How to Use Personality Tests to Better Hire Candidates

In today’s talent landscape, evaluating technical skills alone isn’t enough. Employers are increasingly turning to personality tests for work to better understand how candidates will collaborate, communicate, and fit into the team. These assessments can complement interviews and resumes by revealing traits that impact real-world performance.

In this blog, we’ll explore how to integrate hiring personality tests into your recruiting strategy, highlight top assessment tools, and clarify how HR personality tests support better, faster hiring decisions.

Why Use Personality Tests in Hiring?

Personality assessments help you:

• Evaluate behavioral traits beyond the resume
• Predict culture fit and team dynamics
• Reduce bias by adding structured, consistent evaluation
• Strengthen post-hire retention and engagement

While they shouldn't be the sole deciding factor, personality tests for work can validate instincts, uncover red flags, and give hiring teams a deeper layer of insight.

Common Use Cases for Hiring Personality Tests

1. Screening for Team Compatibility

Not every high performer will thrive in every environment. Personality tests help assess how well a candidate's style aligns with your team’s pace, values, and collaboration norms.

2. Leadership and Management Hires

For roles that require influence, adaptability, or conflict resolution, hiring personality tests can identify soft skills that don’t always show up in interviews.

3. High-Volume Roles

In sales, customer service, and operations, testing can help filter for traits like resilience, empathy, or attention to detail at scale.

Most Popular HR Personality Tests for Hiring

Here are some widely used assessments HR teams leverage during the hiring process:

• The Predictive Index (PI) is a behavioral assessment used to measure motivation and behavioral drives, commonly applied for candidate screening and role alignment.
• DISC is a personality assessment focused on communication styles, often used to evaluate team dynamics and culture fit during hiring.
• 16Personalities / MBTI assesses cognitive preferences and personality types, typically used to support self-awareness and improve team collaboration rather than direct hiring decisions.
• Hogan Assessments is a leadership-focused personality assessment designed to evaluate leadership risk and emotional intelligence, most commonly used for executive and high-stakes hiring.
• Criteria Corp (CCAT + personality) combines cognitive aptitude testing with personality assessments, frequently used for entry-level to mid-career hiring decisions.

Each test has strengths depending on the role and hiring goals. It’s important to match the assessment to the job, not apply a one-size-fits-all approach.

Best Practices for Using Personality Tests in Work Settings

If you’re planning to implement HR personality tests, here’s how to do it well:

1. Use Tests as a Supplement, Not a Filter

Personality assessments should add data—not create disqualifiers. Use them to enrich interviews and identify areas for follow-up.

2. Be Transparent with Candidates

Let candidates know why you're using tests and how results will be used. Transparency builds trust and increases completion rates.

3. Align Tests to Role Competencies

Different jobs require different traits. A customer-facing role may prioritize empathy, while a data analyst may need precision and focus.

4. Stay Legally Compliant

Work with vendors that validate their tests for workplace use and ensure assessments don’t create adverse impact.

5. Train Hiring Managers on Results

Make sure hiring teams know how to interpret test outputs, ask probing questions, and avoid over-reliance on any single metric.

Where GoPerfect Fits In

GoPerfect doesn’t administer personality tests for work, but it makes sure the rest of your hiring funnel is fast, data-driven, and compliant. Our AI-powered platform can:

• Source candidates who match job requirements based on skills and experience
• Track assessment completion and interview feedback in one place
• Integrate with your ATS to create a seamless hiring workflow

Use GoPerfect to surface top talent, then pair it with your preferred hiring personality test to get a fuller picture of each candidate.

Smarter Hiring Starts with People, Not Just Profiles

Incorporating HR personality tests into your recruiting process can improve decision quality and reduce early-stage misalignment. But the best results come from combining data with human insight.

Whether you're building a startup team or scaling globally, platforms like GoPerfect help you move faster while staying focused on what matters: finding the right people, not just the right resumes.

Get started with GoPerfect and upgrade your talent strategy today.

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