Should you use personality questionnaires for recruitment or development?
Of all the top talent tools available to HR professionals, personality questionnaires cause the most confusion. Many organizations use them unreservedly for recruitment, whereas others believe they are only useful for personal development. Some organizations feel uncomfortable using personality questionnaires for recruitment and instead attempt to use interviews to evaluate behavior and culture fit. There really isn’t much consensus among HR professionals on best practices, or even whether or not to use them in their practice at all.
In this article, I will outline what the research says about personality questionnaires and determine whether you should use them for recruitment, development, or both.
Personality Questionnaires in Recruitment
A significant body of research has been conducted regarding personality in employee selection, spanning many decades. Large meta-analyses and systematic reviews have been conducted, and they show that certain (but not all) personality traits are predictive of performance in the workplace. Some traits, such as conscientiousness, are predictive in the general sense and seem to be ubiquitously associated with workplace performance. Others are more contextualized and seem to predict performance in some roles, but not others.
Aside from predicting performance, personality traits are also predictive of employee engagement, and thus employee retention. This matters almost as much as performance, as employee turnover is especially harmful to organizations. It can be helpful to imagine the quality of hire in terms of “total employee lifetime value,” i.e., their performance multiplied by the number of years served. Consequently, the total ROI from using personality questionnaires in recruitment can be particularly high when thinking in these terms.
Research aside, it makes rational and intuitive sense to use personality questionnaires in recruitment. Realistically, a person’s personality isn’t going to reliably change much during their tenure as an employee, and so any behavioral deficits will be persistent. For example, if they are deeply introverted and the role requires significant interaction, this will always be an area of contention. Naturally, they can work on social skills and develop coping strategies, but an extrovert would simply find this work more engaging and would have represented a better hire.
Personality Questionnaires in Development
Overall, the personality questionnaire market is heavily geared towards personal development and associated coaching services. Indeed, many personality questionnaires are designed specifically for development and explicitly advise against using them for recruitment. Perhaps the most popular assessment for personal development purposes is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which employs a type-based rather than a trait-based model of personality.
Although it may come as a surprise, as of 2024, there is no empirical evidence that personality questionnaire-led development increases job performance. Indeed, there is a huge gap in the research when it comes to the efficacy of personality questionnaires in development, with almost no research of any kind. Given the popularity of personality questionnaires in learning and development, this completely disaccords with how they are used in practice. Moreover, it makes things even more perplexing when you consider how skeptical HR professionals can be regarding personality questionnaire usage in recruitment, but seemingly feel confident using them for development.
However, absence of evidence does not mean evidence of absence, and the research may yet show that personality questionnaire-led development could result in a significant ROI. Additionally, the anecdotal experience of many coaches and HR professionals is often very supportive of their use, and this may be the only evidence we can draw from. Additionally, unlike selection decisions, which are high-stakes, development plans are more casual decisions, with less potential for risk. Consequently, organizations could simply experiment with personality questionnaires and would be unlikely to see major downsides.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The real-world usage and the opinions of HR professionals regarding personality questionnaires differ significantly from the picture painted by the research evidence. Practitioners are far more likely to feel confident using personality questionnaires in a personal development setting but are often hesitant to employ them in recruitment. However, the research evidence focuses almost entirely on employee selection, and a wealth of evidence now exists supporting their use. However, virtually no research has been conducted regarding the efficacy of personality questionnaires in development, despite nearly a century of opportunity to do so.
Consequently, skepticism should be reversed, and organizations should feel more comfortable using personality questionnaires in recruitment and be cautious when using them for personal development. Until supporting evidence becomes available, organizations are well advised to avoid spending too much time, money, and effort on personality questionnaires for development and instead focus budgets elsewhere.
Ben is the chief psychologist at Test Partnership, with extensive experience in consultancy and research. He writes extensively on many topics, including psychology, human resources, psychometric testing, and personal development.
