Executive Summary
Personality is the invisible force that guides our behaviors and shapes our performance at work. However, its assessment is still poorly understood by many managers and HR managers.
In this article, you will learn about:
- What personality really is according to scientific research
- How personality inventories are designed and validated,
- How they effectively predict professional performance,
- The strategic benefits of using them in recruiting and developing talent,
- The criteria for evaluating the reliability of an assessment tool.
An essential read for talent management, leadership and HR strategy professionals who want to build successful and sustainable organizations.
What is personality?
According to Hogan Assessments, personality is the fundamental driver of human behavior. Their approach is based on socio-analytic theory, which combines evolutionary psychology and social interaction theory.
Three observations result from this:
- Human beings always live in hierarchical groups.
- They need a sense system (religion, science, philosophy) to understand the world.
- They pursue three main motivations: get along with others (cooperation), stand out (competition), and find meaning.
Personality determines how each person seeks to achieve these goals and how successful they are.
The three key components of personality
- The identity : the story we tell ourselves about ourselves (often biased, too severe or too flattering).
- Reputation : what others perceive of us through our observable behaviors.
- Social skills : the ability to interact effectively.
Hogan points out that reputation — not identity — is the best predictor of career performance.
Does personality change over time?
Personality is globally steady once adulthood is reached. Behaviors may vary by context, but fundamental patterns remain.
Hogan uses a meteorological analogy:
- Daily behaviors are comparable to the weather of the day (variable and unpredictable).
- The personality is more like the regional and seasonal climate (relatively stable over time).
Thus, development coaching can modify certain visible behaviors, but always within the framework of natural personality tendencies.
How are personality tests built?
When designing his assessments, Hogan clearly distinguishes identity and repute.
- Since identity is unstable and subjective, it provides an unreliable basis.
- Reputation, the result of repeated behaviors observed by others, is stable and therefore predictive.
To validate his tools, Hogan:
- collects data from millions of profiles,
- cross-check assessment results, 360° evaluations, managerial ratings and real performance,
- compares results to objective criteria to refine predictive accuracy.
How do personality tests predict job performance?
Personality directly influences dimensions that are critical to success: resilience, strategic self-awareness, collaboration, leadership.
Based on decades of research, Hogan's tests allow you to:
- describe the likely reputation of a candidate,
- compare your profile to thousands of others,
- assess its suitability for a position or organizational culture.
Reliability and validity of personality tests
Two essential concepts guarantee the quality of a test:
- Reliability : consistency of the results over time (test-retest).
- Validity : ability to measure what the test purports to measure, in particular criterion validity, that is, the accuracy in predicting performance.
Hogan says that his tools are rigorously validated and demonstrate strong predictive capacity.
Are personality tests fair and privacy-friendly?
According to Hogan, their assessments are:
- in accordance with professional and legal standards,
- equitable, with no impact related to age, gender or origin,
- oriented only to professional results (non-diagnostic, therefore not linked to clinical pathologies).
They meet the standards ofEqual Employment Opportunity and respect the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
Can you cheat on a personality test?
Contrary to their name, personality tests are not “exams” with right or wrong answers. They simply assess the fit between an individual and a position.
Hogan's research shows that manipulation attempts actually lead to poorer fit scores.
How do businesses use personality tests?
Recruiting and talent acquisition
- Identify candidates aligned with key competencies and corporate culture.
- Reduce recruitment risks.
- Strengthen security in sensitive sectors (industry, energy, construction).
Talent and leadership development
- Detect the strengths and areas of progress of employees.
- Prevent the risk of career derailment.
- Support the progress and effectiveness of management teams.
The strategic benefits of personality tests
- Better adequacy of recruitments : reduction of turnover and improvement of collective performance.
- Less bias in HR decisions : an asset for diversity, equity and inclusion.
- Optimizing talent management : alignment between competencies, leadership potential and organizational strategy.
How do you assess the quality of a personality test?
Three criteria should guide the evaluation:
- Link to the position (job relatedness): established through a rigorous job analysis.
- Reliability : consistency of results over time.
- Validity : accuracy of the predictions provided.
Serious providers should be able to provide documented scientific evidence.
Why are personality tests essential to talent management?
In summary, personality assessment allows organizations to:
- better understand their collaborators,
- identify the right profiles for each hierarchical level,
- avoid recruitment mistakes,
- sustainably develop leadership potential and collective performance.
The benefits are measurable: improved performance, increased profitability, reduced turnover and increased customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Personality is a strategic lever for sustainable management And of talent development.
By relying on rigorous assessments like those developed by Hogan, organizations can make more informed HR decisions, strengthen their organizational culture, and ensure the success of their teams over the long term.
At Authentic Talent, we believe that the provision of objective mechanisms to support recruitment and promotion processes within organizations is a major element for the future success of organizations. If you want to discuss the subject with us, Let's talk !
This article is based on the Hogan Assessments article: The Ultimate Guide of Personality Test
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