What is a «Personality Test»?

A «personality test» (or, to be more scientific, a «personality evaluation») is a series of questions that allow us to identify behavioural preferences, as well as thinking and motivation patterns that are linked to your personality.

What is a Personality ? 

The personality is the group of characteristics that any given person possesses. These characteristics influence his or her way of thinking, as well as motivations and behaviours. This does not mean that a person may not act in another way, but the personality represents the natural preferences in these areas.

Where does our Personality come from ?  

It is generally accepted that our personality is defined partly by our genetics and partly by our environment (family, interactions, experience, etc)

What is the link between Personality and Work ? 

Research points to the importance of there being a coherence between an individual's personality and the environment in which he or she works:

• An environment which encourages and reinforces an individual's preferred behaviours and styles will have several consequences: the person will be more satisfied and fulfilled in his or her work, will perform better and waste less energy and personal resources in forcing him/herself to act against natural preference.
• On the other hand, a lack of fit in the workplace environment can cause stress, unhappiness, a drop in performance, exhaustion and even professional «burnout».

In what way can understanding your Personality be useful ?  

Understanding our personality, and the preferences linked to it, allows us to take conscious and informed decisions regarding our career and work environment. We can thus choose a job that truly suits us.

Once we are in our jobs, knowledge of our personality allows us to exploit our strengths and to avoid associated pitfalls, thus finding ourselves and blossoming through our work.

Am I limited by my Personality ?  

The fact that we have certain preferred styles does not mean that we cannot and do not behave in other ways. We have all, at some time, found ourselves doing things that do not «fit» with our personality, and do not sit well with our preferred way of acting. This is just part of human adaptability.

However, this adaptability has its limits. This can impact negatively if we act against our preferences too often, for long periods, or when we are under stress.

So it is not surprising that, when under stress, we naturally tend to fall back on our personality-driven preferred thinking, motivation and behaviour styles.

Is Personality fixed, or can it change ?  

Personality is relatively stable and does not change dramatically with age, as it is partly defined by our genes. However, our personality is not totally fixed; despite not metamorphosing totally, it can and does evolve. Given that part of the influence comes from environment and experience, our life events can have an effect on the evolution of our personality.

In fact, the personality model on which career-and-people.com is based is founded on the belief that we can and do evolve. The reports that we create for you after the evaluation contain advice that encourages you to evolve, while respecting your preferences.

How can I choose a «Personality Test» ? 

There are many «personality tests» available on the Internet, and it is not easy to find one's way through the crowd to the serious tools, that are based on a sound scientific approach. There are many others that are just a bit of «fun», and do not really have a solid or substantial basis.

Here is some advice. Choose:

• A test that has been validated by independent professionals, such as workplace psychologists, etc...
• A test that gives you at least a glimpse of your personality profile, so that you can test its quality and relevance before you buy.
• A test approved by «serious» partners. Often, you will be redirected to do your test on another site. The better the reputation and quality of the content on this other site, the more likely you are to find a high quality test there.
• A test that has proven itself many times over. Do professionals use it? How many people have already taken it? This kind of information can give you a good guide as to its quality.