Wonderlic Personality Test
More and more large corporations are adding Wonderlic’s personality tests to their list of psychometric assessments.
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INDEX
- What You Should Expect From the Wonderlic Personality Test
- Why Study Personality?
- Wonderlic Personal Characteristics Inventory (PCI)
- Wonderlic Personality Test Sample Questions
- Wonderlic Comprehensive Personality Profile (CPP)
- Wonderlic Productivity Index (WPI)
- How Do I Prepare for a Wonderlic Personality Test?
What You Should Expect From the Wonderlic Personality Test
According to many modern psychologists, the more you know about someone’s character, the better you can predict future performance. That’s why more and more large corporations are adding Wonderlic’s personality tests to their list of psychometric assessments.
Why Study Personality?
You’ve heard the term “employee disengagement” in the news a great deal lately. Chances are good though that you don’t need the local news channel to tell you that not all your co-workers are passionate and excited about coming into the office every morning at 8am.
That being said, the statistics are truly alarming.
According to the 2017 Gallup poll on employee engagement, only 33% of full-time American employees are “highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and workplace.” Worse still, that number drops to only 15% when analyzed on a global scale.
Workplace engagement, or lack thereof, has an enormous impact on productivity. Companies will continue to struggle to make ends meet if they hire ill-suited candidates in their rush to fill an opening. Whether because they’re ignoring important warning signs or hiring someone solely for their skills, hiring managers need to be more careful when extending offers.
However, a single exam supposedly takes care of all that. Instead of relying on your gut feeling, you can rely on a test score. The Wonderlic personality tests help employers ultimately to identify candidates that not only possess certain skills, but who share the company’s values and fit seamlessly into the company culture.
What is the Wonderlic Personality Test?
There are actually three different Wonderlic personality tests, all of which focus on different character traits and target different kinds of employees. Below, we discuss each of these Wonderlic exams in detail and even offer you a free Wonderlic Practice Sample Test.
Wonderlic Personal Characteristics Inventory (PCI)
This Wonderlic personality test contains 150 questions, and takes approximately 25-30 minutes. It can be administered as either a proctored online or hand-written test and evaluates personality according to the Five Factor Personality Model.
The Five-Factor Personality Model, also known as the Big Five Model was originally developed by Paul Costa and Robert McCrae, who believed that it was possible analyze personality through five essential qualities: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neurosis, the five of which are sometimes abbreviated as O.C.E.A.N.
The PCI exam breaks these five main categories into 12 subscales:
- Sociability
- Leadership Orientation
- Need for Recognition
- Cooperation
- Consideration
- Dependability
- Efficiency
- Even-Temperament
- Achievement Striving
- Self-Confidence
- Abstract Thinking
- Creativity
And 4 success scales:
- Teamwork
- Commitment to Work
- Learning Orientation
- Integrity
This assessment is typically administered to individuals applying to work in production, manufacturing, logistics, or management. You may also be asked to take the WPCI if you intend to perform clerical or administrative work, drive a commercial vehicle, or work in computers and IT.
This exam is designed to help recruiters decide whether employees will be happy or not in a specific role. HR departments spend thousands of dollars searching for and interviewing new employees, and they will have wasted a lot of time and money if they went through all of that trouble only to find out that the employee quits a few weeks later.
There’s no way to know for sure whether a specific individual will thrive in a certain working environment, but by evaluating his or her personality traits, the company improves their chance of identifying and hiring the right employee on the first attempt.
Even though many hirees who are asked to take the PCI are lower-level employees who tend not to interact with clientele that frequently, their participation still matters. The more a company can increase employee satisfaction and reduce turnover, the more productive they will be.
Wonderlic Personality Test Sample Questions:
1st Question:
I find large parties to be very overwhelming.
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
2nd Question:
I don’t like when an unexpected event interrupts my day.
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
3rd Question:
I rarely get very upset and anxious.
- Strongly Disagree
- Disagree
- Neutral
- Agree
- Strongly Agree
Wonderlic Comprehensive Personality Profile (CPP)
The Comprehensive Personality Profile consists of 88 true or false questions, which take about 20 minutes to complete on average. However, it is untimed, so you can take as long as you need.
In contrast to the PCI, the CPP is designed mainly for employees who interact with customers. So, if you’re applying for a role in sales, customer service, nursing, healthcare, or telemarketing, you’ll probably take the Wonderlic Comprehensive Personality Profile. Because these employees will represent the company, it’s essential that their interpersonal skills are very strong.
Not only will this exam help your prospective employer to decide whether your values are aligned with the company’s or not, but it will also allow them to determine how you might fit onto their team. By assessing your personality traits, the CPP will evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and place you into one of four categories: driver, supporter, thinker, or motivator.
This specific personality test is based off of seven main personality traits and ten minor ones, all of which are listed below.
Seven Principle Personality Traits:
- Assertiveness
- Emotional Intensity
- Exaggeration
- Intuition
- Recognition Motivation
- Sensitivity
Ten Minor Personality Traits:
- Assertiveness
- Decisiveness
- Efficiency
- Ego Drive
- Empathy
- Independence
- Interpersonal Warmth
- Objectivity
- Stability
- Tolerance
Wonderlic Personality Test Sample Questions:
1st Question:
If my manager criticizes my work, but I disagree with his arguments, I will stand up for myself.
- True
- False
2nd Question:
If I’m making an important decision, I usually follow my gut.
- True
- False
3rd Question:
I’m strongly affected by the pain of other people.
- True
- False
Wonderlic Productivity Index (WPI)
The Wonderlic Profile Index consists of 90 questions and usually requires between 20 to 30 minutes. Designed for entry-level positions, the WPI is a simple personality test that helps employers to evaluate hirees that will be handling company equipment, merchandise, and cash without direct supervision.
Essentially, because the majority of entry-level candidates have little to no work experience, employers can use this personality test as a means by which to minimize risk.
The test is founded on the five-factor model discussed above but centers on three main attributes: conscientiousness, stability, and agreeableness.
Conscientiousness refers to the ability to set goals and work diligently toward achieving them. Conscientious workers are reliable, serious, focused, diligent, and competent.
Stability allows you to maintain a sense of calm even in stressful situations. This is an essential quality for entry-level workers who may be overwhelmed by a large workload–a long line of restless customers, a long list of data to process, etc.
Agreeableness: agreeable people tend to be generous, understanding, sweet, caring, respectful, and kind. However, someone who is too high in agreeableness might come off as naive, insecure, and meek. It’s important that employees exercise balance.
Applicants can either take the test at home online or at the office itself, and their results will be ready immediately.
The report will show five different numbers, which indicate scores for: Personal Productivity
- Personal Productivity
- Work Effort and Persistence
- Service and Support
- Counterproductive Work Behavior
- Turnover
Based on these scores, Wonderlic will generate an automatic report with relevant interview questions for your interviewer.
How Do I Prepare for a Wonderlic Personality Test?
Most people assume that preparing for a personality test is like preparing for a blood test–there’s little you can do to change the results. However, that really isn’t true. Just like you’d prepare answers for an interview or dress up nicely for family photos, you can plan ahead for a personality test. Here are some tips from our psychometric experts.
1. Be Yourself:
While it might sound cliche, it’s important that you don’t assume characteristics or qualities you don’t have. Your employers want to see a personality profile after all.
They know that different people have different strengths and weaknesses, and that’s okay.No one has only strengths. If you skew your answers to try to fit some imaginary ideal,you’ll likely just end up cutting yourself short. What you really want is a consistentprofile. While you won’t want to reveal any major shortcomings, you shouldn’t shy awayfrom answering authentically.
2. Think in Terms of Traits:
Try to jump inside the minds of the test-writers for a second. Each of these personality tests were written with certain character traits in mind. When you answer questions, focus on the character trait in question.
Remember, you’ll want your report to tell a consistent story. So, try to emphasize a few of your main qualities. For instance, maybe your highly ambitious and conscientious, but not very extroverted. On the other hand, you could be highly open, creative, and agreeable, but not very decisive. Essentially, you need to strike a balance.
3. Take our Wonderlic Prep Course:
In our Rapid Wonderlic Mastery Course, we have a bonus module devoted solely to the Wonderlic personality tests. We’ll go into depth on how to avoid common mistakes and edge out your competition. Click below to learn more about our online course.
Note: Wonderlic Inc. and other trademarks are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of the trademark holders are affiliated with Wonderlic Test Prep or this website.
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