Personality Profiling in Hiring

Personality Profiling in Hiring

Finding candidates with the right experience is only part of the hiring challenge. Employers also need to assess how individuals will fit into the team, handle pressure, and contribute to long-term success. Personality profiling has become an increasingly common tool in the recruitment process, offering insights into behavioural traits, working styles, and potential compatibility with company culture. While it can be valuable when used correctly, it’s important to understand which tools are effective, where they add value, and where they have limitations.

What Is Personality Profiling?

Personality profiling tools assess a candidate’s behavioural traits, motivations, or cognitive preferences. They’re designed to give insight beyond the CV into how someone might communicate, manage pressure, make decisions, or fit into a team.

Common Profiling Tools

1. DISC

Measures four traits: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Compliance.

• Best for: Understanding communication styles and team dynamics.
• Success rate: High for team cohesion, moderate for predicting performance.
• Watch out: Doesn’t assess skills or values, just behavioural style.

2. MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)

The old-school favourite – based on Jungian theory.

• Best for: Self-reflection, coaching, and team building.
• Success rate: Debatable. Popular, but lacking in predictive hiring validity.
• Watch out: Binary categories (“Thinker” vs. “Feeler”) can feel limiting and sometimes unscientific.

3. The Big Five (OCEAN)

The psychologist’s choice – measures Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.

• Best for: Research-backed insights, especially for predicting job performance and leadership potential.
• Success rate: Strong, one of the most validated models.
• Watch out: More complex to interpret; less quick and simple than DISC or MBTI.

4. StrengthsFinder (CliftonStrengths)

Focuses on what people naturally do well.

• Best for: Development and engagement strategies.
• Success rate: Useful post-hire, less predictive in selection.
• Watch out: Doesn’t flag potential weaknesses.

5. Situational Judgement & Cognitive Assessments

Not strictly personality but often combined in profiling packages.

• Best for: Real-world decision making, problem-solving, and role-specific aptitude.
• Success rate: High when tailored to the role.
• Watch out: Can feel like a test rather than a profile, context is key.

Where Personality Profiling Really Works

• Leadership roles: Helps uncover how someone leads, not just whether they can.
• Team-based environments: Assesses cultural fit and communication style.
• Sales and customer service: Identifies behavioural traits like resilience or assertiveness.
• Development planning: Provides a roadmap for coaching and upskilling.

 

Pros and Cons of Personality Profiling

The Benefits

• Reduces bias by offering structured insights over gut feel.
• Supports diversity by showing there’s more than one way to succeed.
• Highlights red flags or potential clashes before they become an issue.
• Boosts retention when used to shape onboarding and development.

The Drawbacks

• False sense of certainty, profiles can quickly become labels.
• Misuse or misinterpretation can lead to poor decisions.
• Cost and time, especially if the tool doesn’t align with the role.
• Candidate resistance, some may feel judged or pigeonholed.

 

Personality profiling is just one piece of the puzzle, not the whole picture. Used well, it’s a brilliant way to support hiring decisions. But there are some caveats, personality profiling is most effective when it’s used alongside interviews, references, and skill assessments. The profiling shouldn’t be generic, for the most accurate results it should be tailored to the job and the company culture. The results also need to be interpreted by someone who knows what they are doing, as it’s easy to make assumptions and create limitations based on results, these things can be more complicated than they seem at first glance!

In summary, personality profiling can help you hire smarter, but only if you’re clear on why you’re using it and what you expect it to reveal.

Dovetail Recruitment are an independent Recruitment Agency in Bournemouth. Follow us to keep up to date with The South’s Job Market Report, Recruitment in Hampshire & Dorset + HR news,  as well as our latest jobs, career tips + everything else related to your working world.

Written by Imogen Lines-Clarke