The stated idea of profiling someone's personality is to give an insight into their natural preferences and typical styles in dealing with situations and tasks, typically in a business environment.

Employers use the technique to provide insights into potential employees as part of the interviewing process. There is a general mistrust of this, as employees assume too much emphasis will be placed on the results, but in practice this is unlikely.

It is also used by career counsellors when helping people determine the type of working environment they are likely to be best suited to temperamentally.

All the various techniques (and there are many) are based on research and statistical analysis, some more extensive than others. The questions sometimes appear strange and can be repeated with differing emphasis. The answers given provide a rating against (typically) 5 to 25 categories. The interpreter of the results, the Assessor, usually needs some specialist training to get the best out of the techniques.

The most thorough profiling techniques have a built-in 'consistency' indicator, which can pick up on, not just inconsistent answers, but attempts to skew the results in some way. I do not know or understand how this is achieved, but it does (in my experience) seem to work !

These so-called psychometric tests need not be feared. If the questions are answered as directed and are answered truthfully, the results will be a fair and reasonable reflection of your personality profile. You should not worry about an employer placing too much emphasis on them, as most don't. For those that do, you probably would be better off not working for them anyway !

I have recently had the pleasure of being profiled twice (October 2000 and January 2001) using the '16PF5' technique. I can report that the results fed back to me were an accurate representation of my personality profile (in fact, some parts I found quite flattering !).

Below are some questions typical of the 90 or so that are posed. The 'test' is untimed and can usually be completed in about 45 minutes. I have also included the actual feedback results from my most recent profile, to give an idea of what the results can be like, and for those who think they know me !

(For copyright reasons, the following are not exactly the way they appear in the 16PF5 Profiler)

Example questions:-

1. If you could start your life again, would you:

2. If you are going to catch a bus, train or plane and are in plenty of time, do you still feel anxious?

3. Do you enjoy routine, constructive work when using an effective machine or piece of apparatus?

(Though there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers, it is important to only use 'b. ?' if you are equally likely to chose the two alternatives)

There are also a few problem-solving questions at the end like:

1. Temperature is the thermometer as distance is to:

(... for which there is only one right answer)

The results are classified in four groups:

There are between two and seven categories in each group, and the rating is one of:

when compared to the body of research supporting the technique (usually taken as being broadly representative of people in a western cultural setting).

The profile results for Nikki Driscoll are:-

1. The way you relate to others

2. Your style of thinking

3. How consistently you perform

4. Your emotions and self-image

So there you have it ! My favourites are 'not feeling bound by rules and regulations' and 'more open than most to new experiences and change'. Yep, that's me !!