🍄 It’s personality quiz season

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👉👈 Super shy

Many personality tests serve a variety of purposes, with some allowing individuals to better understand their specific working styles (at work or in school) and how it complements their life as a whole.

One example would be the Gallup Strengths test, also known as the CliftonStrengths assessment, which is a popular tool designed to identify an individual’s unique talents and strengths. In particular, the test has gained traction in the fields of organisational development and professional coaching, in addition to helping with personal growth.  

Eddy Neo, senior director of HR at investment holding company AEM, is a Gallup-Certified Strengths coach. He says in an interview with Thrive that the CliftonStrengths assessment is popular among young adults in Singapore today. Based on his experience  with coaching students and early-career working adults, Neo says that they are often curious about their core strengths and weaknesses, and how they can best optimise them at work or in school.

When asked about a common obstacle that can hinder personal and professional development journeys, he says that many young adult Singaporeans are “too shy” and “humble”. 

“Not sure if this is an Asian cultural habit, but I’ve realised that many of us are too ‘paiseh’ (sheepish) to acknowledge the strengths that we have,” he says. “In my opinion, this is something that many young people must work on, or they’ll run the risk of consistently short-changing themselves instead.” 

“People really need to claim the strengths that they already have, in order to effectively put it into action,” Neo adds.

🤯 Loaded terms

So now that we know that we need to accept the compliments (*cringes in Asian*) on top of learning from the criticism that these personality tests dole out, what do we make of the attributes assigned to us in these quizzes?

 A quick glance at the GallupStrengths test shows me a few attributes or “themes” such as “activator”, “relator” and “learner”. But what do these broad terms really mean to each individual? While there are detailed explanations for each “theme” in the report, how each trait manifests in a person is bound to vary. Such loaded terms need more attention in order to understand how they play out in each individual’s life.

To Neo, calling the test a “StrengthsFinder” might be a bit of a misnomer. “A more accurate way to understand the test is as a “TalentsFinder”, where the test does identify innate traits or talent that individuals possess,” he explains. 

“However, such talent doesn’t necessarily translate into an immediate strength – the individual needs to be able to identify how to work on these innate traits and grow them consciously into something more consistent in their daily lives,” he adds. 

The results of these tests are not so much a final verdict of one’s personality and route in life, but more of a stepping stone for greater self-awareness. This can help point us in the right direction to become the best versions of ourselves, without thinking of it as the be-all and end-all.  

💁🏻‍♀️ Personality Hire?

With personality tests helping individuals find out more about themselves, the question arises: should assessments like these be part of hiring procedures? Can it be beneficial in determining which applicants are best fit for a job?

According to Neo, there are some companies that use personality tests as part of the hiring process, but he does not feel that these kinds of tests are appropriate in this setting. 

“In my view, literacy tests, data tests, or assessments of core skills required for the job would make a much better judgement of an applicant’s fit,” says Neo. “Whereas for personality tests, there might not be as much validity in judging whether a person can perform well in a job or not.” 

Personality tests may pinpoint certain key attributes that you might have, but they are very unlikely to surmise all that you are and doesn’t account for how you will evolve over time. It’s probably best to take the results at face value and decide for yourself what advice is useful while discarding the rest. 

It’s difficult to discern just how credible the results are, but they can function as fun 😀 and interesting guides that shed light on parts of yourself that you might not have noticed before. 😉

TL;DR

• Personality quizzes can be helpful in guiding you towards achieving your best self – at school, work or life in general. 😌
• Be proud of the strengths that you have – don’t just focus on your weaknesses! 😤
• Take time to unpack what your strengths and weaknesses mean for you in your own unique context. 
• However, when it comes to hiring practices, these tests might not be the best indicator of who’s most suitable for a job or who’s not. 🙅