Personality Testing In Employee Selection: Challenges, Controversies and Future Directions

The book's strength lies in its thorough exploration of different perspectives on personality testing, including objectively presenting views contrary to the current marketing of personality assessments. Munro presents a range of viewpoints, allowing readers to consider the merits and drawbacks of using personality tests in hiring decisions. This balanced approach encourages critical thinking and fosters a deeper understanding of the subject. Furthermore, Munro does an admirable job of discussing potential future directions for personality testing in employee selection.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Andrew’s book. His wide-ranging and deep dive evaluation is impressively comprehensive and readable. Extremely well referenced, his use of quotes, humour, and especially analogies makes what might otherwise be an extremely hard-going heavyweight read, something far more accessible -especially for us less competent statisticians! The science is laid out concisely and objectively, conveying a substantial and balanced assessment of the domain. I could probably have done without the history, but the patterns, mistakes and learnings were a useful way to highlight how little we’ve actually moved on. It was also refreshing to see definitive conclusions and positions taken without the customary fearful fence sitting that has become the norm these days. I would have preferred more consideration given to the importance of teamworking as a criterion for validity that is nigh on impossible to measure, as well as the fundamental flaw of personality testing in informing selection for individual roles, when nobody these days works alone, and when no ideal blend of personalities, as measured by any psychometric actually exists. Andrew does refer to context but he might have been expanded more here, perhaps to question why publishers and their consumers are so fixated with individual assessments when actually what increasingly matters in the workplace are the relationships between individuals, something that is informed by the unmeasurable interplay of emotions, learned behaviours, prevailing context, unconscious assumptions and multiple and complex feedback loops. Overall, a splendid read which passes one of the tests referred to, it does exactly what it says it will do on the tin.George Karseras MD Team-Up and Author of Amy Edmondson Endorsed Book ‘Build Better Teams’

Andrew’s wit and incisive reasoning point out some significant flaws in the field of personality testing in employment selection. A good primer that presents the other side of the coin from what you might find in the test publisher’s technical manuals…

This book is a must-read (2 hours) for all HR Directors. So many businesses thoroughly mis-use personality tests - they do so with good intentions, but with a shallow understanding of the science (or lack of it) behind the instruments. I have been a BPS accredited practitioner for 35 years but this book reminds me how much I don't know. Andrew is a very clever psychologist but is also hugely business-savvy. His book is an eloquent and balanced rehearsal of the debates around personality testing in the workplace and won't give you a simple answer, because there isn't one. If this prompts you to wonder if what your business is doing is effective, ethical, validated - pick up the phone to Andrew and seek his advice....

For anyone interested in a considered, evidence based and reasoned analysis of personality assessment; but who are not psyshometricians, this is for you. Andrew takes a broad sweep that takes in history, applications and what may be next. His style is very readable too. This is particularly relevant for those in HR functions and are involved in assessment and selection. HR is a function that has fallen victim to baseless assertion and the lure of the salesman. The practices advocated in The War For Talent for example. This will help practitioners ask the right questions about things like item format, validity, the importance of context and the appropriate application of tests. Highly recommended.