Most often than not, employers will make you sit through a personality test during one of the rounds of interviews. Some employers also make an existing employee take a personality test before moving them to another department or promoting them. It is mainly done to ensure that their personality type matches the kind of job role they will be carrying out in the near future.
Personality tests can be tedious and lengthy and are not based on aptitude; therefore, some people find it hard to hack it, so let’s have a look at some of the top tips to ace a personality test:
Honesty: This is the first and foremost rule that people need to follow while giving a multiple-choice personality test. Be smart but be truthful; there is no point lying and ending up in a role that you might have to quit within a short span because your personality type wasn’t meant for it.
Consistency: Be consistent in your answers, as most personality tests will ask the same question differently on alternate pages, and if you are not consistent with your answer, it may work as a lie detector.
Practice Test: Doing a practice test is a great idea to get the hang of the drill.
Take your time: Read the instructions carefully and then read every question twice if needed before picking your answer. They may not be as straightforward as you may think when looking at them on the first go!
Job description: It always helps to go through the job description before going for the test. By doing this, you will gauge the desirable traits for the particular role.
Avoid repeating: Do not pick all your answers on either extremes or all of them in the middle. Once again, be truthful, take your time but not dwell, find a balance, and then pick an appropriate answer that fits the situation described.
Aim for positive answers: For example, being conscientious, dependable, a team player, optimistic and innovative etc. are positive traits that regardless of the job role are desirable in any candidate. However, make sure not to go to the extent of overdoing this, as it will definitely be attention-grabbing, and not in a good way!
Don’t try to play games: Do not deliberately pick answers that you may think would lead to desirable answers. These tests are known to have trick questions and trying to play this little game could cost you the job. Instead be honest and professional in picking the answers.
Wrong Answers: We all know that there are no wrong answers for personality tests, but then there are some outright off answers, especially pertaining to specific roles. E.g., you applying for a PR role, and the question says, “would you describe yourself as an outgoing person?” anything other than agreeing or strongly agreeing would definitely be a wrong answer in this scenario.
Integrity questions:
Be prepared for some of the questions to test your honesty and integrity. Through these tests, the employers gauge your reaction in situations when it comes to morals and ethics. Be well prepared for this section.
