Using Personality Test to Hire and Employee Development

Over the Thanksgiving break, an article by Kristen Criswell, came across my desk entitled, Using personality Testing to Fill Positions and develop Employee Strenghts which addressed some of the uses of personality assessments within a tire shop. In this article, Criswell talks about the using DISC and Myers-Briggs assessments as part of the hiring process and for employee development. 

Resources Unlimited cautions companies on using Myers-Briggs and DISC assessments as part of the hiring process due to the recent Target case. That being said, certain DISC assessments may be used as part of the hiring process and Resources Unlimited would recommend using a DISC assessments that is researched, nondiscriminatory, validated, and has an adverse impact study proving these qualities. When a tire shop or any company uses these DISC assessments as part of the hiring process, they tend to have great success in retaining their new hires. Regarding Myers-Briggs assessments, Resources Unlimited would not recommend using this assessment as part of the hiring process as it is geared toward employee development.

Criswell also addresses assessments for employee development which both DISC and Myers-Briggs have exceled in historically. According to Criswell's article, "DISC profiles help increase your self-knowledge: how you respond to conflict, what motivates you, what causes you stress and how you solve problems; facilitate better teamwork and minimize team conflict; develop stronger sales skills by identifying and responding to customer styles; manage more effectively by understanding the dispositions and priorities of employees and team members: and become more self-knowledgeable, well-rounded and effective leaders.” On the other hand, Criswell states, “Myers-Briggs assumes that people naturally select personality preferences. The testing does not indicate real or potential effectiveness in career, school or personal life, but rather shows how any individual sees the world.” As you can see both DISC and Myers-Briggs assessments can be effective in employee development.

I hope this tire shop can help you understand the benefits of using personality test within the workplace as DISC assessments have helped Resources Unlimited improve its team work.

By Resources Unlimited