Employee’s personality is an important factor that needs to be addressed

Investigating the personal qualities of a prospective employee is a crucial part of the recruitment process. Recruiters need to be both trained in personality typing and experienced in applying personality typing methodologies to different staffing levels. Recruitment and selection as a process must have a 3-part plan for the study of the employee’s personality:

1. Determining the appropriate employee’s personality type

In order to ensure that the recruitment process is smooth from the outset, it is necessary to anticipate, in order of priority, which personal qualities will be most beneficial for the position being sought. It is usually suggested to list at least 5 personal qualities. Validate them, and then rank them in order of priority from the most important. It is important to note that both teamwork, working with clients and partners, and technical qualities for technical tasks need to be critically assessed. The list of personal qualities should be based on the knowledge of both the prospective supervisor and feedback from colleagues. This will make the list much more accurate than information from just one source.

2. Identifying personal qualities in the recruitment and selection process

In particular, a personal qualities survey may have several or more parts. One part can be integrated into the job interview, a second into the assignment and a third into the presentation of the assignment. This integrated approach allows for a truly accurate identification of the predominant personal qualities. The same recruiter should be involved in all three phases to ensure that the study is objective.

The integration of the personal qualities test into the job interview must be subtle, i.e. not felt by the candidate. If the candidate feels that certain parts of the job interview are designed to test his/her personal qualities, then the test is not being carried out in a professional manner. If other managers are involved during the presentation of the assignment, the recruiter should brief them on the design and methodology of the employee’s personality test to be conducted during the presentation of the assignment. Only in this way can the survey be objective.

3. Comparison of the personal qualities of the final candidates

At this stage, the priority given to the personal qualities in the first stage is very important. It is if this is not the case that the comparison of the employee’s personality of the final candidates can become a long and irrational discussion. It is the personal qualities of the final candidates that have been revealed that should be compared against the priorities that have already been set and the candidates compared. If an additional interview is needed, that is fine. But it already means that the previously identified parts of the personal qualities disclosure have probably not been fully and qualitatively done, and additional time is needed to fully disclose them. Of course, all the other data should also be taken into account: salary expectations, motivation, technical knowledge, etc.

The study of personal characteristics is a very important part of the recruitment and selection process. The biggest problem is when this study is carried out without a strategy, without different components, without estimates. It is then no longer a study but an opinion, which often further confuses the criteria for the decision-making team. When a personal qualities survey is prepared in advance, it becomes a relatively simple and easy-to-use tool for selecting the most suitable candidate.