Are Personality Tests in the Workplace Necessary or Fair?
2015-07-06 (월)
As the class of 2015 ventures into the fierce and competitive workplace this summer, postgraduates will be facing more than mere prerequisite college qualifications and profiles. Instead, thousands of employers now demand that candidates take personality tests that, in doing so, can combat employee turnover, increase productivity, and raise overall customer satisfaction. Interested in working at Lowe’s? Well, you must believe that others have good intentions. Or JetBlue. According to Time, every year, the company offers 3,000 job openings for a massive 150,000 aspiring applicants. Biga, a 35-year-old JetBlue executive, asserts that personality tests “[are] really the future for hiring…” He argues that it was more important that a flight attendant be more “helpful” than “nice”. I find this problematic because one’s personality is, by nature, sporadic. There is always a slim chance that some employees may respond only according to how the employer may want them to answer. These tests run the risk of weeding out some creative, think-outside-the-box candidates who, when presented with any given situation, are able to think of a solution on their feet as opposed to the “nicer” candidate. Last, these tests can be discriminatory in that some applicants may feel conflicted when answering some of the questions. Should they stay true to their beliefs, thoughts, and emotions, or answer accordingly to what will later potentially land them a job? Personality tests may provide more insight on how a particular potential employee may behave in given circumstances, but the purpose of finding well qualified individuals based on merit is ultimately lost.