Personality tests for hiring success: how to select and develop the right employees
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Monday 19 January 2026Hiring the right people the first time is critical for any organization. It saves time and costs and helps avoid disruption within teams. A wrong hire can have a direct and lasting negative impact on your business.
A mismatch can happen for many reasons. Someone may be highly skilled in their field but struggle to work effectively within a team. Or a candidate may be technically strong, yet not fit the culture or dynamics of the team you have already built. For organizations that want to grow, this can slow progress and create frustration for everyone involved.
That is why it is essential to gain insight before you make a hiring decision. By using a personality assessment with a Big Five report and a 4 color report, you gain a clear and objective view of a candidate’s personality, behavior, and team fit. This helps you select the right person from the start and avoid the costly process of hiring and letting someone go later.
The recruitment process can be broken down into four easy steps:
It sounds simple, but is it really possible to hire someone who is a perfect fit for the job every time? In practice, this is one of the biggest challenges organizations face. Experience and skills matter, but they do not tell the full story.
Fortunately, it is possible to improve your chances significantly. By choosing to order a personality test, you gain insight into how a candidate thinks, works, and interacts with others. In this blog post, we explain how personality testing supports better hiring decisions and helps you select people who not only have the right skills, but also fit the role, the team, and the organization.
What Is A Personality Test?
Many companies now use a personality test to aid in hiring the right people for the right roles. Personality tests are a powerful tool for assessing the suitability of employees for job roles or candidates. They assess an individual's personality to determine how they will interact with others, what skills they have and how good their emotional intelligence is.
Personality testing gives you a good insight into a candidates personality and behavioural traits. This information helps you make better decisions around who you hire, what they'll be like to work with and whether or not they will fit in with your team culture.
Hiring managers can make much more informed decisions by using tests to detect the personal strengths and weaknesses of candidates which would not be apparent in an interview.
How Does It Work?
Personality testing is based on an assessment that categorises different behavioural patterns into response sets known as "personality types". Personality types help employers identify who will be the best fit for a role.
One very effective personality test which has been tried and tested by many companies over time is the Jung Personality Test - a test that assesses four key personality types.
Jung's theory focuses on four basic psychological functions:
There are personality tests that have been developed by experts who understand Jung's theories and how they work, which are now available for hiring managers. They provide detailed reports on where an individual falls within each of the four Personality Types, which allows hiring managers to make an informed decision when it comes to choosing a candidate.
Personality tests assess your strengths and weaknesses in certain areas, such as:
Why Are Personality Tests So Powerful?
The real value of personality tests lies in the insight they give into how people function at work. They help employers understand who is likely to adapt well to the organization’s culture, who can communicate effectively with colleagues, and who is more likely to stay in the role for the long term and remain engaged. A 4 color personality test adds an extra layer by clearly showing communication styles, behavioral preferences, and team dynamics. Together, these insights make it easier to see which candidates are best suited for specific roles and tasks.
Personality tests allow employers not only to look at what skills an individual has but also how they approach work problems or deal with certain situations. They can help you assess the behavioural patterns of an individual to determine how they would fit into your team and environment.
Another real benefit of personality tests is that they help ensure all candidates have been assessed based on their abilities, not just who they know or how long they've been in a particular role. They allow you to identify the best candidate for a specific job, regardless of their level of seniority.
In the same way, testing in this way as part of the recruitment process helps to avoid bias and discrimination because tests are based on accurate assessments which don't rely on assumptions about experience levels or cultural backgrounds - all candidates can be assessed objectively.
When it comes to avoiding hiring mistakes, these tests are a great way to help managers detect potential issues early on and prevent costly errors down the line. They allow employers to understand more about potential hires than just their qualifications on paper.
Personality tests are becoming increasingly popular because they help companies hire people who are likely to stay in jobs longer, reduce employee turnover rates and increase worker productivity. In a nutshell, they can save massive amounts of both time and money may well be one of your best recruitment tools!
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the personality tests we can offer, please get in touch - we’d love to chat with you!
Video: The Bridge Personality
The Bridge Personality is a widely used personality test for recruitment in many countries. The test gives you a clear and reliable picture of a candidate’s personality and way of working. You can use The Bridge Personality as a single assessment per candidate, or work from your own online account on the TestGroup assessment platform. This makes it easy to invite candidates and view reports when it suits you.
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What is a personality test for hiring and why does it matter?
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A personality test for hiring gives you insight into how a candidate thinks, behaves and fits into your workplace culture. When you use a personality test like the Bridge Personality from TestGroup, you improve your chances of selecting the right employee the first time, which reduces turnover and recruitment costs.
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How does a Big Five personality report help in recruitment?
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A Big Five personality report breaks down core traits such as openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability. These insights help you match candidates with roles based on behaviour and work style, not only on CV experience.
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What is a 4 color personality test and how does it support hiring decisions?
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A 4 color personality test simplifies behavioural styles into four clear categories. It highlights strengths and communication preferences, making it easier to see how a candidate will interact with your team and fit your culture.
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Can personality tests also help with employee development?
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Yes. After hiring, personality test results can guide onboarding, coaching and long-term development plans. Tools like the Bridge Personality assessment from TestGroup help managers understand where employees are likely to thrive and where they may need support.
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How do personality tests reduce bad hires?
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Personality tests add objective data to the decision process. Instead of relying on interviews alone, you see patterns in behaviour and fit. When combined with other assessments like the Bridge Ability Suite or the Bridge Career tools from TestGroup, you get a full picture of a candidate’s potential.
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Are personality tests fair and reliable for all candidates?
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Modern personality assessments like those used by TestGroup are developed using scientific standards. They are designed to be fair, reliable and predictive of workplace behaviour when administered and interpreted correctly.
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Do personality tests replace interviews and other hiring steps?
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Personality tests do not replace interviews or skills assessments. They complement them. When you combine a personality test with structured interviews and ability evaluations, you make more informed and defendable hiring decisions.
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How do I order a personality test for my hiring process?
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You can order a personality test as part of your recruitment workflow. Whether you want individual assessments or a full account that lets you invite candidates and access reports, TestGroup’s platform is designed for business users
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Can personality assessments help with team building?
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Yes. By understanding the personality profiles of your people, you can build stronger teams, align roles with strengths and improve collaboration. Reports from tools like Bridge Personality make these insights practical and actionable.