Companies are increasingly
using pre-employment tests, including personality assessment tests, to assess their
job applicants. While personality tests are popular with employers, job seekers
worry that tricky test questions could ruin their chances of getting hired.
Such worried job seekers may have a point.
Personality tests,
according to PSI (an assessment test provider), “while generally accurate, are not usuallyrecommended or legal for pre-hiring assessments.” Why? Because as PSI explains,
“Most employment laws demand that only
skills that can be proven to be requirements for success in a position may be
tested.” In other words, how
applicants answer personality test questions may not be a legitimate reason not
to hire them.
So what do you do if you
are faced with a pre-employment personality test? Well, you can make the
employer aware that the test may not be legal, but if you don’t want to get a
pissing match with the company:
