Personality Assessment for Hiring and Development

1 in 5

The odds of a serious mis-hire on interview alone. Make that 1 in 50 with a personality assessment powered by Wave®.

60%

More accurate at pinpointing real development strengths and limitations with Wave®, compared with the average personality tool (Saville ROI model estimate).

$248,000

Extra sales a year, on average, from salespeople who performed well on our assessment.

Predictive validity

Does the score predict the job? Validity is how closely a result tracks what a person goes on to do at work. Wave Professional scores 0.57, among the highest independently validated figures on record, and the British Psychological Society reviewed it at 27 out of 30.

Talent and motive together

Most questionnaires measure what someone is good at. Ours also reads what they want to do more of, and the gap between the two is where development conversations get useful and where a strong-looking candidate quietly disengages.

Answers you can trust

Candidates rate each statement, then rank the ones they scored the same, so claiming to be strong at everything forces a trade-off. A consistency check flags profiles that still read as overly positive or negative.

Run it on a role you are hiring now

Bring a live vacancy. We will build the success profile, assess your shortlist and show you the report the hiring manager would open, with the predicted strengths and risks for that role. Then you decide whether 1 in 50 is worth your time.

Talk to us Calculate your ROI

1. Trait questionnaires

Measure a person on continuous scales, such as the Big Five and the finer-grained dimensions beneath them, and score against a norm group. Validated against job performance, so they can be used for selection, development and succession.

See who’ll perform

2. Type indicators

Sort people into categories, such as the 16 four-letter types. Useful for self-awareness and team conversations; their own publishers say they should not be used for recruitment or selection, because a type does not predict performance.

Compare the depths

3. Short screening questionnaires

A six-minute read on working style for high-volume and early-careers roles, ranking applicants by fit so recruiters interview the right people first.

Screen thousands, fairly

4. Clinical inventories

Built to assess mental health in clinical, forensic and medical settings, and administered by qualified clinicians. Not for workplace hiring, and not something we offer.

See the full range

Three steps from role to report

1. Profile the role, with your stakeholders or with the AI success profiler.

2. Candidates complete the questionnaire online, untimed, with practice questions, adjustments and a plain explanation of how their data is used.

3. You read the report: scores against a norm group, predicted strengths and risks, interview questions, and a feedback report the candidate can keep.

Talk to us

Development, not just selection

The same questionnaire a candidate completed at interview keeps working after the hire. Our modeling shows Wave identifies real development strengths and limitations about 60% more accurately than the average tool, so development budget lands on the people and the gaps that move.

Develop the people who’ll deliver

Assessment where your team already works

Frequently asked questions

The questions buyers ask before their first project. If yours is not here, ask us and an expert will reply.

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Can you use a personality assessment for hiring?

Yes, if it is a validated occupational questionnaire scored against a norm group and linked to a role profile. Type indicators are a different thing: their own publishers advise against using them in selection, because a type does not predict job performance.

What does a personality assessment measure?

How a person tends to behave, what motivates them and where their talents lie, on continuous scales rather than categories. Ours measures the dimensions beneath the Big Five, and reads motive as well as talent so you see what someone will do, not only what they can do.

How accurate is a personality assessment?

It depends on the instrument. Wave Professional has a validity of 0.57, independently validated. In practice, an industry-standard assessment still leaves about 1 in 10 hires in the bottom fifth of performers; ours leaves 1 in 50.

Can candidates fake a personality questionnaire?

It is designed to make that expensive. Candidates rate each statement, then rank the ones they scored the same, so claiming to be strong at everything forces a choice. A consistency check flags profiles that still read as overly positive or negative.

How long does a workplace personality test take?

Between about six and 35 minutes depending on depth: a short screen for volume roles, a 13-minute default for most hiring and development decisions, and a 35-minute deep dive for senior appointments. All are untimed, so nobody is scored on reading speed.

Can we use it for development as well as hiring?

Yes, and most clients do. The same profile supports onboarding, development, internal moves and succession, and our modeling puts Wave’s development impact at about four times the average tool.

Bring us a role you are hiring for

Tell us the role and the level. We will show you what the personality assessment would say about your shortlist.

Personality assessment that predicts who’ll perform

What is a personality assessment?