Why The DISC Assessment Should NOT Be Used In The Hiring Process

The DISC Assessment is an effective personality assessment tool and definitely has its uses in the workplace. The name itself stands for the four personality traits: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. However, while it is useful for looking into an individual’s personality type, using it for hiring or pre-hiring purposes is a different matter altogether.

The Dangers of DISC in Hiring

While the DISC assessment has its great many uses, it’s a common error to use it as a means of determining someone’s suitability for a position of employment. It can (and often does) go unrealized that the DISC assessment was not created as a pre-employment tool, therefore it does not serve as one. The creators of the product even stated this themselves to those who wish to use it as such.

To explain why, first of all, the DISC assessment does not compare an individual to the general population. So, while it may tell you that you fall strongly under the dominance category, it will not tell you how dominant your personality is in comparison to others on any kind of spectrum. As a result of this, you will not be able to gauge yourself accurately enough to know whether or not you’re a good fit for a position.

The next reason the DISC assessment is not recommended as a pre-hiring tool stems from the lack of a spectrum. Without a spectrum, anybody taking the test will not receive percentages for their personality traits. This can be greatly problematic. Let’s say you’re looking for a highly “steady’ individual for a role – somebody may take the DISC assessment and be shown as a steady person, but that doesn’t tell you what specific traits they do or don’t have in relation to steadiness. For example, a steady person could take a pre-hiring test and be shown to be 90% relaxed and 60% cooperative, when instead you may be wanting someone who is more cooperative and a little less relaxed in the workplace. The DISC assessment doesn’t provide this necessary level of depth for making an informed hiring decision.

More to Pre-Employment Testing Than DISC

Fortunately, there are different personality assessment models outside of DISC that can show dramatic benefits in hiring. Aside from going into greater depth and accuracy, pre-employment assessments allow you to view the necessary personality traits for a wide range of job titles. This enables you to compare an individual’s results to the desired results for a role, thus determining their suitability.

Here at Prevue, our rigorously-validated personality assessment is based on the Five-Factor Model. Designed with hiring in mind, the assessment allows you to customize your benchmarks.  This means that you can decide for yourself which traits are valuable based on your own opinions and successful members of your team, and to what percentage each trait is preferred on a customized benchmark, allowing you to find exactly what you need in an individual for the role you’re hiring for.