from small retail shops to the U.S. Air Force is personality assessments. Myers-Briggs is probably the best known program, but the real value in such programs is not just categorizing a personality, but rather having a reliable assessment that will predict future behavior.
How do they work? In essence, a series of questions helps identify personality temperaments and can help identify how employees may respond under pressure, make decisions, work with others, follow rules, and respect the authority of their boss. Glimpsing into this type of data can be very telling to employers.
Any behavioral assessment program that has gained acceptance by outside studies can trace its roots to one man – the inventor of the modern-day polygraph test William Moulton Marston. He originated the DISC Theory, which groups personality types into four primary temperaments. They are briefly outlined below:
D – Dominant/Driver: This person should be hired as a leader. A “D” is direct, self-starting problem solver interested in bottom-line results. Greatest fear: Being taken advantage of.
I – Influencing/Inspiring: This person should be hired as a salesman. An enthusiastic, persuasive, talkative motivator sometimes more interested in popularity than with tangible results. Greatest fear: Rejection.
C – Compliant/Correct: This person should be hired as an accountant. A systematic, analytical, careful fact-finder who is conscientious and may get bogged down in the details. Greatest fear: Criticism.
S – Stable/Steady: This person should be hired as an assistant. A steady, predictable, friendly listener who is a reliable team player and compliant toward authority, but resists change. Greatest fear: Loss of security.
Beneath each personality type is an entire array of predictive behaviors that will likely play out in the office. By correctly identifying a potential employee’s actual temperament – not the temperament they want you to believe they are – you can make a better determination if they’re right for your corporate culture and for the position for which they are interviewing.
Where do you begin? There are many types and prices of personality assessments, many of which will give you a free sample. While most assessments require a written test, you may sample a free online DISC assessment below:
Abraham W.H. “Abe” Lee has a Masters of Education and runs Abe Lee Seminars and Abe Lee Realty. He can be reached at abelee@hawaii.rr.com or (808) 216-4999.
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