Personality test for business school students
The online report of soft-skills assessment Reflect by GMAC displays the analysis of the test taker’ scores on 10 different competencies and tips on how to improve on them. / Courtesy of GMAC
By Kim Da-ye
It’s every employer’s dream to know exactly who they are really hiring. To make the complex job easier, nearly all large Korean conglomerates have developed a personality assessment, in which job applicants have to say yes or no to hundreds of statements, unconsciously revealing their true color.
“Reflect,” launched in February by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), is a new personality assessment for business school students. The GMAC is the very body that created and administers the GMAT, a standardized test required for admissions into many business schools, but Reflect is nothing like the GMAT.
It is an assessment of soft skills, not the hard ones like mathematics. And it is, in a way, merciful — it’s not the means to filter out weak ones but the tool to help users understand their weaknesses as a potential business leader and improve on them.
This reporter was given an opportunity to test a full Reflect assessment which can be taken anytime, anywhere on your computer for $99. In around 45 minutes, I had to decide whether hundreds of statements about myself was true or false. The first two sections of the assessment are nearly identical, and in the third part, I was given one more option to choose “undecided.”
Most of the statements are predictable while some are quirky. The test asked me if I would like to be a scuba diver; if I was good in math at school; if I enjoy being the center of attention; if I am sensitive toward others’ feeling; and if I am openly critical of others.
Because the test results were purely for myself to find out who I am, I was honest with each answer while trying to answer quickly as instructed. The test has some statements repeated over and over again apparently in attempt to filter out insincere answers.
After evaluating more than 500 statements, I got a report on 10 competencies that GMAC identified as soft skills that are “essential to job and career success.” They are innovation, operational thinking, decision making, strategic vision, strategic self-awareness, resilience, drive, interpersonal intuition, valuing others and collaboration.
Each competency carries a score that ranges between one to 10. An email that arrived once the report was ready said, “ultimately, higher scores indicate greater potential.” Clicking at each competency, I got the explanation on what my score means and the feedback.
Interestingly, low scores doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to make a bad manager while attributes associated with high scores aren’t always favorable. Take the case of “resilience” — the low scores of one to three indicates that the person has a strong sense of urgency and tends to get things done and does not procrastinate. The high scores between eight and 10 implies that the person has “a positive outlook that could be misinterpreted as nonchalance or lack or urgency.”
Each competency has links to various study materials, summaries of business and self-help books and videos that help you hone your soft skill. The report and the library are accessible for three years.
The report summary is particularly useful. It analyzed me on my decision making style, leadership, approach to day-to-day tasks and communication skills.
The evaluation on how I interact with others is almost terrifyingly correct. I am a typical straight talking journalist, and the report says, “Your direct communication style is effective when tough feedback needs to be delivered; however, you may unintentionally hurt others’ feelings if you don’t watch your tone of voice.”
I didn’t immediately agree with certain parts of the summary, but a note says that it may not mirror how I think about myself but it may be how others see me.
Furthermore, the report includes advice on actions test-takers should start, stop or keep. This reporter, for instance, was told to “start” accepting challenges that are outside my comfort zone, “stop” ignoring negative feedback from others and “keep” asking for others’ opinions to understand different points of view.
The personality assessment is nothing new, but the true beauty of Reflect is that it intends to help students and professionals understand themselves and improve their soft skills for careers in business.
One advice for future test-takers is to do it in a calm state of mind and with clear head for accurate results. That’s same as emptying your stomach before a health check-up. I was surprised by some dramatic results that I couldn’t agree with, and thinking back, I believe my mood at the time of taking Reflect significantly influenced the results.
To build Reflect, GMAC partnered with personality assessment developer Hogan Assessment Systems that has worked for more than 25 years with corporations around the world including over half of the Fortune 100 companies.
“Although there are many reputable personality assessments in the market, Reflect — written in the language of business — is the only interactive tool that provides a personalized action plan, library of resources and benchmarking data from 14 job functions. Reflect not only provides a snapshot of who your students are, but gives insight into how they need to position themselves for where they want to go,” said Ashish Bhardwaj, the vice-president of GMAC Asia Pacific.