Screening Process: Pre-employment Tests Rising in Popularity, Officials Say

By Carla D'Nan Bass, Dallas Morning News, December 12, 1999

There are some tests for which job applicants can't study.

Personality tests, designed to measure those intangible qualities such as leadership or tolerance to stress, are growing in popularity, human resources directors and test developers say.

"Companies are relying on them more and more," said Barbara O'Neal, owner of OneSearch Corp. recruitment firm in Dallas. She offers personality-based tests as a service to her client companies, many of which are looking for sales workers. "It's very expensive to make hiring mistakes."

The Society for Human Resource Management reported this year that about 20 percent of its members use some type of pre-employment testing. And the Association of Test Publishers estimates that personality testing is now a $400 million industry, with about 2,500 tests from which to choose.

A study shows that many job applicants are more likely to take jobs from companies that offer them, author Tom Janz writes in the book Behavior Description Interviewing.

But some companies consider pre-employment personality testing as another barrier to hiring.

"It depends on the company," said Mary Cheddie, president-elect of Dallas Human Resource Management Association Inc. "A lot of companies are very desperate right now for anybody. It depends on...if they are willing to sacrifice quality for a body."

Personality tests can take many forms. Some have hundreds of questions and originally were designed for clinical psychologists; others take only 10 minutes and were tailored to workplace needs.

They often are given in conjunction with tests on specific skills needed for the job.

Once simple test designed by Dr. Robert Smith of Dallas requires applicants to rank phrases such as "a good meal" and "a fine" from best to worst. Those are all the instructions they receive.

Using a computer analysis, Dr. Smith can take the results and describe the applicant's strengths and weaknesses and how he or she will respond to certain situations. The test's aim is to show whether the prospective employee will fit into a certain environment.

Dr. Smith said personality test results should not be the sole basis for a hiring decision. Companies should use them to back up information gleaned in the interview.

Applicants should remember that even those who "fail" a test for a particular company can still get the job offer, Dr. Smith said.

One young man, he said, failed all of IBM Corp.'s pre-employment tests on how well his character would fit with the company's culture, but he ended up as a top salesman there.

"They recommended that he not be hired," Dr. Smith said. "But there was a manager that liked to work with rebels, and he said, 'I want him.'...[The applicant] was a national sales leader his first two years."

And it might be good to fail such a test, he said, because it may prevent an applicant from working at a company where they wouldn't fit in.

"If you are helping the employee, you're helping the employer and vice versa," Dr. Smith said. "Very few people, fewer than 15 percent of the working population, have the ability to accurately access what is their best job."

Dr. Smith's personality tests are based on an offshoot of psychology called Axiology that was developed between 1930 and 1973 by Dr. Robert S. Hartman.

Axiology theory maintains that people in all cultures behave according to their values. Personality tests can help pinpoint those values, Dr. Smith said.

Companies, however, must first define the characteristics that are important to their organization. They do so by giving the test to their successful employees to find out what qualities they share, Dr. Smith said.

It takes about two years to fine-tune a test that will best suit a company's needs, he said.

Featured in The Dallas Morning News on December 12, 1999