Yes, it’s true – a personality profile can take just ten minutes to complete and it can reveal “everything” about you. Everything from your BEST AND MOST saleable and desirable traits to those finer, more sensitive details which you may prefer not to be noticed – especially if a good job or a promotion is at stake!
Most of us dread being “exposed” or “naked” especially in front of our employer or potential employer. We are much more comfortable noticing the personality traits of others than revealing our own. When the spotlight is turned on us, we can feel as if we have somehow been “caught out”. As a result many people go to great lengths to avoid filling in one of these personality profiles at an interview. But are they really that BAD?
Those people who have taken the plunge and filled one in will all tell you that they have learnt a lot about themselves. And companies will, more often than not, say that they just couldn’t survive without them.
Personality profiles are now commonly used by companies when they are recruiting their executive or management staff and many companies use them for the second interview stage. But why? What it the real benefit of these profiles? Recruitment of the “right” staff can be a difficult, expensive and time-consuming task. Every time personnel managers are in the process of recruiting new staff for their company, they want to be in a position to select and make an offer to the person who matches the job requirements best. But choosing, selecting and matching staff is not just simply about experience, qualifications, and background. It is also about the personality of the candidate and how his or her personality will affect, add to or adjust the balance of the existing team or structure. So, personality is a key issue in the selection process but it is a tricky thing to clearly see, understand, and evaluate at an interview. Nerves, mannerisms and body language all play a part in disguising a person’s “true self”. And it is often tempting under these circumstances to make a quick judgement or a misguided or poor decision about a candidate.
For example, a highly dominant person whose personality is well-suited to heading up a team, pushing for results/achievements and taking responsibility could under the interview situation be perceived by a less dominant interviewer as being arrogant, aggressive or pushy. Thus, the candidate’s behaviour, words or attitude might be the focus of attention rather than the underlying personality strengths such as ambition, drive and being able to take on a challenge which would all be advantageous for this advertised job. So, the advantage of the personality profile in these circumstances is that it helps the candidate to be viewed as a “whole” person and it helps the company to see beyond the behaviour and to “get under the skin” of that person. This enables the decision-maker to make an informed choice based upon facts and examples rather than a decision based upon less tangible things such as impressions or feelings.
The personality profile itself
The personality profile can cost anything from £50-£300 depending upon the type of profile used. They are on the whole very simple to complete and do not have any “right” or “wrong” answers. They are unique because they are about YOU. The questions either require the candidate to:
answer an a sliding scale 1-5 or 1-10 etc
answer “yes” or “no”
or to answer by highlighting a “most” or “least”.
They take anything from 5 to 30 minutes to complete and are then passed to a professionally-trained person for analysis.
The answers to the questions are then added up and analysed, interpreted and written up ready for examination by the recruiter.
What personality profiles highlight
The strength of these personality profiles is that they do more than simply highlight a person’s key strengths and weaknesses. They are more effective than this, hence their popularity, because they get under the skin of the person. They highlight more abstract things such as what the person:
- has to offer the company/organisation
- has in terms of long-term potential
- has to offer in terms of loyalty
- is like in terms of emotional maturity
- is like in his or her relationships
- has in terms of motivational skills
- is like in terms of self-reliance.
In addition to this, certain profiles can also highlight the technical side of a person. This would include the following things:
- what his or her natural personality is
- whether he or she is adjusting their personality in order to perform in his or her current job
- how well the person performs under pressure
- what type of manager he or she is
- what type of leadership style he or she adopts
- what his or her administration skills are like
- whether he or she can “sell”
- how mobile he or she is likely to be
- and finally whether he or she suffers from any job-related, personal or emotional stress.
As you can see, a profile is an in-depth analysis of an individual which helps, guides and reassures personnel managers/recruiters in their decision-making process. However, profiles can never replace the interview because they cannot be 100% accurate; what they do is put impressions into words allowing the interviewer to ask key questions on personality traits.
The benefit of the profile for the organisation
Personality profiles are of enormous benefit to organisations. They help speed up the recruitment process because unsuitable candidates can be immediately dropped from the selection process and because they allow recruiters to really “get to know” whom they are selecting for the company. Profiles enable the recruiter to ask more in-depth questions at the interview and ask the candidates to explain areas of concern which may have been highlighted in the profile itself. They also give the candidate the opportunity to explain him or herself and give more detailed, specific and honest answers. The tone of the interview is often much more friendly, direct and up front. In effect, the profile sets the scene for creating an informal chat rather than a possible interrogation arena!
Organisations sometimes get current or existing staff to complete personality profiles if they want to highlight staff for promotion; identify reasons for low performance of staff; monitor staff motivational levels; or build specialist teams for specific tasks.
The benefit of the personality profile for the individual
Many individuals also choose to contact specialist consultancy organisations for the specific purpose of having a profile done if they are looking for a career change or career boost or to prepare themselves for a forthcoming interview. These profiles enable people to:
- identify what type of work really suits their personality
- choose the right type of organisation to work for
- promote their personality on their CV or at an interview
- work through any highlighted weaknesses or barriers
- and understand what drives and motivates them.
Our service promise
Whether you choose to complete your profile by email or as part of a career consultancy package, we offer the following quality service:
- Unbeatable value for money
- Quick and efficient turnaround
- Experts on hand to answer your questions
- Quality individual and group training tailored to the delegate’s personality.
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