There was a time when the only few factors were considered while evaluating potential candidates were a typo-free resume, performance in a personal interview and some good references. 

Things have changed over the years. Most organizations today, be it a startup or a large business group, have started opting for a more scientific approach to assessing the innate personality of the candidate. 

So if you haven't had to take a personality assessment yet during an employment search, chances are you soon will. This is particularly so as organizations are increasingly looking at ways to bring on board the absolutely right fit. 

Here are 5 reasons why personality tests will soon be an integral part of all recruitment effort 

1. Cost of replacing nonperforming employees 

On most occasions, organizations have to ensure that they ask nonperforming employees to quit. The cost of replacing these candidates, however, is a huge drain on both time and money. It makes better sense for them to rely on a scientific approach that looks at behavioral traits and indicates their suitability for the role and the organization. Personality tests can certainly help in this aspect.  

2. Compare how potential employees match up to the job role requirements

With a personality test, employers can now compare the scores of potential employees to see if there is a match with what their organizations are looking for. Since these tests are subjective without any ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers, the responses may give you an indication whether the employee attributes are those that you are looking for in potential candidates. 

You may consider an example where the candidate applying for a sales role appears to have minimal interpersonal skills, low drive to succeed or ability to influence; it would be obvious that such a person would not be the right fit. 

3. Improve your accuracy of selection

A well-designed personality test can help you accurately identify if a candidate is the right fit. While there may be a few criticisms that candidates may provide responses they believe the employer may be looking for. However, research suggests that they usually don’t resort to such tactics and even if they do, it can be easily made out based on the consistency of responses given. A properly customized personality test can thus tremendously improve the odds of landing the right person for the role.  

4. Benchmark your top performing employees

Thousands of applicants apply for various roles in your organization. As an HR manager, your challenge is to pick up only the best from an ocean of potential candidates. One way to ensure that your future employees are the ones who may perform for you is by benchmarking your existing top talent. Personality tests that evaluate candidates for the behavioral traits exhibited by your top performing employees can give you a high performing talent pool.

5. Reduced time to hire at lower costs

With low-cost online personality assessments, even smaller organizations can now analyze their workforce to zero in on employees who not only excel in performance but also tend to stay with the company. With the option of customized assessment tools, employers can appraise everything from the ability to communicate effectively to the overall match with the company culture. 

It is a given that matching applicants precisely with the job roles will lead to much longer and fulfilling careers as such employees are less likely to quit themselves or even be fired by your organization. 

Some common mistakes made by employers is they fail to focus on the purpose of the assessment.  As an HR professional, you must confirm with your vendor and make sure that the test actually assesses and measures what it is designed for.