Last week, I challenged personality tests. Today, I'd like to ask the more honest question: What would a better approach look like?
My criticism of personality tests was simple: they measure a state. A snapshot in time that becomes fixed as "this is who you are." But we do not hire people for who they were. We hire them for what they will be able to do. Selection processes, therefore, should not primarily measure personality. They should assess potential and suitability for a specific role.
The obvious objection comes immediately: depth takes time, and time does not scale. True—but only if you expect depth and breadth at the same stage of the process. My proposal is a funnel that separates the two.
1. Scale Early – Based on Capability, Not Type
Instead of starting with self-report questionnaires, begin with work samples and situational assessments.
Research consistently shows that work samples and situational judgment exercises have some of the highest predictive validity in personnel selection.
More importantly, they measure the only thing that truly matters:
Can this person perform the task?
These methods can be automated and scaled without requiring a machine to pass judgment on someone's character.
2. Go Deep Later – Through Structured Dialogue
Once the candidate pool has been narrowed, introduce what tests can never fully provide: the structured, dialogic interview.
The key word here is structured.
The same questions.
Anchored rating criteria.
Multiple evaluators and perspectives (triangulation).
This is what transforms a subjective "gut-feeling conversation" into a robust assessment method.
Depth for a small number of candidates becomes affordable when breadth has already been filtered effectively.
Reposition Tests – From Verdict to Hypothesis
And if tests are used, they should not serve as a verdict.
They should serve as a starting point for conversation.
A test result is a hypothesis to be explored through dialogue—not a label to be attached to a person.
"The assessment suggests X. Does that resonate with your experience?"
his simple shift places interpretive authority where it belongs: with the individual.
The Real Shift: From Traits to Trajectories
The deeper change lies in adopting a different perspective.
Not:
"Who is this person?"
But:
"How does this person learn, think, and solve a problem they have never encountered before?" Learning agility tells us far more about future performance than any fixed personality profile ever can.
Scalability and genuine understanding of people are not opposites. The challenge is not choosing between them. The challenge is stopping the attempt to achieve both at the same time—and instead designing processes that achieve them in sequence.