Personality Tests You Must Take (+ What They Mean for Your Work Life)

Personality Tests You Must Take (+ What They Mean for Your Work Life)

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1. Myers-Briggs Personality Test

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (mbti test) is taking over the world. Some employers have even started asking for your Myers-Briggs test score in interviews!  The reason for this test's success is two-fold. One, it's a free quiz that takes less than 15 minutes, making it accessible. Two, it measures personality traits on a 

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1. Myers-Briggs Personality Test

contrasting spectrum, which means the results are read as black and white—making them easy to understand. How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: I'm conflicted about this method of "scoring," because I find people unique in their shady grey areas. It can be confining, and often a gross oversimplification, to label 

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1. Myers-Briggs Personality Test

someone by a five-letter score. No one score is better than another, and no matter which letter we're looking at, all of them have qualities that—if taken too far—can have negative consequences. So again, we won't look at this test as an end-all-be-all, but as a tool for self-reflection.

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2. The Enneagram Test

The Enneagram Test is a wildly popular personality profile test that has been around since the 1960s but has recently experienced a kind of resurgence in popularity thanks to social media.  There are countless Enneagram Instagram accounts—both serious and funny—that focus on the Enneagram personality types. The Enneagram 

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2. The Enneagram Test

essentially says that there are nine major personality types. These are: – Type 1: The Reformer – Type 2: The Helper – Type 3: The Achiever – Type 4: The Individualist – Type 5: The Investigator – Type 6: The Loyalist – Type 7: The Enthusiast – Type 8: The Challenger – Type 9: The Peacemaker

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2. The Enneagram Test

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: Once you take the test, you'll receive a score that shows you which of these types is your "basic personality type," or the one that you align with the most.  What makes the Enneagram a little more nuanced than some other personality tests, though, is that they also include what 

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2. The Enneagram Test

they call "wings." The wing is most often one of the numbers that is beside your "basic personality type" number. Your wing includes personality types that you likely also have but that aren't as "dominant" as the ones in your basic type.

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3. The Four Tendencies

We're cheating a little bit with this one. That's because The Four Tendencies doesn't gauge your personality, but rather, how you respond to expectations.  The creator, Gretchen Rubin, explains that there are two types of expectation. Inner—which is something like a self-created New Year's resolution—and outer—which are things like boss-assigned deadlines,

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3. The Four Tendencies

or answering a friend. How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: Your "tendency" (either Upholder, Obliger, Rebel, or Questioner) is determined by how you respond to these expectations. Rubin argues that people who understand their tendency "make better decisions, meet deadlines...suffer less stress, and engage more deeply with others."

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4. The Big 5 Personality Test

Also known as the five-factor model or OCEAN Personality Test, this personality test is the only one recognized by personality psychologists.  (Psst, if you want to know more about this awesome-sounding profession, check out this podcast episode of Ologies.) What's unique about this test is that you are looking at five broad dimensions of how 

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4. The Big 5 Personality Test

people differ, and instead of saying you are either "this" or "that," you are given a percentage. The five factors this test looks at are: – Openness to experience – Conscientiousness – Extraversion – Agreeableness – Neuroticism

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4. The Big 5 Personality Test

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: Because this model is recognized in academia, there are a few studies that take advantage of this naming convention.  One that caught my eye talks about how people who exhibit a high percentage of conscientiousness might find more professional success.

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4. The Big 5 Personality Test

It also shares behaviors that contribute to conscientiousness—so if you didn't score high in conscientiousness—you can fold these behaviors into your routine.

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5. CliftonStrengths Assessment

While the CliftonStrengths Assessment is not only for work, it's one of the most career-oriented personality tests out there. (We even hosted a webinar about CliftonStrengths Assessments). They have assessments that are geared toward managers so that you can learn how your personality type plays into your management style—and how 

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5. CliftonStrengths Assessment

the personality types of your team members play into their work. This assessment separates personality types into four "domains." These are: – Strategic Thinking – Relationship Building – Influencing – Executing

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5. CliftonStrengths Assessment

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: Under these four domains, there are 34 separate "themes" that allow you to see where your natural talents fall. Essentially, this personality test helps you determine what your strengths are—and how to harness them. Another benefit of the CliftonStrengths Assessment is that it helps 

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5. CliftonStrengths Assessment

explain the motivation behind why people behave in certain ways. It makes it easier to work with people when you understand your own personality and reasons for motivation—and when you understand theirs, it's even more beneficial.

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6. Borderline Spectrum Test

The borderline spectrum encompasses a range of symptoms, all pointing to the presence of borderline psychic organization or borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, there is considerable variation in the type and severity of the symptoms.  People experiencing BPD symptoms can have frequent mood changes that are intense 

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6. Borderline Spectrum Test

and last longer than usual. Negative thoughts and fear of abandonment can overshadow otherwise healthy relationships. This borderline spectrum test combines the insights of several prior efforts to research the borderline spectrum to bring you a single, composite test measuring borderline personality occurrences across 10 different domains.

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6. Borderline Spectrum Test

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: The IDRlabs Borderline Personality Test utilizes research from psychology professor Mary Zanarini, as well as DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, to produce this free online test.  BPD's consistency is challenging due to ongoing stigma and the disorder’s similarity to other mental health 

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6. Borderline Spectrum Test

conditions. The reliability of these different results can make the accuracy in diagnosing challenging, but Dr. Zanarini’s McLean screening instrument demonstrates one step toward improving diagnostic efficacy and subsequent treatment of affected individuals..

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7. Dark Triad Test

The Dark Triad is a personality inventory that explores the socially undesirable traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. The Dark Triad test is often used by police and the courts, in psychiatric wards and evaluations, and even in big corporations. Studies have shown that people who score high on the Dark 

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7. Dark Triad Test

Triad are more likely to commit crimes or get in trouble with the law and also more likely to cause social distress among their friends or problems for their workplace.  On the other hand, studies have also shown that Dark Triad individuals are often perceived as possessing leadership qualities and that they have high social status.

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7. Dark Triad Test

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: Who wants to work with a narcissist?! Not us. The three socially dark characteristics of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy are often conceptualized as three interrelated traits known collectively as the Dark Triad. This test aims to measure the respondent's Dark Triad traits 

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7. Dark Triad Test

according to brief and easy-to-answer test items that provide an accurate measure of the individual's Dark Triad traits.

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8. Couples Psychometric Test

The Couples Psychometrics Test determines which TV or movie couple you and your partner are based on a set number of questions. The Couples Psychometrics Test can be found on the Open-Source Psychometrics Project's website, which offers tons of personality tests that are used to collect anonymous data and research (some of the data is 

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8. Couples Psychometric Test

even published in academic journals).  The test, which can be found under "Statistical 'Which Character' Personality Quiz" on the Open Source Psychometric Project's website, uses a slider bar to determine whether you and your significant other are "creative or conventional," "alpha or beta, "strict or lenient," etc.

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8. Couples Psychometric Test

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: The website says that the test is for "educational and entertainment use only" and that "it should not be used as psychological advice of any kind and comes without any guarantee of accuracy or fitness for any particular purpose." So, no, it's not 100 percent accurate and probably can't help fix any real 

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8. Couples Psychometric Test

issues in your relationship, but it's fun and maybe that's what your relationship needs the most.

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9. Berkeley Emotional Intelligence Test

The Berkeley Emotional Intelligence Test, shows you 20 pictures and asks you to recognize the facial expression on each person’s face.  It’s easy, quick, fun, and an informative way to learn how well you read other people’s emotions— which is a critical skill for assessing and mitigating conflict.

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9. Berkeley Emotional Intelligence Test

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: When you have a better understanding of your EI, you can use that information to your advantage. Facial expressions are a universal language of emotion, instantly conveying happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and much more. Reading these expressions is essential to compassion and empathy.

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10. VeryWellMind Emotional Intelligence Test

The VeryWellMind Emotional Intelligence only asks you 10 quick questions before delivering your results. It’s admittedly not medical or scientific by any means but does offer other articles depending on your score. How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life: Similar to the last test, it arms you with valuable information 

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10. VeryWellMind Emotional Intelligence Test

on how well you can read the emotions of others. With EI playing such a big role in your overall success, being armed with this data can never hurt.

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