What cautions would you give to an employer wanting to use a single or group of personality traits exclusively to make a selection decision?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A review of the personality research suggests that even with the Big Five, not one trait or group of traits predicts with precision how well someone will perform on a particular project or in a specific job. In addition to assessing one's personality, firms should use a variety of selection tools to try to match a person's interests and skills with a particular job. These can include a structured interview, a cognitive ability test, and a work performance test. The individual job candidate or employee applying for an internal promotion also should be attempting to find the best fit for himself or herself in the job and organization. Using only the scores on a personality test will often lead to misalignment and poor person-job (and person-organization) fit. Once into a job, individuals who work hard at the "fit" are likely to experience higher levels of job satisfaction, more positive attitudes, and better relationships among peers. In addition to assessing applicants and employees on certain dimensions of the Big Five, organizations often choose a few relevant personality traits that they believe are closely linked to performance in certain jobs and in their organization.