Sometimes, when candidates are applying for a job, they will be required to complete some kind of personality test, aptitude test, or both. Sometimes this step takes place after the candidate has moved to the second or third level of the application process. There is debate on whether personality testing is appropriate in the workplace, and whether is accurately predicts a person’s ability to do a particular job. This is not the issue I am to discuss here, however; the fact is that organizations often administer these kinds of test as a part of their application process. This fact has led to a niche market of coaching job applicants on how to perform better on personality and aptitude tests. To me, this starts to blur the lines between measuring someone’s personal qualities and measuring how well someone has prepared for a test, and calls into question the ethics of personality testing.

As I was researching into personality testing, I came across an Australian website for an organization called the Institute of Psychometric Coaching. It is exactly what it sounds like; they provide coaching to individuals in order to perform better on personality tests and aptitude tests that are often provided by employers. “Understanding what your personality test measures, how it measures your personality, and what type of personality traits are important to your employer, is very important in getting you through the personality test and getting you the job you wish to have” (Institute of Psychometric Coaching). Perhaps I am a pessimist, but to me this almost sounds like cheating your way into a job. A candidate could effectively learn what their employer wants to hear and give those kinds of answers on the test. I wonder what the hiring manager would think if they knew that a job candidate had purchased a personality test preparation package.

The IPC website offers a free practice personality test, so I took it. I purposely gave answers that I thought would be negative (even though they say there are no right or wrong answers). The results page is below. It is not a comprehensive result as it is only an example, but you can see that I scored low in confidence and achievement driven personality, as I aimed to. Of course there is a recommendation to choose the paid version of the test at the end.

The IPC website has a few strange contradictions; it states that employers giver personality tests for the purpose learning how an employee behaves and thinks in general (not just at the time of the test), but also that you can improve your score with their special techniques (not changing your fundamental personality). They also state that "a personality test has no right or wrong answer" and later, that "one of the most common mistakes that we tend to hear is that the personality test has no right or wrong answers therefore, there is little need to prepare for your personality test." The whole thing seems not only useless, but like a scam. 

The biggest question this raises, for me, is: Is it unethical to prepare for a personality test? 

Source: https://www.psychometricinstitute.com.au/