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What is the value of personality tests?

9/1/2015

1 Comment

 
I always thought there was value in using personality  testing  tools and I was interested to read a critique, which I thought  would be worth sharing.

I think it’s useful to use as many different diagnostic  tools as you think appropriate to help you get a perspective  on which direction your career could take.

This would ideally be made up of subjective self-assessment  exercises as well as more objective tools like personality tests.  I also value the thoughts of others  either informally through  colleagues  and role models  and more formally from mentors and coach counsellors.

It’s not a good idea to rely on any one form or tool and you definitely need to test  the waters and get out there  and act on the new idea so you are confident about making the commitment.

It makes  sense  to use standardized questionnaires to see how your personality  type could match a particular career. I was interested to read the thoughts of the author Roman Krznaric in “How to Find Fulfilling Work” where he cautions users  to not rely on personality  tests,  suggesting  that  there is evidence  that  people  rely too much on tests  raising expectations that are rarely met.

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one of the best  known and most popular  psychometric  tests  with over 2 million administered annually. Myers Briggs places the user into one of 16 personality

I’ve been able to take three MBTI tests in previous employment  as part of management courses over that last 20 years and was fairly consistent over this time.

But Krznaric points to the criticism leveled at the MBTI including  the ‘test-retest reliability’, which is basically that if you take the test  again within a short period there is a high chance that you will fall into  a different personality category compared  to the first time you did it.

Of most importance is the critique about what I see as the main point of doing these  tests  from a career perspective, that  is that  it can guide you towards  the kinds of work you could enjoy and be successful in. It is also worth noting that according to US psychologist David Pittenger there  is “no evidence  to show positive relation between  MBTI type and the success within an occupation. Nor is there any data to suggest that specific  types are more satisfied within specific occupations than any other types”.

He puts the popularity of MBTI down to “the beguiling nature of the horoscope like summaries of personality and steady marketing”.                          

 So when using personality tests note they can help us if we are struggling in finding our strengths, though it is a valid and important  point that  we should  not hand  over responsibility  on an important  decision to someone  or something  else, such as an objective personality  tool. At the same time these tests  can offer us some  insights,  particularly when we are confused  about  roles that we may not have otherwise considered.

For more online tools go to www.careerredesign.com.au/free-resources.html

                                


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1 Comment
Dan link
7/2/2015 07:11:49 pm

Thanks for posting this, it was a really interesting and valuable read! I especially liked this part from the last paragraph:

"At the same time these tests can offer us some insights, particularly when we are confused about roles that we may not have otherwise considered."

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    I'm interested in how we find ways to bring passion and curiosity into everyday lives. Embrace being restless, be inspired by others journeys and just have a go.

    Above all I value the awake, curious and creative mind that cross pollinates ideas to join the dots and build new ideas. 

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