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Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

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Re: Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

#71

Post by [deleted] »

biomcgary wrote: post #47
Waterluvian wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better yet, you should scan the shape of each candidate’s skull and use that as a metric to aid in decisionmaking.

A stethoscope in the hands of a doctor is a useful, if limited, tool. Don't judge its value if you have never seen one except in the hands of the village idiot. (One could say the same about various programming languages.) If measuring skull shape during the interview process was a) socially acceptable and b) actually predictive of outcomes, why not? The problem is that it is neither. The reason that it is not a) is…

[deleted]

Re: Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

#72

Post by JohnFen »

themodelplumber wrote: post #2

> And that’s it—there’s simply very little data on how well the Myers-Briggs (and other type-based personality tests) measures personality and even less on how it might predict job performance. I was surprised there wasn't any mention of a very interesting issue here, i.e. MBTI and other typological instruments come with user manuals, training, etc., and those materials specifically say "do not use this for hiring".…

> if you are concerned your employer is going to misuse your MBTI type somehow

A potential employer will never know what my MBTI type is, so they can't misuse it.

Re: Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

#73

Post by Barrin92 »

throwaway0asd wrote: post #67
Barrin92 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It doesn't work and is junk science, but at least it doesn't work for everyone equally" is an interesting methodology. I'd rather take the intuition of some interviewer because at least that's based on something real. I mean if objectivity is the only criterion you simply may want to roll a set of dice for the applicants because those are cheaper than Myers-Briggs consultants. the attitude of replacing useful human…

> I'd rather take the intuition of some interviewer because at least that's based on something real. That something real is called discrimination .

Discrimination is the entire point of the hiring process. Why else are you sorting people into Myers-Briggs categories? Are you sending nobody home? What we're arguing about isn't whether you're discriminating but what tool you're using to discriminate. Is craniometry not discriminatory just because it's objective?

the relevant question is whether astrology for nerds is better than human judgement just because the former is perceived as impersonal.

Re: Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

#74

Post by tyingq »

ErikVandeWater wrote: post #57
compiler-guy wrote: post #3

I appreciate it when a company asks about or tests my Myers-Briggs type early in the hiring process, because then I know that I don't want to work for them, and they wouldn't be happy with me either. Win/win.

MBTI isn't scientific, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful. If someone says a particular type fits them well, that helps you understand them quickly. And if they say the type they get doesn't describe them, then you don't need to use that information.

I remain skeptical. One example:

"McCarley and Carskadon (1983) replicated these findings and demonstrated that across a 5-week test-retest interval, 50% of the participants received a different classification on one or more of the scales."

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232494957_Cautionar...

Re: Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

#75

Post by Karunamon »

IWillForgetThis wrote: post #40

I was asked to take the StrengthsFinder test (imo kind of similar to Myers-Briggs) after being hired on at my current employer. The results basically said my strengths are ADHD, but in a really positive way. Nobody ever followed up with me on it or mentioned it again. Honestly it was pretty accurate. The job is extremely laid back, no hard deadlines, no emergencies, etc. It's been a huge challenge to maintain a simil…

This sounds so similar to my experience at a prior employer that I have to hazard a guess. Does this company, by chance, have (or had at least, prior to the pandemic) an elaborate on boarding ceremony?

Re: Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

#77

Post by themodelplumber »

__derek__ wrote: post #64

A previous company used Real Colors, an MBTI knock-off, and it was striking how attached people got to those results. People openly stereotyped whole groups of people because they appeared to cluster in one sector (e.g., SDEs must be Green). They disregarded all counter-examples because they conflicted with these biases. It was weird.

Do you mean True Colors?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Colors_(personality)

My impression from some brief training was that it's based on temperament theory and not a knock off of MBTI.

Re: Why companies are interested in Myers-Briggs types

#78

Post by ncmncm »

People are always imagining they have "debunked" Myers-Briggs. All they demonstrate is that they didn't understand what it's for.

What it's good for is to help you understand how people who think differently than you do are often not wrong. Other people are super great at things you can't hardly do at all, for reasons. Putting people good at X doing Y instead is a formula for dissatisfaction for those putting and those put. People naturally try to sort themselves into work that they are good at, where how they think works best.

Great actors, pilots, artists, surgeons, musicians and engineers would mostly do one another's jobs very, very badly.

That is not to say there aren't hucksters peddling it for what it is useless for, but that is on the hucksters and their pigeons.

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