Thomas' Personality assessment is a six-factor, assessment based on the most widely accepted and researched model of human personality held by psychologists today, the Big Five personality theory. The Big Five is an extensively validated framework for measuring human personality.
Thomas' Personality assessment is powered by the High Potential Trait Indicator (HPTI), which measures six personality traits that are proven to predict success at work. The HPTI was originally developed by Prof. Adrian Furnham and renowned work psychologist, Ian MacRae, in 2006 and has been extensively validated and optimised for workplace applications.
They identified the specific traits which had the strongest relationship with success at work, i.e., Conscientiousness, Adjustment, Curiosity, Risk Approach, Ambiguity Acceptance and Competitiveness. This model is the foundation of Thomas' Personality assessment.
Trait | Definition |
Conscientiousness | Combines self discipline, an organised approach to work and the ability to control impulses which others might give in to. |
Adjustment | Indicates how individuals react emotionally to stress, external events, pressures and relationships. |
Curiosity | How people approach novelty, innovation, change, new information and, methods. |
Risk Approach | Indicates how someone deals with challenging, difficult or threatening situations. |
Ambiguity Acceptance | Reaction to complexity and contradictory information: situations where outcomes, decisions, argument and evidence are not immediately obvious or clear. |
Competitiveness | Individual’s relative desire to win, need for power and reaction to winning and losing. |
While the word “personality” has been defined in many ways, personality is mostly referred to as the combination of values, worldviews, set responses, emotions, patterns of thought and characteristics which are relatively stable aspects of an individual.
Personality gives you insight into the underlying traits that drive how a person works and interacts with those around them. While the 6 traits measured in Thomas' Personality assessment are relatively stable, a person can develop and change the behaviours that they drive and find types of work and environments that suit their style best.
Identifying an individual’s behaviours is crucial in understanding the “what” you will see once the candidate joins your organisation. Adding the personality dimension to any role helps us see “why” this person will behave the way they do.
The value of using Thomas' Personality assessment is that you can look at each personality trait in context to a specific role.
When used for recruitment, alongside the Thomas Behaviour and Aptitude assessments, the Personality assessment can help you match an individual’s personality and behavioural traits as well as aptitudes to those that are important for success in a specific role. This invaluable insight can help you to reduce unconscious bias, make better, more informed people decisions and build an engaged, productive workforce.
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