The Big 5 Personality Test
What is The Big Five, and how does it compare to the CareerFitter Career Test?
Gaining insight into your personality can be a valuable thing, especially when choosing a career. Not only can it give you a detailed perspective regarding your thought processes and values, but it can also show where your strengths and weaknesses lie. This information can play a vital role in how you deal with everyday interactions and what choices you make in your big life decisions.
Developed in the 1980s, the Big 5 Personality Test was designed to gain insight into a person's beliefs, traits, and motivating factors. Also known as the Lewis Goldberg Test (named after the psychologist who created it), this questionnaire uses detailed questions to ask respondents to rate themselves on different essential characteristics.
These five characteristics, also known as OCEAN based on their acronym, are:
Openness - This refers to the degree to which a person is open and accepting of new situations and experiences. Generally, people who receive a high score in the openness category are imaginative and creative. Those with low scores tend to avoid change and prefer to stay within their comfort zone.
Conscientiousness - This aspect of an individual's personality shows how aware someone is of the consequences of their actions. A high score in this area shows a person who is reliable, loyal, responsible, and has self-discipline. A low score would indicate a more carefree personality that may have issues with punctuality, organization, and impulsiveness.
Extraversion - A high score in the area of extraversion represents a person who needs a lot of social stimuli. This type of person likes to meet new people and does well in social situations. They aren't afraid to speak in front of others and don't mind being the center of attention. Someone who scores low in this category may be shy, introverted, and prefer to work alone or in small groups.
Agreeableness - Also referred to as altruism, a high score in this characteristic usually represents someone who trusts easily and has a strong willingness to help others. A low score may mean that the respondent is selfish and less helpful and accommodating.
Neuroticism - This characteristic shows how quickly someone shows feelings of fear and anger or how easy-going and carefree they are. Someone with a high score in this area may be less emotionally stable and may allow their emotions to take over quickly. A low score in neuroticism generally means that they may be better able to deal with stressful situations and stay calm, even when problems arise.
This test can be used by individuals to gain a deeper understanding of themselves and is also frequently used by employers during the hiring process to determine if a candidate will be a good fit for the organization. Using the Big 5 Personality Test can give a reliable first impression of a potential candidate; however, it does have its downfalls.
It is important to remember that each person is different, even if they have many of the same personality traits and characteristics. Each person will have different strengths and weaknesses, and therefore the Big 5 Personality Test is best explicitly used to gain an overview of a person and their general personality traits.
Compare CareerFitter
Unlike the Big 5 Personality Test, the CareerFitter Career Test examines specific aspects of a person's traits to determine their work personality. It considers the fact that how a person acts in their everyday life may differ slightly from how they will perform as an employee. The CareerFitter Career Test reflects on these personality nuances and uses them to provide a detailed analysis of someone’s strengths and weaknesses and how they relate specifically to the workplace.
Once the CareerFitter Career Test is complete, the respondent receives a detailed evaluation that shows the best career choices for their unique personality as well as other important factors like how they work in a team environment, what their preferred communication style is and what management style works best with their individual traits.
This test allows individuals to better understand what work environment is best suited to them and will enable employers to gauge how well a candidate will perform in a specific work setting. Having this crucial data ahead of time can make the hiring process significantly smoother as the wrong candidates for a position can quickly be weeded out. Using the CareerFitter Career Test prevents improper hires. It avoids selecting candidates that are a poor fit for specific work environments, saving both businesses and candidates substantial time and money in the long run.
Whether you are a business in the process of hiring new candidates for your organization or an individual looking to gain insight into your personality and your potential career choices, taking both the Big 5 Personality Test and CareerFitter's Career Assessment Test can provide a valuable understanding of strengths, weaknesses and overall compatibility.