Hi, I'm David, JobTestPrep's expert for the Hogan Personality Inventory exams. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at: askdavid@jobtestprep.com
What Is the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)?
The HPI or Hogan Personality Inventory is one of the Hogan Assessments, used by employers to determine whether you possess the necessary traits to fit the vacant role and the company’s culture and standards. The HPI measures your normal or “bright side” personality traits based on the Five-Factor Model of Personality. The HPI contains 220 questions rated on a 4-point scale. It is administered online and usually takes 15-20 minutes to complete.
Get a quick overview on how to pass the Hogan personality inventory test:
The Hogan Personality Test Tips You Must Know
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It’s all about how you behave at work
The sole purpose of the Hogan personality questions is to assess how you would behave at work. This means that when reading HPI questions, even if you’re asked about your “usual” behavior, always imagine yourself in the context of work and answer accordingly.
Let’s try an example:
‘Sometimes I find it hard to motivate myself’
How would you answer?First, consider the following phrasing:
‘sometimes I find it hard to motivate myself at work’.
Did you answer differently this time?It’s common to struggle motivating yourself in certain situations, like when you’re getting up in the morning or when you have some home chores. However, answering ‘agree/strongly agree’ here would indicate specifically that you struggle to motivate yourself at work.
- Focus on the position you’re applying for
As mentioned, the HPI questions assess whether your personality fits your position. Since each position has different qualities that would make employees great at that job, you want to consider the job requirements and express your best self FOR THE POSITION.
Try answering this example:
‘I’m always the dominant person in the group and enjoy taking the lead’
What does your answer mean?Answering ‘agree/strongly agree’ here would indicate you’re highly dominant. This could be great for positions that require taking initiative and leading like management positions. However, it is not ideal for a customer success position that requires working in a team and being more attentive.
- Balance your answers
You’re expected to score low/high on several traits, depending on your position, but not too low or high. This means you should watch out for extreme scores yet get a high/low score that fits the role’s expected competencies. Balancing your answers is a delicate skill that requires practice.
Try the following example:
‘I’ve never lied to someone I know”How would you answer this question?First, pay attention to extreme or definitive words, like “always” or “never”.
A helpful rule is- when an extreme word appears, don’t choose an extreme answer (strongly agree/disagree).
Also, you might be tempted to answer “agree” to make a good impression. Since most humans have lied sometime in their lives, and you’re a human, answering 'agree' would come across as unreliable.
Let’s try another example question:
‘Sometimes I feel like cursing’How would you answer this time?Here, since the question doesn’t contain an extreme word, try to choose an extreme response.
have you chosen “agree”?
If so, well done! You’re a quick learner.
If not, it is perfectly normal since it takes some practice to get the idea.You can learn more about how to answer HPI questions to get a balanced personality profile on our full HPI study guide.
Following these tips is not that easy. It requires some practice to get to know all the tricky items on the exam and how to handle those. To help you figure this out, we provide plenty more HPI practice tests, answer explanations, and tips on our Full PrepPack.
Can you prepare for the Hogan Personality Assessment?
As you can see, the HPI test is not an intuitive task. A Hogan-specific prep course could help you uncover what’s expected of you, which of your qualities make you a great candidate, and how to make sure you express them on the real test. For this purpose, our team of experts has worked tirelessly to develop an extensive PrepPack:
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Take an online Hogan Personality Inventory Practice Test
Our HPI PrepPack includes a full-length Hogan personality inventory practice test with 254 HPI+HDS style questions. After completing it, you’ll get in-depth score reports that pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses. -
Gain insight into what HPI questions mean and how to answer them
Uncover the expected traits for your position and get all the important guidelines to answer questions in a way that shows your strengths for the role. -
Practice single trait tests
Get additional practice on specific trait scales you might struggle with and be fully prepared for any kind of tricky question thrown at you.
Note: The Hogan personality Inventory practice test contains questions suitable for both the Hogan personality inventory and development survey (HDS) formats, as well as guidelines for the HDS test. Therefore, even though we currently do not offer a separate preparation for the HDS, our Hogan Personality Assessment PrepPack provides partial coverage of the HDS as well.
Want a quick look at our Hogan Personality Test preparation?
Free Hogan Personality Inventory Questions
The Hogan personality inventory test has 220 questions that are administered online with no time limit. These may not seem difficult at first sight, but answering in a way that expresses your strengths can be quite challenging.
Take a look at these free Hogan HPI sample questions, taken from our PrepPack:
The right answer for these questions may seem straightforward. For example, you may have answered “strongly agree” on the second question, because in many situations you do tend to take charge and make things happen. That’s a great quality, that may also cause difficulties in certain situations. It all depends on the position you’re applying for.
Therefore, you may want to first consider, is this answer right for me in the context of this job? does it fit its requirements?
So, what does your answer say about you?
Hogan Personality Inventory Results
The Hogan Personality Inventory questionnaire assesses your typical characteristics, to predict how you would interact and perform at work. Each question on the Hogan HPI test measures a particular personality trait, adding up to seven main traits:
Each scale is composed of several subscales. You can read more about all the Hogan HPI subscales and corresponding questions on our Full Hogan Personality Test Preparation.
Hogan HPI Sample Report
The Hogan personality inventory results are given to employers as percentile scores, indicating where you stand on a certain trait scale compared to others. Every score reflects distinct strengths and shortcomings, so that high scores are not necessarily better.
This is how the HPI report would look like:
What HPI score is considered good?
Since the ideal score for each personality trait differs from role to role, the answer depends on the position you’re applying for and the employer’s expectations.
Answering ‘strongly agree’ on ‘I feel in charge to make things happen’ would indicate you tend to be highly dominant. It would also indicate that you may have difficulties letting someone else lead and working in a team.
So, scoring high on Ambition may be great for executive positions, as it means you would be driven, energetic, self-confident, and competitive. However, it may predict poor performance if you’re applying for a customer service role, since the latter requires more sympathy and the ability to follow orders and cooperate in a team.
Related Links
| Hogan HBRI |
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