Their Questions and Your Answers Provide Useful Clues You Can Use
If you’re trying to score that perfect tech position, you want to do everything possible to improve your job interviewing skills. Conversely, technical job companies looking to invest in a new hire want to do everything possible to ensure they choose the candidate best suited to the job. For tech companies, these efforts can include the use of personality tests.
Personality tests can help prospective employers gain insights into how you approach your work, how you deal with challenges and opportunities, and whether you are a good fit for the company’s culture. These tests purport to measure your personality traits in work settings, such as stress tolerance, proactive inclination, service orientation, honesty, and empathy.
While they may provide an employer with information that they can’t glean from a resume or cover letter, personality tests are neither perfect nor a reflection of your worth as a human being or tech professional. There are no right or wrong answers, though how you (truthfully) answer questions may impact how the employer evaluates your suitability for the position.
If a company makes you take a personality test, don’t feel intimidated. Don’t try to figure out how to game the test or “study” for it. Instead, use the test as an opportunity to improve your job interviewing skills. Here’s how:
Understanding the Position You’re Applying For
Whether in your cover letter, resume, or interview, you want to tailor or emphasize the skills and qualities you possess that best meet those sought in the job posting. Taking a personality test can be part of that process. If you’ve done your research and keep in mind the qualifications and traits that the tech employer wants to see, the questions on the test can give you even more insight into what the company considers to be important. As you answer, always be honest, but focus on what you believe to be the response that may be most desirable to the employer.
For example, if you’re applying for a position that requires lots of collaboration, you may see a question asking how you feel about working with others or how you respond to colleagues who may need help from time to time. If you remember that the job is teamwork-intensive, that should help you tailor your answer.
When you appear for your interview, the extra step of the test and the insights it provides
can be the stepping stone to better interview responses designed to show that you are a perfect fit for the job.
Understanding the Company
Unlike skills tests or aptitude tests designed to evaluate whether you have the needed technical chops for the job, personality tests focus on the more intangible qualities that impact a candidate’s likelihood of success.
Companies in Dallas and nationwide want to know whether you will fit into their culture, share their core values, and interact positively with colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. Before your test, try to get a sense of what the company considers vital in its workforce. The test questions should give you an idea of the company’s priorities and proclivities, so you can enhance the responsiveness of the answers you provide in your interviews.
Understanding the Difference Between Personality and Behavior Can Help Improve Your Job Interviewing Skills
Another way that a personality test can improve your job interviewing skills arises by making you more conscious of personality traits you may not even be aware you have. As you answer questions and consider your responses, try to think about what your chosen answer says about you, at least in terms of your professional life. Being more self-aware of your positive and negative inclinations before your interview can help you emphasize the former and minimize the latter.
Also, keep in mind that personality is not synonymous with behavior, though they are very much linked. Behavior means how you act. Personality is who you are. Since personality proves more permanent and less likely to change over time, employers tend to see personality as a more reliable indicator of future performance. Calibrate your behavior in the tech job interview to reflect your innate professionalism, collegiality, respect, and commitment.
GTN Technical Staffing Helps Tech Workers Get Their Desired Jobs and Gets Tech Companies Their Desired Candidates
GTN Technical Staffing has earned a reputation throughout the tech industry for connecting the right tech talent to the right companies. We are, without question, an invaluable resource for IT professionals seeking their next opportunity.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you land your next, and possibly final, job.
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