Can job applicants fake personality tests? Not really, although it depends on what is meant by the word “faking.”
Personality tests don’t have a pass or fail result. They simply describe personality characteristics. What this means is that candidates can’t manipulate their test results with the “correct” responses. Actually—and this might surprise you—it doesn’t matter if people try to fake personality tests.
We’ll give you four reasons why trying to fake a personality test doesn’t matter. But first, let’s clarify what is often meant by “faking.”
What Does It Mean for Candidates to Fake Personality Tests?
“Faking” can mean different things, depending on who you ask. While there’s no clear definition of “fake” in this context, people tend to think about faking personality tests in a few different ways.
Identity versus reputation – Sometimes people are simply mistaken about their personality characteristics, such as believing they are more conscientious than they really are.1 Identity refers to how we view ourselves, and reputation refers to how others view us. We might see ourselves as having a good sense of humour (identity), but our coworkers might call us sensitive or even touchy (reputation). This type of unconscious self-deception is normal and expected, and it’s the reason why the Hogan assessments measure reputation, not identity.
Impression management – Similarly, some people may consider faking to occur when a person provides socially desirable responses on a personality test. Much like a person might try to present well during an interview, some might try to manage the hiring team’s impressions of them with their personality assessment responses. We call this type of behaviour impression management. Most people are on their best behaviour during job searches to the extent that this type of so-called faking and socialised behaviour are nearly indistinguishable.2
Deception – Finally, deception in faking refers to someone deliberately responding inaccurately on an employee personality test. People do this in different ways—trying to answer according to the job they want, trying to exaggerate what they think are desirable characteristics, or following external advice on how to answer (such as from ChatGPT or other AI tools). If you claim to be safety conscious but aren’t, you won’t be a good pilot. If you say you value science but don’t, you won’t enjoy working in a medical research lab. Deceptive faking for any reason isn’t advantageous for anyone taking a personality assessment.
No matter the level of self-awareness or the intent behind faking on personality tests, it doesn’t have much, if any, impact on the hiring and selection process. Here’s why.
Why Faking Doesn’t Matter
When we say that faking on a personality test doesn’t matter, we mean just that.3 Candidate attempts to fake personality tests aren’t likely to affect selection decisions (unless by harming candidates’ prospects).
- Faking a personality profile is hard.
Personality assessments are too intricate and well-constructed to be tricked. The three main Hogan assessments have 28 main scales and more than 100 subscales altogether. Let’s say a job candidate, Kai, responded to an employee personality test to try to appear competitive and assertive. For one thing, Kai might misinterpret which parts of the test are related to ambition. They might also misinterpret how important ambition is rated for the job they want. They might only succeed at providing contradictory information about themselves.
Distorted data could create a distorted personality profile that might not achieve Kai’s intention of seeming ambitious. The Hogan assessments measure what they claim to measure—how someone is reputed to behave. We call this construct validity. The Hogan assessments also have a type of validity called predictive validity, which relates to how the assessments predict workplace performance. If a job candidate produces an inconsistent or distorted response pattern—whether by failing to pay attention or attempting to “pass” the test—the test’s predictions could be affected.
- Individual responses don’t affect selection decisions.
Fortunately, how people respond to individual items on a personality test can’t affect whether they are hired. The results don’t show each separate response on a test. Everyone’s raw results are converted into a percentile score relative to a huge pool of data from other test takers.
A personality test should be only one of many factors that influence hiring. For example, our fictional candidate Kai might select Strongly Agree in response to the statement, “I always play to win.” Although that response might suggest Kai is ambitious, the candidate selection process simply does not hinge on individual responses. Personality assessments are designed for fairness, which is to the greatest good of applicants. Used in context, personality data complement and improve structured interviews by allowing applicants and organisations to portray themselves optimally.
- Distorted responses aren’t significant.
The results of one assessment can’t indicate whether responses were distorted because there are no other data to use for comparison. A test taker would need to retest for their data to reveal a discrepancy. However, retesting shows very little statistical change, even when people would be motivated to fake their results. In a study, 5,000 job applicants who were rejected from a role retested after six months, a circumstance where they might want to change their responses. Yet only five percent showed statistically significant differences, and only about half of those differences were improvements.2
The Hogan assessments have high test-retest reliability. Test-retest reliability means that the test gives consistent results even when someone retakes it later. Slight response variations simply don’t create significant personality differences.
- Identity isn’t measurable.
Personality psychology identifies two components of personality: identity and reputation. Remember, identity refers to your self-perception, or how you view yourself. The entire concept of faking personality tests is based on identity, as if an interior self exists that can be disguised or concealed. Identity isn’t measurable in a scientific sense, however, since it can’t be proved or disproved. This causes identity to be unimportant for the purposes of measuring personality.4
In contrast, reputation refers to how others see you, or the outside perception of you. This aspect of personality is observable and measurable. If Kai puts consistent effort into topping the departmental leaderboard, they will likely be viewed as competitive. If they frequently voice confident opinions, they will likely gain a reputation for being assertive and self-certain. Reputation, not identity, reveals personality objectively. Hogan’s assessments are designed to be valid and reliable tools for measuring reputation, not identity. It doesn’t matter whether someone is “true” to their identity because they are the only one who would ever know. Everyone else understands their personality externally, according to their words and actions.
The Bottom Line on Faking Personality Tests
Job candidates may wonder what they need to know about how to pass a personality test. Assessment administrators should advise candidates that always answering naturally is the most effective approach to employment personality tests. Personality tests benefit job candidates by making employment opportunities fairer and more equitable. It’s important for people to respond genuinely because people who intentionally distort their responses can disadvantage themselves in the selection process.
Organisations want accurate information about job candidates to help make quality selection decisions. Using well-validated and reliable personality tests will provide data-driven insights to fuel candidate selection. Personality assessments are an essential component of an equitable talent acquisition process, enabling organisations to place the best people in the right roles.
*This post originally appeared on Hogan Assessments
