Last week, I challenged personality tests. Today, I'd like to ask the more honest question: What would a better approach look like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My criticism of personality tests was simple: they measure a state. A snapshot in time that becomes fixed as \"this is who you are.\"\nBut we do not hire people for who they were. We hire them for what they will be able to do.\nSelection processes, therefore, should not primarily measure personality. They should assess potential and suitability for a specific role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The obvious objection comes immediately: depth takes time, and time does not scale.\n\nTrue\u2014but only if you expect depth and breadth at the same stage of the process.\n\nMy proposal is a funnel that separates the two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Scale Early \u2013 Based on Capability, Not Type
Instead of starting with self-report questionnaires, begin with work samples and situational assessments.\nResearch consistently shows that work samples and situational judgment exercises have some of the highest predictive validity in personnel selection.\nMore importantly, they measure the only thing that truly matters:\nCan this person perform the task?\nThese methods can be automated and scaled without requiring a machine to pass judgment on someone's character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Go Deep Later \u2013 Through Structured Dialogue
Once the candidate pool has been narrowed, introduce what tests can never fully provide: the structured, dialogic interview.\nThe key word here is structured.\nThe same questions.\nAnchored rating criteria.\nMultiple evaluators and perspectives (triangulation).\nThis is what transforms a subjective \"gut-feeling conversation\" into a robust assessment method.\nDepth for a small number of candidates becomes affordable when breadth has already been filtered effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reposition Tests \u2013 From Verdict to Hypothesis
And if tests are used, they should not serve as a verdict.\nThey should serve as a starting point for conversation.\nA test result is a hypothesis to be explored through dialogue\u2014not a label to be attached to a person.\n\"The assessment suggests X. Does that resonate with your experience?\"
his simple shift places interpretive authority where it belongs: with the individual.\nThe Real Shift: From Traits to Trajectories\nThe deeper change lies in adopting a different perspective.\nNot:\n\"Who is this person?\"\nBut:\n\"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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scalability and genuine understanding of people are not opposites.\nThe challenge is not choosing between them.\nThe challenge is stopping the attempt to achieve both at the same time\u2014and instead designing processes that achieve them in sequence.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Letzte Woche habe ich die Tests zerlegt. Heute die ehrlichere Frage: Wie ginge es besser? Meine Kritik an Pers\u00f6nlichkeitstests war: Sie messen einen Zustand. Eine Momentaufnahme, festgeschrieben als \u201eso bist du\u201c. Aber wir stellen Menschen ja nicht f\u00fcr das ein, was sie waren \u2013 sondern f\u00fcr das, was sie leisten werden. Auswahl m\u00fcsste also 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