Personality Assessments Make Their Way into College Applications

We’ve all heard the debate about whether using personality assessment tests are a good way to select quality employees. A number of concerns are up for discussion: What is the validity of personality tests? Do these tests actually predict performance? Can candidates “game” these tests? Are these tests legal? Recent news headlines have made many of us re-evaluate our use of assessment tests.

Now, some universities are experimenting with personality tests as part of the admissions process and are encountering much of the same controversy that Recruiting has faced for years. The major difference between universities and recruiting organizations using these tests? Universities want to use personality tests as part of their diversity efforts to identify high-potential students who don’t score well enough on standardized tests while Recruiting usually uses these test for identifying personality characteristics associated with high performers.

As the demand for personality assessments increase by university there will be more and more companies that develop and test these instruments—hopefully, leading to more information about whether or not they can actually predict performance.