The name is given to the self-assessment tests which evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the test takers. It provides information about the candidates’ social skills, motivations, strengths and weaknesses as well as attitudes all of which play an important role in the individuals’ career, achievements and happiness. Individuals can pay attention to what their personality inventory test says about them when making critical decisions such as making a career choice or accepting a job offer. On the other hand, employers can choose the most favorable candidates by organizing a personality inventory to utilize in the recruitment process or giving a promotion. This makes a significant difference in ensuring contentment for both the employee and the company.
History of the Personality Inventory
Personality inventory tests, which first appeared with the name Phrenology at the end of the 18th century, became popular in the 19th century. Personality tests in these periods also included unscientific methods such as skull measurement. Later, psychologists tried to determine how many different personality traits there are, but this number was increased to 4000 by some of them. Psychologist Raymond Cattell reduced this number of major personality factors to 16, using statistical factor analysis. Later, Hans Eysenck reduced this number to 3.
The Five Major Personality Factors
The most known test among all is the model known as the big five personality test. Designed to measure academic coherence, this test is used for factor analysis, which Raymond Cattell first used. American academicians Tupes and Christal, who discussed comprehensively and developed this statistical method in 1961, reduced the number of main character traits to 5, but could not attract the academic attention they aimed. In 1992, it was named the five-factor personality test by Lewis Goldberg and it got separated from the academic basis it had before by being turned into a psychometric test. The five-factor method was unanimously accepted as the best and most up-to-date method with a success rate of 80% in the symposium held in 1981 with the participation of reputable psychologists.
Test Invite Personality Inventory Tests
The inventory tests we use as Test Invite are directly or indirectly based on the five major personality factors. While the RADAR test is directly based on 5 major personality factors, the SONAR test is based on the HEXACO method, which originates from this method and has many common factors.
Representing the concept of personality by dividing it into five main categories, the RADAR test further emphasizes the result by dividing these main headings into 2 sub-headings. The main distinction of the HEXACO test, which is the basis of the SONAR test, is that it divides almost the same factor system into 6 main topics instead of 5. Four of these six factors are the same as the big 5 personality factors. Working through and defining the concepts of emotional consistency and adaptability are the only distinct differences between them. Dividing six main factors into 4 subtitles separately, the Sonar test provides the opportunity to analyze personality in 24 different categories in total.
What Do Personality Inventory Tests Do?
Personality inventory tests reveal the characteristic traits, main predispositions, abilities and area of interests of the individuals, and it is highly efficient and profitable for both the employers and employees when it comes to making career decisions. Employers can choose the most convenient candidates for open positions, while employees can shape their careers in accordance with their actual potentials. It contributes to a happy, productive and progressive work environment.
Benefits for the Employer
Regarding the employment process, gaining insight about how the personalities of the candidates will affect their attitude and performance in the workplace is the most obvious benefit for employers. It provides information that directly affects the work environment, such as employees’ compatibility with teamwork, their approach towards solving problems, and handling of emotional situations.
Helps You Get to Know the Candidates Better
By means of an objective characteristics assessment, you can manage the candidate pool much more effectively. You can evaluate candidates that are suitable for the position by filtering them in accordance with the desired and required features.
Although the inventory test tells a lot about the candidate, it does not reveal the whole picture alone. Together with the characteristic traits, you need to find out about their abilities, knowledge and skills, too. At this point, in addition to the general aptitude test, you can determine whether your candidate is well trained or not using the language proficiency test, coding or field knowledge tests with our software tool Test Invite.
Speeds Up The Process
You can basically filter the right candidates and minimize unnecessary interviews by making an online evaluation during the recruitment process. With Test Invite, you can save time while recruiting candidates because personality test results can be obtained real-timely.
Ensures Fair Recruitment
It is extremely difficult for a recruiter to fully evaluate all the candidates. Insensible biases can have an impact on the decisions or the candidate may not be able to express himself comfortably. To avoid all these risks, the inventory test comes to your rescue. Employers can fairly choose the best candidates having the required skill sets by evaluating applicants based on their scores they achieved in the personality inventory tests.
Reveals the Unknown Negative Sides of the Candidates
The negative character traits that candidates hide may cause serious losses in some jobs. Inventory testing can identify personality traits such as opportunism, greed, insensitivity, or impulsivity. Test Invite RADAR and SONAR inventory can reveal susceptibility to lying by comparing inconsistent responses with a great analysis of the tests. It is extremely important to avoid such features in some tasks. Regarding safety and reliability, accessing this information beforehand prevents possible major losses and risks for the employer.
Cost Effective
With the personality inventory test, you can identify things that you would normally be able to detect within a few months of hiring, in just a few hours. Test Invite allows you to access invaluable information for a very affordable price by performing reliable inventory tests online, having international validity.
Besides being affordable, it also prevents possible damages that may arise from improper recruitment. An improper recruitment that can disrupt the workflow can cause enormous loss for your company. What did the employees about whom you said “I wouldn’t hire them if I knew they were like this” cost you? How many of your projects have been canceled? How many customers have you lost? We highly recommend inventory testing to avoid such problems right from the start.
Advantages of Personality Tests for Employee Development
Personality inventory is crucial for the employee to shape and lead their career. It reveals which route is suitable for your employment and performance and which professions you should go for. Once you know your personality, you can also make decisions about the environment in which you would prefer to work. This will show you what path you should follow in the direction of your ongoing career. It supports you to draw the appropriate paths for your career, such as the training you need to receive and the skills you need to learn. This provides both the organization and the employee with
a very healthy environment for development as well as improvement.
Benefits to Your Personal Life
First of all, being aware of your personal traits and characteristics and directing your life accordingly will help you live a happier life. The benefits to your career are necessarily advantageable for your personal life as well. It helps you discover your hidden sides, find out how to channel your energy and find peace in an environment.
Sometimes you may feel uneasy and suppress the emotions you feel with the pressure of the environment you are in, because of a personality trait. For example, when someone that likes loneliness finds out about this with his personality inventory results, he will know that he should give himself some space where he can be alone when he feels uneasy. Such small changes will increase your quality of life considerably.
Are the Personality Tests on the Internet Reliable?
You can find many personality tests on the Internet, and even access those that are considered reputable by the experts. However, these tests include only a fraction of the original tests and do not ensure you can achieve the data required for an accurate analysis. The main reason for this is that the answers given are not objective. The individual’s answers may be influenced by the environment, may not be honest with himself or his environment, or they may make wrong choices without even realizing it. Especially many individuals can mistake their real character for their ideal character. Ideally, someone who claims being neat, tidy, and hardworking can be disorganized and this can affect the exam result.
Test Invite tests can solve this problem since they are passed through a professional analysis. Repetitive questions reveal inconsistencies in the individual’s answers and contradictions that he himself cannot notice. Are you disorganized? An individual who says no to this question may approve of the phrase “I would relax in a messy room.” Such expressive differences allow an individual to distinguish between his ideal self and his true self.
Things to Consider When Performing a Personality Test
It is not a test that you should be prepared for before taking it. This test includes a series of questions that asks your approach and view for certain situations. Yet, we have still listed some methods you can follow to understand your personality in the best way and to get the right results.
-Be honest, giving the convenient answers for the job you are applying for will come out in the test analysis, and this impulse to mislead will be recorded as part of your character analysis.
-Reflect who you really are and how you feel, not your ideal version. You can go on a journey to reach the ideal you, but to be able to cross over this road, you must first discover where you are
-Read the instructions and don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand.
This is not a test that you have to pass. A successful test will only come forth when you give the most sincere answers.
-Do not rely on the tests you encounter on the Internet, the important point we have described above is that the answers go through a professional analysis.
Shortcomings of the Personality Inventory Tests
Although personality tests can tell you about many things, they cannot tell you everything. Because it is a test that directly depends on the individual and their perception, employers cannot make decisions by relying solely on this test. At this point, it should be supported by tests that are based on subjective measurements such as the general aptitude tests. Personality tests may have different shortcomings than the ones below, but we have written the main topics for you.
Lying in the Personality Tests
Although the inventory tests we use reveal many inconsistencies during the analysis phase, misleading answers can damage the reliability of the test. Even if the cheating is not deliberate, it is a part of human nature to turn towards what is socially good. It is very common to turn to what is more acceptable for the job that is applied for.
It Might Get Affected by the Awareness Level of the Individual
Not everyone is good at analyzing their behavior correctly. They may exaggerate certain predispositions and underestimate others. Socially accepted features can be exaggerated. Awareness level of the individual is an important factor in this sense. Inventory tests are excellent at detecting exaggerated characteristics of the individual, but ignored issues can go unnoticed. An analysis of the individual’s attitude during the examination can be helpful in this regard.
Tests Can Be Long and Boring
Sometimes it takes a long time for personality tests to yield a consistent result. Participants can get bored and respond without thinking or reading carefully to get over the test as soon as possible. Test Invite Personality Inventory Tests consist of 100 questions and take 30 minutes, but some tests may take too long.
Grading Can Be Subjective
Personality tests, especially those that are not performed by experts or those that do not have a licensed scaling method, can be interpreted differently by different people. This is the general problem of all tests that involve subjective interpretations. Test Invite tries to overcome this problem by using the most internationally accepted tests and their analysis methods.
Although it has certain limitations, personality inventory has undeniable benefits for both the individual and the organization. Global and corporate companies such as Google and Facebook (Economist) are aware of the importance and value of these tests, they have been benefiting from the personality inventory in recruitment processes and promotions for years. You can also take advantage of these tests to invest in the future of your company and to choose the right candidates for the right spots. However, what you should not forget is that the personality inventory does not give the exact accurate result, but a “more accurate” result. The progress of humanity is not based on an absolute truth anyway, but on making fewer mistakes.
