Surely you recognize this endearing fellow from television. He’s the founder of eHarmony who promises his site can match you with your soul mate using 29 Dimensions of Compatibility. I saw one of his commercials the other day and thought to myself, “Self, wouldn’t you love to have an e-Harmony for hiring?”

But as Brent Musburger likes to say, nothing doing.

While we don’t have an e-Harmony for hiring, there are pre-employment assessments that can help you decide whether a candidate will be a good fit for the role and/or your organization. I know such evaluations exist; but, admittedly, I’m a novice. Once again, I’d like to solicit your advice. What can you tell me about your experience utilizing pre-employment personality assessments for candidates? 

A former boss of mine swore by these assessments. He told me he had hired dozens of people using a test. Without fail, those whose test results matched the temperament for the job succeeded. Likewise, on the occasions that he hired people despite their lackluster assessment, he ended up having to let them go.

Others I’ve worked with over the years have turned their noses up at assessments. One of the arguments against such tests is that results aren’t necessarily predictors of how the person will actually perform on the job. And, of course, there is the worrisome notion of (partially) ceding your hiring decisions to a test.

Alas, I turn to you with questions, gentle readers.

• What do you know about pre-employment personality assessments?
• What kinds have you used – DISC, Caliper, 16PF?
• What results did you see? Did utilizing these assessments improve your hiring?
• Do you utilize these tests for some roles and not others?
• What about costs? Are my clients going to have to rob a convenience store to afford them?

I look forward to hearing from you about your experience with pre-employment assessments. And if you have e-Harmony stories to share as well, that will be buttercream icing on the cake.