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
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.
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.
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.
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”
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’
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.
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:
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?
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.
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?
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.
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.
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