How to Use Your Personality Test Results at Work

Personality predicts job performance less than most people think, but it helps with fit and communication. What the research shows, and five ways to use your results.

Use your results to explain how you work and to choose how you stretch, not to predict how good you will be. Personality predicts job performance only modestly: conscientiousness, the most consistent trait, has a corrected validity of about .2, about half that of a structured interview (Sackett et al. 2023). Where your results help most is fit, communication and knowing the cost of acting out of character.

Does personality predict job performance?

A little, and one trait more than the others. In the classic review across professionals, police, managers, sales staff and skilled workers, conscientiousness was the one Big Five trait linked to performance in every group. Extraversion mattered for managers and salespeople (Barrick & Mount 1991).

Newer estimates are lower than the old ones. Here is how personality compares with other ways of predicting performance:

Corrected validities from Sackett, Zhang, Berry & Lievens (2023), updating their 2022 analysis. 0 means no link and 1 a perfect one.

Four-letter types fare worse. The Myers-Briggs Company says there are no meaningful studies of the MBTI's ability to predict job performance (MBTI Facts), and that the test was designed on the assumption that every type can do every job (The Myers-Briggs Company).

What are your results actually good for at work?

Fit. Feeling that you match your job goes strongly with liking it and staying, and only modestly with performing in it. Across 172 studies, person–job fit correlated .56 with job satisfaction, .47 with commitment and −.46 with intent to quit, but .20 with overall performance (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman & Johnson 2005).

The same review found that matching an organisation on personality mattered least. For job satisfaction, fit on values correlated .51 and fit on personality just .08. If you are judging whether a job suits you, your values tell you more than your type.

How do you write a personal user manual?

A user manual is a one-page guide to working with you. Atlassian runs it as a team exercise: each person answers the prompts they are comfortable with and presents them (Atlassian Team Playbook). Julie Zhuo, a former design leader at Facebook, wrote one for her team covering how she views success, how she communicates, what gains and loses her trust, and things she does that may annoy people (The Looking Glass).

There is a fair criticism. Camille Fournier, author of The Manager's Path, argues that you probably don't know yourself as well as you think, and that a manager's reports may not feel free to correct it (I hate manager READMEs). The research backs her first point. Other people's ratings of your personality predict job performance better than your own ratings do, and add to them (Connelly & Ones 2010; Oh, Wang & Mount 2011). You are the best judge of your own anxiety, and friends are better judges of your intellect (Vazire 2010).

So write the manual from your results, then ask two colleagues what you got wrong.

Can you act out of character at work?

Yes, and it often feels better than you expect. The psychologist Brian Little calls these “free traits”: acting against type, for example an introvert acting outgoing, to advance a project you care about (Little 2008). People are happier while acting extraverted, introverts included (Fleeson, Malanos & Achille 2002), and introverts overestimate how bad it will feel (Zelenski et al. 2013).

It has a cost. In a week-long trial, more introverted people who acted extraverted felt more tired, more negative and less authentic (Jacques-Hamilton, Sun & Smillie 2019). In another study, extraverted and conscientious behaviour lifted mood in the moment but brought more fatigue three hours later (Leikas & Ilmarinen 2017). Little points to restorative time afterwards as the way to reduce the cost.

Five ways to use your results at work

• Share preferences, not excuses. “I'm a P, deadlines aren't my thing” is a shield. “I work best with a check-in halfway to a deadline” is a request people can act on.
• Write a one-page user manual. Cover how you like feedback, how you decide and what drains you, then ask two colleagues to correct it.
• Design around your lows. A low Conscientiousness score is an argument for visible checklists and shared deadlines. A high Dominance score on a DISC-style test is an argument for inviting dissent on purpose.
• Plan the stretch and the recovery. When the job needs a trait you don't lead with, such as presenting or networking, block quiet time after it.
• Check fit on values, not just type. Values fit links to job satisfaction far more than personality fit, so take a values test before a big career move.

Start with the free Big Five test, which scores you from 0 to 100 on each trait, or the Personal Values test. Both are free with no email needed. The Career Pack then covers your work style, hidden professional strengths and burnout triggers.

Sources

• Barrick & Mount (1991), Personnel Psychology
• Sackett, Zhang, Berry & Lievens (2022), Journal of Applied Psychology
• Sackett, Zhang, Berry & Lievens (2023), Industrial and Organizational Psychology
• Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman & Johnson (2005), Personnel Psychology
• The Myers-Briggs Company, MBTI Facts
• The Myers-Briggs Company, Addressing the inaccuracies
• Atlassian Team Playbook, My User Manual
• Julie Zhuo, A user guide to working with you
• Camille Fournier, I hate manager READMEs
• Connelly & Ones (2010), Psychological Bulletin
• Oh, Wang & Mount (2011), Journal of Applied Psychology
• Vazire (2010), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
• Little (2008), Social and Personality Psychology Compass
• Fleeson, Malanos & Achille (2002), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
• Zelenski et al. (2013), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
• Jacques-Hamilton, Sun & Smillie (2019), Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
• Leikas & Ilmarinen (2017), Journal of Personality

Frequently asked questions

Which personality trait is most related to job performance?

Conscientiousness. It predicts performance across most jobs, with a corrected validity of about .2. Extraversion matters mainly in management and sales.

Can a personality test tell me which job I'll be best at?

Not reliably. The MBTI publisher says its test can't say which job you will perform best in. Results are more useful for judging fit and how you like to work.

What is a personal user manual?

A one-page guide to working with you: how you communicate, how you like feedback, what builds your trust and what annoys you. Teams such as those at Atlassian share them so people misunderstand each other less.

Should introverts act extraverted at work?

When it serves something you care about, it often feels better than expected. Over days it can be tiring, so plan recovery time after big social stretches.

What is the best personality test to use with coworkers?

One that everyone takes, so you share the same words. A Big Five test gives scores rather than a label, and a values test helps with questions of fit.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs and MBTI are registered trademarks of The Myers & Briggs Foundation. Cerebral Quotient is not affiliated with The Myers & Briggs Foundation or The Myers-Briggs Company.