Personality Tests

Mayfair Consultants offers both professional and medical personality tests for adults, in addition to our broad offer of interview and aptitude tests guidance, as well as educational tutorials for students. Our team is ready to assist you in your endeavours and current challenges, including conducting research-backed personality tests for your company’s job recruitment. Our educational psychologists are also qualified to conduct medical personality testing.

What are the personality tests?

Personality tests are broadly divided into those that look for job-related traits and medical examinations. The tests in the first category are typically self-assessment questionnaires set to measure personality traits. The latter category consists of tests designed to diagnose psychiatric conditions. These tests are conducted by a qualified psychologist. At Mayfair Consultants we offer both types of tests.

Job-related personality tests have become an accepted method for employee selection due to multiple published primary and meta-studies showing they are useful predictors of job performance and potential (Vasilopoulos, 2006). The tests commonly encountered during job interviews and team-building projects are the Mayers-Briggs Type Indicator (MTBI), Caliper Profile, Gallup CliftonStrengths, Mayers-Briggs Type Indicator and Rorschach Test. Belbin test can also be used for more informed team building.

To protect the employer from applicants faking on personality tests, a forced-choice format is also frequently used. The forced-choice test presents the test taker with a choice between two stems that reflect equally desirable traits. MTBI is measured through a forced-choice format test. The test is a psychometric questionnaire recording 90 responses designed to measure preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. The choices are a mixture of word pairs and short statements. The test pools participants into 16 personality types and is popular among employers in the corporate, service-oriented sector such as McKinsey, Bain and BCG.

The Caliper profile is typically administered during the hiring process for senior management positions and measures personal characteristics and motivations. It is based on extensive scientific research and is designed to show the employer how well the candidate fits into the desired job role. A similar assessment, Gallup CliftonStrengths measures a candidate’s strengths and categorises them into 34 themes. The candidate is also advised on how to make the most of their strengths and manage potential weaknesses. More than 90% of the Fortune 500 companies have used CliftonStrengths.

An example of a personality test that is also a medical examination is the Rorschach Test. It is one of the most famous psychological tests in the world. Rorschach Test is often used to examine a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It is effective in measuring anxiety and depression. Rorschach test can also be administered as an alternative personality test.

What does the personality test assess?

Personality tests are designed to systematically obtain information about a person’s motivations, preferences and style of interacting with people (as explained here). Personality is best described using combinations of traits. Those accessed most often in work situations include (forming a so-called ‘Five Factor Model’) extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and emotional stability. Personality tests divide into those designed to measure work-related personality traits and medical personality tests.

There have been multiple attempts to capture personality traits and synthesize personality categories. Below, we describe the most popular tests.

MTBI: assesses an individual based on the following categories and emphasizes the value of naturally occurring differences. The test typically consists of 93 sets of questions. For each set, you are given two sentences and need to choose one that describes you best.

The different categories are described in the table below: (adapted from Personality Type Descriptions here):

Category		The following statements generally apply to you:
Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E)	Introversion	You like to spend time in your inner world of ideas and images
Introversion (I) or Extraversion (E)	Extroversion	You like to spend time in the outer world of people and things
Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)	Sensing	You pay more attention to information that comes in through your five senses
Sensing (S) or Intuition (N)	Intuition	You pay more attention to the patterns and possibilities that you see in the information you receive.
Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)	Thinking	You like to put more weight on objective principles and impersonal facts
Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)	Feeling	You put more weight on personal concerns and the people involved
Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)	Judging	You prefer a more structured and decided lifestyle
Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)	Perceiving	You prefer a more flexible and adaptable lifestyle

Following the assessment, a report is produced after the assessment, containing a profile report. The report consists of descriptions of all personality types and explains your personality type, including your strengths and potential areas of improvement.

Caliper Profile: measures 21 personality traits and 1 type of cognitive ability (abstract reasoning). Each trait is scored as a percentile, where the individual is compared relative to others in the country of employment. An individual will not score highly on all traits.

Caliper profile also measures how likely the individual is to display specified job behaviours. Finally, competency scores predict how an individual will perform in role outcome areas. The overall job-fit score predicts the likelihood of an individual succeeding (and enjoying!) in the role.

Gallup CliftonStrengths: measures 34 themes, that divide into 4 domains: strategic thinking, relationship building, influencing, and executing. The test consists of 177 paired statements, in which you need to choose one and the extent to which it describes you.

The assessment report gives the applicant and their employer unique insight into the applicant’s strengths and access to role-specific content based on their 10 strongest themes. The test identifies weaknesses of the applicants, which can be used for further couching.

Rorschach Test needs to be conducted by a professional psychologist. The test consists of a series of 10 symmetrical blots and the participants are asked to state what they see in each one. The order of the blots is always to same, allowing for comparing participants’ answers with historic data.

Scoring of the Rorschach test examines different dimensions of the response, including how well synthesized, ordinary or arbitrary the response is (for more information see here). Following the assessment, an interpretative report is formulated by a psychologist. Different individual traits are analysed, including cognitive operations of the individual, flexibility of ideas, goal orientation and relationships with others. As summarised by Jane Framingham, PhD in the PsychCentral article here, by expressing what they see in the inkblots “people can often show a little bit more of themselves than their conscious selves may have intended — leading to better insights into the underlying motivations of the person’s current issues and behaviours.”

How are the personality tests used?

The job-related personality tests help us understand our preferences, with multiple applications including:

– Careers selection and management

– Understanding the way you make and maintain your relationships. Appreciate the differences between personalities.

– Personal Growth that is enabled by identifying your strengths and areas of grow

Frequently, personality tests are used by employers to select suitable candidates and for team-building purposes.

The personality tests that fall into the medical examination category are used to diagnose psychiatric conditions. They can also be used as alternative personality tests, although they require significantly more time and resources.

How to prepare for the personality test for a job application?

Do some research about the assessment. Taking a practice test might help you feel more confident during the test. Answer honestly and be specific to obtain results that best define your strengths.

How to find the right test?

Are you interested in doing a professional personality assessment or would you like to introduce a personality test to your recruitment process? Mayfair Consultants’ offer includes administration of MTBI tests either remotely or in our central London office, adjusting to you, your team and applicants.

Are you interested in our personality tests services? Our team of qualified psychologists conduct these tests in-person in our London office such as the MBI or ink blot test. We offer advice and a comprehensive report to support you at all times.

For further information or if you have any questions about our personality testing services in London please call us on Tel: +44 (0) 207 665 6606 or you can send us an email via our contact form.