This is only slightly off-topic, since there have been many threads here about how Mormonism definitely favors certain personality types and rejects the rest. Here is my question, directed to anybody who actually uses the test to make hiring decisions: what M-B personality type gets hired and which types do not? I strongly suspect that almost every hiring manager/HR person in the country just loves bubbly, outgoing congenial types. Am I right?

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.

depends on the job.

Details? Thanks.

I'm a rarity: I'm an FICK...

So close to greatness...

When I worked for the US Treasury Department we were given the Myers-Briggs test office wide to see where the employees fell.

It was part of diversity training to learn our personal strengths given our personality characteristics.

Nor was it used in the hiring process. For that we did have to pass a psychological exam as part of the oral and written interviews.

Employees fell across the spectrum for the Myers-Briggs. There was no right or wrong personality type we were taught, as we each brought something of value and it balanced out the whole.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2018 01:06AM by Amyjo.

to qualify for Social Security, but as I was nearing the end of my 30-year stint with them, I overheard a couple of managers discussing testing some potential hires, and one of them suggested, "Why don't we interrupt them every few minutes, and see who blows their gasket first? That would be more like being on the job."

While that was unquestionably true, it was also sadistic.

There was a disproportionate number of anal people in management where I was employed. The ones with the good personalities who made work there bearable were fewer in number.

We had some bosses like you describe who made life difficult for the workers. They were management, not civil service. There was constant friction between labor and management there. Which is why the union is so important for the civil servants.

That test was easy to "ace." The questions are so obvious, you can be any personality type you want. Just make an accurate assessment of what traits would be best for the job you're applying for, and answer the questions accordingly. We also took the test in our Mormon singles group. LOL The ideal Mormon wife--that was fun to answer.

Not if you're honest.

It isn't a right or wrong personality for the Myers Briggs.

It is a fairly accurate assessment of your personality type - if you really want to know, that is.

Amyjo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is a fairly accurate assessment of your
> personality type - if you really want to know,
> that is.

The "fairly accurate" part is debatable, and mostly the evidence comes down on the side of "not fairly accurate."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/give-and-take/201309/goodbye-mbti-the-fad-won-t-die

Maybe that's why it wasn't used in forming hiring decisions where I worked for the US government.

It was used to get an idea where we each fit for diversity training and to understand ourselves better, as in our personality strengths and weaknesses, how we handle situations and interact with others, etc.

It's good they didn't use it for hiring decisions.
Sadly, there are still companies (even really "big" ones) that do.
It would be hardly different from making hiring decisions based on horoscopes. And AFAIK, only Reagan made hiring decisions based on horoscopes in the federal government :)

ificouldhietokolob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's good they didn't use it for hiring
> decisions.

Maybe they did use it for hidden reasons not disclosed to the employees. I worked in an extremely high stress job where there was much burnout.

> Sadly, there are still companies (even really
> "big" ones) that do.

Corporate psychology at work.

> It would be hardly different from making hiring
> decisions based on horoscopes. And AFAIK, only
> Reagan made hiring decisions based on horoscopes
> in the federal government :)

That you know of. I had a boss in my first job out of high school working at an arts and cultural center for city government. She based all of her hiring decisions on horoscopes. Lucky for me I was a fit. She was a Stanford graduate.

Surely there are others. They just do it discreetly. Because otherwise they'd be on the firing line. Presidents have a lot of leeway in their hiring decisions. Look at the current administration for proof of that.

Astrology signs are not a covered EEO category for discrimination. That does seem crazy to base a decision on that, or that it would be used as a tie-breaker.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2018 12:09PM by Amyjo.

A company I worked for used the Myers-Briggs as part of a procedure to push you out of the company. I never paid attention until I got in someones bullseye. I asked a psychologist friend about it and he said it was an old test that proved nothing. I am so glad I'm not part of corporate BS anymore. (The company did succeed in pushing me out)

I believe that companies administer the M-B test in order to weed out-or at least identify for close scrutiny - all of the employees with results beginning with an "I".

I administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator from time to time at work. Not for hiring decisions, but for group work and individual coaching.

Some employers do make it part of their hiring package but it can be challenged in court, so most are leary about it. Given how variable people are in their expression of various traits, it can be hard to claim that it can predict what will actually happen on the job.

The four scales are:

Introversion / Extraversion (I/E)- indication of where a person gets their energy. Introverts get their energy from the inside while Extraverts will get it from interactions with others.

Sensing / Intuition (S/N) - indication of how folks take in data / information - what they tend to focus on. Sensors tend to focus on details while intuitors tend to focus on the bigger picture / or patterns

Thinking / Feeling (T/F) - indication of what drives decision making. Thinking types tend to let data, facts and figures be their primary justification for decisions they make, where as feelers will tend to make decisions based on human-centered values

Judging / Perceiving (J/P) - indication of how one organizes their world. Judgers tend to be very orderly, do things in sequence, plan things out in advance. Perceiving types tend to adjust very quickly to changes, don't tend to be planful preferring to take things as they come.

Of course everyone sits on a continuum that spans the two extremes so nothing is absolute, but where individuals express a strong preference for either side of the scale, I've found it to be pretty predictable and obvious.

So to your original question - what types get hired? Here are a couple examples of what I tend to see:

Sales people - ENTP
Engineers - ISTJ
Finance - ISTJ
Product Designers - E/I,N,T/F,P

It really does depend on the role being sought. There are whole studies on career and best personality type.

Finance makes perfect sense to me. I am (depending on my task that day) either an INTJ or an ISTJ. My score for N/S tends to be barely to one side or the other. My job requires that I can do both.

I can find the .15 you are off, or I can give you a 5 year plan. Depends on what I am being asked to do if I am using my S or N mind set.

The others are very firmly in the letter I received.