Improving recruitment with personality assessments

As part of our recruitment process, we use personality assessments in order to ensure suitability for the role. While it’s important that candidates have the essential experience and qualification, more importantly, our clients need to know that the people they’re set to interview fit the company culture, and can’t just do the job, but can do the job in the right way.

Recruitment testing isn’t entirely new. In fact, psychometric assessments have been used for quite some time in order to ensure that potential candidates have the right skill-sets. However, these psychometric tests tend to be undertaken after the first sift, and often after the first interview. Narrowing down candidates prior to the interview process makes much more sense, and can hugely reduce attrition rates down the line.

Why personality matters
Our personalities are multifaceted, made up of our personal preferences and temperament, and forming many of our key behaviours and attitudes. Some people are driven to behave in one way, while others will be predisposed to acting entirely differently in the same given situation.

When it comes to the workplace, different challenges within roles will naturally suit certain personality types. So while someone may, on paper, look like they have the right skills, in action, they may just not have the right approach for true success. For example, some management positions may require a more dominant personality type, while the customer-facing roles may need a more gentle and approachable personality. An accountancy position would generally suit a more analytical and process-driven mind, while a creative director would require someone who can juggle lots of different projects efficiently and flex with constant change.

How our personality assessments work
As an accredited McQuaig interpreter, we use this system of personality testing to help match candidates to clients, and the specific positions they’re looking to fill.
This is how it works:

Upon engagement, we collate details all of the basics e.g. skills, qualifications and depth of experience required for the role
We then send a McQuaig job survey to all stakeholders within the recruiting business to complete individually.
The personality survey allows each stakeholder to build a profile of the ideal traits they feel are required to do the job to the best standards.
We then amalgamate and analyse the findings, before presenting the results to the client.
Through a series of discussions, we then work to iron out any anomalies in the results: it’s impossible for everybody to agree on everything, so this is where we help to consolidate the key personality traits that candidates should be assessed on.
Once we have agreed on the final personality profile, we use this benchmark to assess applicants. Each candidate is asked to complete a word survey, the results of which will be fed into the system to help us isolate those who are a best match for the role and the personality requirements of the employer.

Using personality assessments as part of our thorough recruitment process has yielded great results for our clients, allowing all decision-makers to have direct input while also benefiting from professional support and guidance.