You have all the right qualifications for the job; the education, training, and skills. You hold an advanced degree from a good school in the field they’re looking for. You began working on the shop floor while other kids went on vacation. You quickly earned journeyman status, and are months away from being named a master craftsman. You didn’t get the job because HR felt someone else gave off a better vibe.
What Do Personality Tests Reveal About You?
Have you noticed in the news that some HR departments really do use vibes to choose job candidates? Yes, it’s true. As a matter of fact, some organizations hire astrologers, numerologists, and graphologists to help them make hiring decisions. People who believe in such ethereal explanations generally hold on to them as tightly as Ebenezer Scrooge and Scrooge McDuck with nickels. Has anyone called in a rumpoligist lately? Seriously. She’s Sylvester Stallone’s mother, Jackie.
How Flunking a Personality Test Can Cost You Your Dream Job
Callum Borchers, the author of that recent Wall Street Journal article, says growing numbers of companies are dissatisfied with many of the candidates they hired when they turned decision-making over to scanners. Now they’re looking for softer, fuzzier, cuddlier things that are not really definable, such as “fit” and “vibes,” things everyone knows about but few agree on.
One company I found touts their soft-skill-candidate-reference-checking services
It sells automated reference-checking software and services to staffing agencies. It claims its programming saves time and money by measuring such intangibles as “how an applicant communicates, handles stress, takes feedback, and manages conflict.” Candidates are given a “Team Skill rating,“ a Soft Skill rating” and a “Reference Score.” The whole thing sounds pretty soft to me.
To find those prized but elusive vibes that fit, more and more companies are jumping on the psychological testing bandwagon without understanding the limitations
Jumping on the bandwagon is an American idiom that means to do something only when it has proven to be popular, fashionable, or profitable. These Johnny-come-latelys lie low, lurking in the shadows, only to burst out and shamelessly align themselves with what looks to be the winning side of politics, causes, and factions. A groveling little bald man in a too-big cowboy hat comes to mind.
The bandwagon fallacy assumes that something must be true because others think it is
A great example is found in the thousands of HR departments that value the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator because so many others use it. Its popularity is interpreted as an indication of its accuracy and utility, which leads to wider use and less inclination to question its foundations.
Myers-Briggs says more people than ever before are using their personality test
You know, the test that reduces your personality and individuality to oversimplified labels that might as well be Aries, Taurus, Sneezy, and Dopey. You think I’m kidding, right?
Myers-Briggs is all or nothing
There is no in-between. You are labeled as either an introvert or an extrovert with no shading, no in-betweens. To see what that’s like, next time you shower, chose only scalding or freezing water.
The same one-or-the-other applies to your being classified as an intuitive person or a sensory person, as someone who feels or someone who thinks, and one who judges or perceives. Why must I be a logical or emotional decision-maker when I can be both — logical when it comes to forging an organizational strategy and emotional when I send flowers to a friend in the hospital.
Do you really believe you are hard-wired to have a personality that is unchangeable? How about when I tell you that people who take the test again are rarely assigned the same labels?
If you’re having trouble seeing yourself as someone who can’t feel or can’t think, you’ve discovered what psychologists and psychoanalysts have known all along
- There is no scientific evidence that the Myers-Briggs measures anything of value. It is a psychological test created by non-psychologists and is considered by professionals in the field to be no more than pseudoscience.
- It insists that the 8 billion people in the world can easily all be shoehorned into only 16 cramped little pigeonholes.
- Psychometric tests aren’t enough. You need observations and interviews to get the whole picture, not a cutesy little snapshot.
- How many possible combinations of numerical answers to 93 questions? There are no round numbers to describe it and it won’t fit in your calculator. My brother Al would say that’s slicing the baloney mighty thin.
Most psychological tests cannot and will not give you an accurate picture of yourself
If you’re really interested in gaining true insight into yourself, you’ll need to understand more about your core motivations, social skills, emotional intelligence, personality traits, behavior patterns, and more. The best psychological tests provide real insights into not only mood and behavior, but cognition and learning, too. If you’re serious about wanting to know more about your psychological self, ask a psychologist or a psychoanalyst.
Bonus
The reason horoscopes and the Myers-Briggs descriptions both appear accurate is the Barnum Effect, the tendency for individuals to view flattering and vague statements as highly accurate descriptions of themselves.
Discover magazine says even though personality profiles are generic, people often feel that the descriptions accurately portray the image they have of themselves. These deliberately vague descriptions are what keep people going back to their spirit guides.
The use of intentional vagueness and language trickery allows the “seer” to always be right
This technique has been used for centuries by astrologers, psychics, fortune tellers, palm readers, and crystal ball gazers to make customers believe they are being given deep truths about themselves and their futures.
Manipulators know that most people see statements about themselves as accurate when they are flattering enough
Even better, people choose to believe flattering statements more than they do accurate descriptions of themselves. Here’s how I demonstrated those principles to students in my Human Behavior class:
Without explanation, I asked them to use their weak hand to trace the outline of their dominant hand on a piece of paper, put their name on it, and leave it on my desk for me to analyze later. The following week, I handed their drawings back. I had attached to each one what I said was a personalized analysis of what their off-hand tracing revealed about them. I even concocted a bit of mumbo-jumbo about how psychologists know that by using your untrained hand, your natural self comes through.
All were amazed that I could produce such accurate insights from a simple drawing
When I asked them to compare their analysis with others around them, they did, slowly at first until the con had been grasped by all. I had given them all the exact same “reading,” yet each believed it applied only to them. Here are three of the “insights” they all received:
- You have a great deal of unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage.
- At times, you have doubts as to whether you have made the right decisions.
- You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others’ statements without satisfactory proof.
Some felt foolish for being so gullible, others were amused, and a few were angry that I had deceived them. But now they have seen for themselves how descriptions can be so purposefully vague that they apply to millions of people.
Bonus
As part of my research for this article, I took two personality tests. Here are some cherry-picked toplines I’ve chosen to believe are accurate descriptions of me because they’re flattering:
- You have strong writing skills and the ability to articulate ideas clearly and persuasively in verbal and written communication.
- You are curious, imaginative, creative, love to play with ideas, and enjoy riddles, puzzles, and brain teasers.
- You think through possibilities before acting and take your time when making decisions.
- You should be an educational consultant, advising schools, educational institutions, or private companies on curriculum development, teaching methods, and educational strategies.
Oooo, spooky, huh?
Today’s video
In 1959, Personality was a big hit for Lloyd Price. Here’s the 2:45 video of his performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
