| PERSONALITY ASSESSMENTS | |||||
| Name | Description | Use | Pros | Cons | Details |
| NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) | Obtains a detailed assessment of normal personality as well as emotional, interpersonal, experiential, attitudinal, and motivational styles. | Vocational counseling. Suitable for all employee levels. | Reliable and valid. | Not suitable for hiring or promotion decisions. | Has 240 main items and 3 validity items, takes 35-45 minutes, and requires 6th grade reading level. $245 for manual and 10 forms. Contact www.parinc.com |
| 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) | Evaluates personality on 16 scales that measure anxiety, liveliness, dominance, sensitivity, perfectionism, etc. Further grouped into five global factors: self-control, anxiety, extroversion, independence, and tough-mindedness. | Personnel selection and development, career planning. Suitable for leadership positions. | Time-tested, reliable and valid. | Useful in predicting behavior, but not other factors such as motivation. | Has 185 questions, takes 35-50 minutes, and requires 5th grade reading level. Two reports: an interpretative report and phone consultation ($65) and a more detailed report ($90) that talks about leadership roles and occupational interests. Contact www.discoveryourpersonality.com |
| Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) | Evaluates personality on 7 primary scales, 1 validity scale, and 6 occupational scales. Primary scales: Adjustment, ambition, etc. Occupational scales: service orientation, stress tolerance, etc. | Individualized assessment, personnel selection, and management development. | Reliable and valid. | Has 206 true/false items, takes 15-20 minutes, requires 4th grade reading level. Cost for report ranges from $25 to $125 depending on the detail required. Contact www.hoganassessments.com | |
| Personality Research Form | Measures 22 aspects of personality relevant to normal human functioning (achievement, affiliation, aggression, dominance, impulsivity, understanding, etc). | Measuring normal personality traits in business and industry. | Reliable, valid, and elaborate. | More suitable for research than for employment. | Has 352 true false items, and takes 45 minutes. $80 for manual and 5 test booklets. Contact www.sigmaassessmentsystems.com |
| Profile XT | Measures job-related qualities that make a person productive: thinking and reasoning style, behavioral traits, and occupational interests. Aims to assess the "whole person." | Selection, coaching, training, promotion, managing and succession planning. | Very comprehensive. | Takes about 50 minutes. The Job Match report is used for selection, and the Multi-job match report for succession planning and reassigning employees to new positions. Contact http://www.profilesinternational.com | |
| Occupational personality questionnaire | Determines aspects of an individual's behavioral style that will impact on occupational performance. | Employee selection, placement and promotion, and team building. | Widely used internationally. | Validity and reliability not clearly established. | Two versions of the test - 114 or 230 questions available. Costs: $30 and up. Contact www.shl.com |
| Hogan Development Survey (HDS) | Provides in-depth information on problems such as arrogance and passive aggression that are hard to detect in an interview or with measures of normal personality. Predicts barriers to a successful career. | Coaching, development and high-level appointments. | Innovative and unique. | Track record not yet established. | Has 168 questions, takes 15-20 minutes, requires 5th grade reading level. Cost for report ranges from $25 to $125 depending on the detail required. Contact www.hoganassessments.com |
| Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) | Provides detailed information about values, goals and motives. | Placing, counseling and managing potential employees. | Innovative and unique. | Track record not yet established. | Has 200 questions, takes 15-20 minutes, requires 5th grade reading level. Cost for report ranges from $25 to $125 depending on the detail required. Contact www.hoganassessments.com |
| System for Identifying Motivated Abilities (SIMA) | Behavior based tool for explaining and predicting individual motivation. | Executive search, coaching, and organizational effectiveness. | Unique and engaging. | Validity and reliability not established. | Uses an autobiographical form that takes 2 to 6 hours to complete, plus 6 to 8 hours for assessing the data gathered. Contact www.jobfitmatters.com. |
| Myers-Briggs Type Indicator | Classifies individuals into 16 personality types (Introvert vs. Extrovert; Sensing vs. Intuitive, Thinking vs. Feeling, Judging vs. Perceiving) | Career development and team building. | Very widely used and intuitively appealing. | Does not predict occupational performance. | Different versions - popular version M has 93 questions and should take 20-30 minutes to complete. Contact www.cpp.com |
| COGNITIVE ASSESSMENTS | |||||
| Name | Description | Use | Pros | Cons | Details |
| Wonderlic Personnel Test | Measures a candidate's ability to learn a specific job; solve problems; understand instructions, apply knowledge to new situations, benefit from specific job training and be satisfied with a particular job. | Hiring at entry to mid-level positions. | Simple, fast, widely used, reliable and valid. | Not suitable for higher-level positions. | Takes 12 minutes. $10. Contact www.wonderlic.com |
| Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal | Measures critical thinking skills in five areas. (Inference, recognition of assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments.) | Assessing improvement in critical thinking from training and instructional programs. | Comprehensive, widely used, reliable and valid. | Not suitable for entry-level positions. | Takes 40-60 minutes, requires 9th grade reading level. $260 for 25 tests. Contact harcourtassessment.com |
| Multidimensional aptitude battery-II | Assesses 10 distinct domains of human intellectual functioning, grouped into two broader categories: verbal (information, comprehension, etc.) and performance (digit symbol, picture completion, spatial, etc.). | General-purpose aptitude assessment for employment screening. | Reliable and valid. | Not suitable for higher-level positions. | Has 303 questions, takes 100 minutes, 9th grade reading level. $100 for a 25-test package. Contact www.sigmaassessmentsystems.com |