Personality tests are becoming more and more popular with companies these days.

There are now a record number of providers who promise companies that their personality test is the one to use, and companies tend to be using these tests more and more to help them choose who they hope will be the right person for the jobs they need filled.

What this means, is that in your hunt for a job, you’re almost guaranteed to come across a company that asks you to complete a personality test when you apply for a job they have available.

A lot of people hate personality tests. They don’t like doing them, they get nervous and start worrying about how they answer the questions, in case they give the wrong impression and get rejected for the job.

If that’s you, or you know someone like it, then I’ve got some good news for you.

You can beat personality tests.

And today I’m going to show you how!

The first thing to keep in mind is that as far as the experts are concerned, when it comes to personality tests, their results are unreliable and their use outside academia is debatable.

In fact, there are downsides for companies who use personality tests to hire because of the unreliable results they produce.

Personality tests are designed to measure your-

• Personality
• Aptitude
• Experience

And they measure each of those in that order.

As far as test designers are concerned, personality and aptitude are more important than experience because they take the view that you already have the experience, or the company can easily recognise who has experience and who doesn’t.

There are 3 basic types of tests-

• Cognition & Ability
• Simulations & Skills
• Personality & Other Indicators

Cognition and Ability tests are designed to find out what you know.

Simulations and skills tests are designed to find out what you’re capable of doing.

And Personality tests are designed to find out about you and how you get on with others.

There are a few reasons companies ask applicants to do personality tests.

The main ones are, so they can-

• Weed out the applicants that won’t fit into the role or the team.
• Be objective — so that everyone is treated the same and there’s no bias in the hiring process
• Find out who’s lying. Companies obviously want someone who can do the job, not just saying they can.
• Replace references. Instead of having to call referees, companies can skip that step and save time.
• Reduce turnover. Hiring is time consuming and expensive so the more a company can reduce their staff turnover, the better.

So having said that, let’s look at how you can beat a personality test so you have the best chance of the company choosing you as the person they want for the job.

Now, when I say beat the test, I’m not talking about being dishonest. What I mean is to do the test with your eyes open, but still be yourself.

So the key to beating a personality test is preparation.

For example, someone who applies for a sales role is a different personality type to someone who applies for a job in accounts.

So keep the role you’re applying for in mind when you’re answering the questions.

Most of the questions in personality tests don’t have a right or wrong answer, particularly the behavioural questions.

So carefully consider the job you’re applying for and think about the type of person the company is likely to be looking for when you answer each question.

Finding out as much as you can about the company, it’s staff and it’s products or services is always a good idea too. That gives you some background before you do the test so you have a better feel for what the company is about.

Be measured and truthful and consider each question carefully and consider the type of person the role requires and how someone like that would answer each question.

It’s good to find out things like-

• What the test is measuring?
• Is the company going to record your results and keep them on file?
• Will they advise you of your results?

So there are some guidelines to help you when you’re asked to sit a personality test.

At the end of the day, the reason companies ask applicants to sit a personality test, is because they want o choose the right person for the job.

A great way to find employers who are interested in you is to use Connectzapp to find your next job.

The way it works is you enter the details of the role you’re after.

You’re then given a list of jobs you’re best matched to ranked in order, with the best matched job for you at the top.

You then swipe through each job, choose the ones you like the best, put them into your shortlist and then contact those employers direct.

It quick and easy and the best part is each employer can see you’re a good candidate for the job so they want o talk to you.

You can get Connectzapp on the App Store or Google Play or go to Connectzapp.com.

So give it a try. It will save you a lot of time and frustration!

Good luck with your job hunting!