Every employer knows how important it is to have a solid, hardworking team of conscientious individuals in the workplace. Every employer also knows that a great team consists of people from all walks of life, with various personality types and personality traits. It's these personality differences that make a team work.
As an employer, you may be asking yourself the understandable question: how can I accurately assess a potential employee's personality and character traits before employing them? That's where personality tests come in.
Personality testing (also known as personality profiling or personality assessment) is widely used by employers around the world to gain an insight into prospective and current employees' personalities. These assessments are based on psychological theories of personality and colour psychology. Personality testing is an innovative, insightful and inexpensive way to foster a better understanding of your applicants as well as existing employees.
Personality assessments are routinely used by employers around the world to:
Create an efficient, harmonious workplace
There are few things more damaging to staff morale and workplace productivity than the tension caused by employee personality clashes.
Streamline recruitment
Incorporating pre-employment personality tests into your application screening questions is an effective way of hiring the best people from your pool of job candidates, whilst also removing unconscious bias.
Support current employees
Personality tests allow people to gain a better insight into their personality; how they work best, what things they're good at, and what they might need to work on. Understanding one's self well is always an important strength - especially when it comes to doing a stellar job at work.
Effective team building
By knowing the personality types of the people in your workplace, employers and managers can build teams where people play to one another's strengths and form strong working relationships.
Promote employees to suitable positions
Your personality and character traits determine your strengths, preferences, and ultimately what workplace positions you are most suited to. Having a solid understanding of your employees' personality types can aid those pencil-chewing decisions of who to promote to which role.
Strengthen the employer-employee relationship
Knowing an employee's personality type through these assessments helps the employer to support that person better, such as providing tailored training.
The 4-Colour Model
At Skillsarena, we provide personality testing through a specialist tool called the Character DNA personality test. The assessment involves answering a simple 10-minute questionnaire, through which the employee or hiring manager receives a comprehensive personality report. The test is stylised as a simple online quiz which makes it accessible for all employees.
Through this model, employee personality types and traits are divided into four memorable colours: red, yellow, green and blue. Both the assessment's questionnaire and personality report are easy to read, so at a glance, you receive a detailed guide to the applicant's personality. This can help you understand their learning styles, cognitive functions, social interactions preferences, emotional intelligence, problem-solving skills and so much more.
Recruitment processes are made much more efficient when these personality tests are used at a pre-employment level. With a 10-minute pre-employment personality test, you can save yourself hours of unwanted stress by examining whether the candidate's personality type will make them a good fit for the job role or not, ensuring optimal work environments and maximised results.
Colour Personalities
Here's a break down of the four different personality colours and the different ways they work:
RED
'Reds' are typically very determined and focused in the workplace. They place a strong emphasis on keeping a clear direction and helping their team stay focused on their targets. Their confidence also means they frequently challenge and question the status quo
An employee who receives a 'Red' personality type result may be:
- Strong-willed
- Determined
- Sometimes aggressive
- Goal-orientated
- Adventurous
YELLOW
'Yellow' personality types are often the team's go-getter, taking initiative to find new ways to understand and tackle problems. Their goal is 'making the impossible possible' so they never let procedure get in the way of results. Their charisma also means they can help maintain team spirit.
Based on the results of personality tests, people who are identified as having a 'Yellow' personality type may display the following types of traits:
- People person
- Excitable
- High in extraversion
- Lively and enthusiastic team members
- Open to new experiences
- Easily sidetracked
- Poor time management skills
- Problem-solvers
GREEN
'Green' types are typically loyal and faithful team players, who value having harmony in the team. They prioritise maintaining a sense of balance and will often be the more conscientious and calm employees. This sense of balance allows them to view situations with nuance as they are interested in viewing both sides of an argument.
Employees and applicants with 'Green' personality traits are likely to:
- Involve other employees when creating new ideas
- Be easy-going
- Be people-oriented
- Be kind-hearted and loyal team members
- Be stubborn
- Procrastinate
- Have high conscientiousness
BLUE
Based on colour psychology research, personality assessments with a 'Blue' result are likely to reflect employees who see their role as one of the organiser and team quality controller. They latch on to the important details of a project and are able to bring more focus and technical experience to a project. They tend to initiate the small improvements that in the end make a large difference.
Someone identified as 'Blue' on their personality test may show the following traits:
- Reflective with high self-awareness
- Logical
- Indecisive
- Perfectionistic
- Detail-oriented
- Strongly care about job performance and accurate work
- Conscientious
- Hypercritical
As you can see, personality tests are an interesting and innovative way to uncover the true personality types behind your job candidate profiles, new hires and current employees alike. Our 4 colour model provides an accurate and comprehensible framework if you want to start incorporating pre-employment personality tests into your hiring and management strategies.
If you're looking for a broader evaluation of your team and applicants, you can also include our range of skills tests in your hiring and training process. These tests, when coupled with our personality assessments, will help you assess individuals through both a technical and holistic lens.
Whether you wish to optimise your latest job search by incorporating personality assessments into your pre-hire routine or elevate your team's job performance by having employees take a personality test, get started today with Skillsarena.
