4 Reasons to Ditch the MBTI in Hiring
There are many aspects of human behavior that puzzle psychologists. One such aspect is how widely used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is in hiring. Decades of psychological research show that it is a poorly designed instrument that shows no particular ability to identify the right candidate for any job.
The History of the MBTI
The MBTI is arguably the most popular personality test in the world. Over 500 million people have taken it, and it brings in $20 million annually for The Myers-Briggs Company. In 1943, Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers, developed this assessment after reading Personality Types by then-esteemed psychotherapist Carl Jung. Despite having no background in psychology, they set out to create a test to sort people into the eight personality types Jung had proposed.
Tweaking Jung’s work, they devised a test that sorted people into sixteen personality types (which at some point picked up nicknames like “the Leader” or “the Diplomat”). Over the next few decades, Isabel became a tireless advocate for her test. She finally succeeded in selling it to the Educational Testing Service (ETS). When the ETS found no use for the test, Isabel arranged a sale to the Consulting Psychology Press. They then began selling the test in 1975 under the name The Myers-Briggs Company. The MBTI rapidly gained use in corporate hiring and career counseling and continues to this day.
The Concerns About Using the MBTI in Hiring
Despite its popularity, the MBTI personality test has a range of problems in hiring:
Experts have largely discredited the work of Carl Jung. Jung, like his mentor turned nemesis, Sigmund Freud, had occasional insight into human psychology. However, in the modern era of quantitative research, his far-fetched notions of dream analysis and a “collective unconscious” are mostly appreciated by the astrology and “healing crystals” crowd.
The MBTI fails basic principles of psychological assessments. Two critical features psychologists look for in meaningful assessments are reliability and validity. Does the assessment give the same person the same result (reliability), and do they tell you anything actually useful (validity)? The MBTI flunks both of these tests.
Research has found that as many as 50% of the people who retake the MBTI personality test a month later receive a different personality type. The MBTI scoring system divides people into strict bipolar categories (e.g., either a “Thinker” or a “Feeler”). That may create a simplified system that claims to assign ALL people to one of 16 “personality types,” but forces the complexity of human personality into these strict “types”. Inevitably, people at the boundaries of these strict “types” will not reliably answer questions exactly the same way, seemingly changing their “type”.
The most concerning, however, is its validity as a work-relevant assessment for talent management. Research has found no link between the MBTI personality test and either workplace performance or job fit. The Myers-Briggs Company doesn’t deny this – it’s on their website.
“The MBTI assessment is designed to be descriptive, not predictive. Organizations that wrongly use the MBTI assessment for hiring decisions are confusing preference with skill. They are doing themselves a disservice in their hiring process by screening out potentially qualified applicants.”
A Better Way Than Using the MBTI in Hiring
This isn’t to say personality assessments aren’t useful. Psychologists came up with better personality tests decades ago, which do predict workplace success. The fields of Personnel Psychology and talent management have come a long way since Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers dabbled in “personality types.”
Cangrade’s own pre-hire assessment incorporates the latest psychological research and data-driven AI to identify candidates with the skillset for your position and the personality to excel. Read all about the science behind this powerful tool.