There are many ways personality or career assessment tests can significantly improve your job search. These tests’ value proposition is that they are usually 90% accurate when you answer them truthfully. If you are a job seeker in Canada, you will understand the importance of self-awareness and message clarity in getting your results.
Here are some personality tests that I recommend you take to improve your job search:
- Myers-Briggs Cost – up to CAD 65*
- 16 personalities Cost – FREE*
- MAPP test: Cost – FREE*
- Strengths finder: Cost – up to CAD 70*
- Enneagram: Cost – CAD 15*
- MyPlan: Cost – $30*
- Big Five Personalities: Cost – FREE*
- DISC profile: Cost – CAD 90*
*There are free versions for most of these tests. However, to get a more comprehensive report, you will need to pay an additional fee. In my opinion, there are only two tests worth paying for: the Strengthsfinder and the Myplan test.
In researching the ways personality tests can improve your job search, I am highlighting five ways that are more relevant to newcomers.
Five ways personality tests improve your job search
Learn more about yourself
The first way personality tests improve your job search is they help you learn more about yourself. Self-awareness is one of the most critical soft skills you can develop. In many countries outside Canada, technical skills are usually seen as more important than soft skills. Soft skills such as leadership, communication, teamwork are challenging to develop when you lack self-awareness. Many of the Myers Briggs inspired personality tests, help you learn how you interact with people, make decisions, approach work and other traits.
Since I am more extroverted, I enjoy social interaction and work well with others. However, those who are more introverted find large social gatherings more challenging. Knowing how your personality affects various aspects of your life can improve your job search. Imagine unlocking a whole new way of understanding how you operate in the world. Then you can become more confident about your decisions and better plan your job search strategy.
Improve your job search strategy
Another way personality tests improve your job search is to help you build a better job search strategy. A more targeted job search strategy is more effective in getting you positive results. Once you have a better understanding of your personality type, preferred working style and recommended careers, you can be more focused.
Many people are dissatisfied with their career choices because they choose careers because of school performance or family pressure. If you have built a career in a particular field over the last ten years, I am not suggesting that you switch your entire career based on a personality test. However, you learn about other professions that you can apply your transferable skills. These other careers may be more in line with your personality type.
The MAPP personality test offers a free career test that will recommend careers for your personality type. It’s a 71 question test, so be prepared to set aside some time to get it done. The results will be insightful. Another free career assessment test is the 123 personality test. As you learn more about the careers that best suit your personality type, you can develop a career or industry strategy. You can learn more about job search strategies in our post nine ways to accelerate your job search and optimize your career search during the pandemic.
Hiring managers are well aware of the best personality types for the roles they hire for. So they are quickly able to see when your personality type doesn’t match the requirements of the position through your interview. Hiring managers’ goal is to make sure whoever they hire will give them a high Return On Investment (ROI). A high ROI means you will make them more money than their costs to hire you. This happens when you perform well and stay longer in the role. If you are in a position that you are not interested in, your chances of leaving or getting frustrated will negatively affect your career.
Understand your unique networking style
A staggering number of jobs are found through the hidden career market, making networking a potent tool in landing a job. Networking or building meaningful professional relationships is key to your job search as well as your career development. Extroverted people are naturally better at social interactions than introverted people. The more you know your personality, the more likely you understand your preferences for your social interactions.
In addition to learning the do’s and don’ts of building meaningful relationships, be sure to learn how best to network for your personality type. It is equally vital for extroverts to learn how to interact with introverts in a networking or working environment. Below are a few books I recommend to develop your networking skills.
Books to supercharge your networking skills
Here are a few recommendations of books to develop your networking skills. Disclosure: Some of the links in this post included are affiliate links, and if you make a purchase, I will earn a commission. I recommend these products because I believe in their quality.
- Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
- Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success
- Taking the Work Out of Networking: An Introvert’s Guide to Making Connections That Count
- Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Business Relationships that Matter
Learn about your opportunities for development
One of the best ways to improve your job search is to understand then work on your weaknesses. Many of us are blind to our shortcomings. According to the Rumsfeld heuristics, there are known knows, known unknowns, unknown knowns and unknown unknowns. Personality tests help us discover our strengths as well as our weaknesses. Our weaknesses usually fall under the unknown unknowns or known unknowns.
Though many personality tests give you insights into both your strengths and weaknesses, none do it better than the Clifton strengths finder. You can purchase the entire CliftonStregths34 to get your Top 5 CliftonStrengths as well as your full strengths profile, personalized reports and other resources. Knowing your strengths helps you understand how to maximize your potential and see where you are most vulnerable. According to research conducted by Don Clifton, people get results when they further develop their strengths instead of focusing on your weakness. The steps are to:
- Understand your talents, which are your natural way of thinking, feeling or behaving;
- then invest time practicing and developing them then turn them into strengths.
Strengthen your interview performance
One of the best ways personality tests can improve your job search is to strengthen your interview performance. The goal of every job search is to land as many relevant interviews as possible. Informational interviews can be even more potent than job interviews. Personality and career tests unlock so much information you can use in your interviews. One of your goals as a job seeker is to stand out in the interview positively. Your goal in an interview is to demonstrate your understanding of:
- Your strengths, weaknesses and goals
- the immediate needs of the role and
- how you will bring considerable value to the organization.
Speaking in your own words, having a clear understanding of your goals and strengths is music to hiring managers’ ears. Lack of self-awareness and message clarity cause many job seekers to bomb in their interviews. When you are clear about how you work, the environments under which you thrive, your unique strengths and the value you bring to each position, you will know which roles to apply for and how to shine in the interviews.
Contrary to what many people think, hiring managers are not looking for perfect candidates. They are looking for the most self-aware candidates. It is up to you to convince them to hire you, and you will be more confident and more convincing when you have a good understanding of yourself and why you are the best candidate for the position. When you know yourself very well, you will also ask the best interview questions to help inform your decisions and next steps.
I hope you are convinced about the ways personality tests can improve your job search. Self-awareness and clarity are crucial to finding a job in Canada. Personality and career tests help you understand how you perform at your best, and which career paths best compliment your strengths. If you are interested in learning more about building an effective job search strategy, let me know in the comments below.