How to use DISC Personality Tests for Selective Recruitment

The Disc Model is simple so that you can develop insights very quickly, descriptive so that you can view others more objectively, accurate enough so that you can understand someone else's perspective and flexible enough that you can learn to see the subtleties and variations in someone else’s perspective.

DISC Personality Testing is a way of identifying and measuring a person's characteristics, personality traits and behaviour patterns, all essential for building effective teams and understanding DISC Workplace personality profiles.

This information can be used diagnostically for existing employees to highlight training needs and whether they would be better in an alternative role or during the selective recruitment process as a way of identifying whether an applicant has the required or desired characteristics for a particular role.

The DISC model has resulted from the work in the 1920s of the psychologist Dr William Moulton Marsden at Harvard. From his theories, the DISC assessments are produced.

The DISC model identifies four behaviour traits or types which are laid out in the DISC Circle

Disc Personality Testing for Team Building

Recruitment and team building is an area where behavioural analysis is useful and an effective tool at different stages of the recruitment process.

• Pre-interview assessment - used for shortlisting purposes

• Interviewing - can identify potential difficulties that might not be identified during a standard interview and as a way to improve communication during the interview

• Rejection - as a way to ease the rejection of unsuitable candidates by providing a copy of their profile with the rejection letter giving them a clear idea of the reason for their rejection and guidance in the development of their career.

An effective recruitment strategy is a more structured and proactive type of recruitment that has at its core a determination to find people with the skills needed and the right attitude.

There are numerous benefits to using selective recruitment as part of your recruitment and team-building strategy but the key ones are:

• You get a great company fit - they understand and like your company ethos

• Employees stay with you, which reduces recruitment costs

• You’ll build a highly effective team. Your customers benefit, your company benefits and your employees are engaged, motivated and productive, so they benefit too.

If your company has adopted a high performance work systems model you have to be recruiting selectively.

The high performance work systems approach needs employees who are motivated and committed, want to be well-trained, are comfortable in a company that encourages them to speak up and want to work in a company like yours.

Create a great employee value proposition

Before you begin your recruitment and team building process, you need to think carefully about the type of person you want to attract and why.

Next, you need to think about how you are going to attract top talent. A well-articulated employee value proposition (EVP), HR speak for all the great reasons to work for us, is an effective way of attracting new hires as well as motivating existing employees. EVP is the unique value that a company brings to its employees.

It details all of the pay, benefits, rewards and perks that a prospective employee can expect when they join your company. It also describes the company’s culture and what working for your business is like and the type of people who will be attracted to that culture.

Recruiting for cultural fit with uncommon questions

Cultural fit is the glue that builds teams and holds an organisation together.

It is the likelihood that a prospective employee will have similar beliefs to those of your company or will be able to easily adapt and adopt the core beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that your company promotes.

It is useful when you begin interviewing to ask questions that will help you to assess how well an individual might fit in your company

• Why do you want to work at this company?

• How would you describe our culture? Is that what you are looking for?

• What type of environment do you thrive in?

• Tell me about a time where you worked at a company where the culture wasn’t a good fit?

However, in addition to these standard interview questions, uncommon questions can reveal a lot about their ability to handle change, fit into the company’s culture and their suitability for the role.

An industry-specific question might be ‘Where do you see the industry heading?’ which asks them to talk about change in your industry and from that you can assess how adaptable they might be.

A job and cultural fit related question could be ‘What don’t you like to do?’ which could be quite revealing as to how well they’ll fit into the company and your team.

If, for example, they answer that they don’t enjoy talking to a lot of people and they have applied for a customer service advisor then they may not be suitable.

Selective recruitment is part of a high-performance work system

High-performance work systems create environments that foster greater employee involvement and responsibility.

When you’re recruiting it is important to employ people who will thrive in that type of environment and be motivated by the extra trust you are giving them.

Using selective recruitment techniques you are able to not only able to recruit someone who has the correct skillset but you can also achieve a good cultural and team fit which will ensure that they will thrive in a more open environment.

Other key features of a high performance work system that will require careful consideration when recruiting are that company information is openly shared with employees to engender a feeling that they are trusted partners.

As a result of being based on a bottom-up inclusive approach, employees in this type of business can voice their concerns and suggestions and be confident that they will be listened to.

Selective recruitment, using behavioural analysis and structured interviewing can identify employees who will succeed in this type of company and will be motivated by the additional benefits provided.

Selective recruitment is a far more effective form of recruitment that ensures you not only recruit employees with the appropriate skills and the correct mindset for the company but these employees are more likely to stay for longer, reducing churn and helping to build a stronger team.