Employment Personality Tests Decoded

At least 30 percent of American companies, from American Express and Bank of America and IBM to Marriott, Procter & Gamble, Time Warner, and a host of smaller firms, subject their employees to one or more personality tests each year. Why do they do it? Employers want to hire and retain employees who are qualified, confident, resilient, even-tempered, and loyal. Personality assessments, like coaches, help them identify potential problems. The corporate world is intense. Employers need to know how their staff will deal with the inevitable pull of priorities between a regimented corporate life and family responsibilities. Under normal conditions--and under stress--how do you deal with conflicts, solve problems, and arrive at results? Will you overlook important details? Find it difficult to interact with your colleagues? Disrupt a team? Threaten your supervisor? Employers care how you make sense of the world because they want you to be reliable-as reliable as the test they're subjecting you to.