Why you shouldn’t use DISC assessments when recruiting  
                    by Ray King, Managing Director of Coensus 
                                
        Most organisations are aware of the benefits offered by assessing the personality of their employees, 
        either as a development tool or as part of the process that recruits them, with DISC perhaps the most 
        recognised.  
         
        The DISC assessment is an effective personal assessment tool and was created to help determine an 
        individual’s personality type. The name is an acronym representing the four personality traits 
        assessed in the test: Dominance; Influence; Steadiness and Conscientiousness.  
         
        Whilst it can be a useful tool for discovering a person’s personality type, with numerous potential uses 
        in the workplace, DISC assessments should not be used in the pre-employment phase of the 
        recruiting process.  
         
        Employers may gain an interesting insight, but what will it tell them about the candidate’s suitability 
        for the role that needs to be filled? Will it bring any value to the process? 
         
        The dangers of using DISC in recruiting  
         
        Even the creators of DISC are quick to point out its shortcomings when it comes to using it as pre-
        employment tool with their website citing:   
         
        “DISC is not recommended for pre-employment screening because it does not measure a specific 
        skill, aptitude or factor specific to any position. Personality assessments should only be one of many 
        factors considered in the employment decision. 
         
        “DISC is not a predictive assessment so assumptions should not be made regarding an applicant's 
        probability of success based solely on their style. We recommend using a pre-hire assessment 
        validated for selection.” 
         
        The DISC assessment is ipsative in approach and does not compare the individual to the general 
        population. It may indicate the individual falls strongly into the dominance category, but how 
        dominant their personality is in comparison to others on any kind of spectrum remains a mystery. 
         
        Although the personality is plainly categorised, how that individual compares to a benchmark 
        personality previously assessed as perfect for the given position, is not measured. 
         
        It is this lack of comparison and ability to place the individual on a spectrum of results that ensures 
        there are better assessment options for use in the recruitment process. 
         
        For example, if the job role requires a highly ‘steady’ individual and somebody undertakes the DISC 
        assessment, then it may well show them to have a steady personality. But this result doesn’t identify 
        what specific traits they do or don’t have in relation to steadiness. 
         
        A steady person could take a pre-recruitment assessment, designed solely for the purpose, and be 
        shown to be 90% relaxed and 60% co-operative. However, the company may need a more co-
        operative and less relaxed person in the office than these numbers show.  
         
        Pre-employment assessment alternatives to DISC 
         
        Despite its market leading status, there are different personality-assessment models beyond DISC 
        that offer dramatic benefits when used appropriately in the recruiting process. 
         
        Pre-employment assessments, particularly those with a proven psychometric approach, allows the 
        organisation to view the ideal personality traits for a wide range of job roles. Thus, allowing for 
        comparisons to be made compare to an individual’s results to those of the best-fit for a role, with the 
        better assessments determining their suitability with easily compared percentage scores. 
         
        Rather assessments should be based on the Five-Factor Model. Designed with recruiting in mind, the 
        assessment allows companies to customise benchmarks needed for each role in the organisation. 
         
        This provides the opportunity to decide for which traits are valuable based on successful team 
        members and what percentage each trait is preferred on a customised benchmark, ensuring the 
        individual best fitted for the specific role is identified.