Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ
Can I fail the Paradigm FiT In™ personality test?
There is no "Good" and "Bad" personality, no "Right" and "Wrong" answers, and you cannot fail FiT In™. If you honestly responded to the questions, if you tried to give a real picture of yourself, than you successfully completed the Paradigm FiT In™ Personality Questionnaire.
Some answers were very difficult. Does it influence accuracy?
It is normal that you found it was very difficult to select among the 4 items sometimes. It happens to everyone, that in certain blocks, you may feel that more items seem to be equally "Most valid"; or more items seem to be equally "Least valid", and this makes selection difficult. Different people have this feeling with different questions. If you followed your intuition, or if you gave some thoughts to the items and you tried to make your best choice according to the instructions, than you still get an accurate profile.
Why is the questionnaire so long?
FiT In™ Personality Questionnaire provides a sophisticated personality profile with assessment on 26 job related personality traits and the "big five", and it also has measures to check answer consistency. Short questionnaires cannot offer such features. Considering the breadth, depth and accuracy of the assessment, your efforts and time spent on the questionnaire is really justified!
What is the use of the FiT In™ Professional Personality Questionnaire?
The Paradigm FiT In™ Personality Questionnaire was developed for Recruitment, Succession & Career Planning, and Training. It is ideal for job-fit analysis from the viewpoint of personality, sales and for raising self-awareness and for self development.
What is personality?
Our working definition for personality as is measured with FiT In™ were influenced by the following two definitions of outstanding researchers:
Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation.
- Raymond B. Cattell
Personality is the enduring characteristics of the person that are significant for interpersonal behaviour.
- Goodstein and Lanyon
Personality matters in all stages and areas of our life, but the emphasis is different at home, at the workplace or in clinical settings. Paradigm FiT In™ has a clearly defined focus on the work related behaviour of ‘normal people’. Paradigm FiT In™ measures individual differences in the enduring characteristics of people that enables the prediction of job-related behaviour tendencies and patterns.
Can I change my personality?
Please note that our definition of personality does not include character faults such as laziness, irresponsibility, dishonesty. If you have such faults in your character, of course, you need to work on them; you can and you should change them. Personality must not be an excuse for bad performance like poor time management, outrageous communication style, careless attitude or low work quality! Our concept of personality is in the range of socially and professionally acceptable range of behaviour.
Personality is partly inborn, partly formed in childhood, and is partly developing through all our life. It is quite steady in adulthood, and significant change is strongly related to major changes in one's life and in the external environment. For example: moving to another city or country, marriage, or a new job may affect personality. Let's see one case a bit closer: leaving the parents and going to college in a big city changed a reserved, melancholic young man into an outgoing and cheerful person in just one year. How did it happen? In that year, our young man received lots of stimulation, met new friends and new role models, learned many new ideas, had to think and make decisions for himself, fell in love and had a lot's of fun. From this case you can see how many factors it can take to see a significant change!
As people get older and more mature, their personality is harder to change. The change takes a long time and a lot of energy, and it is seldom radical. Our advice is to build on your personality instead of trying to change it - what you perceive as weakness, may be your unique strength! Choose a lifestyle and career that suits your personality, and allows you to use your natural strengths.
Behavioural flexibility is different from changing your personality, because it is about changing your behaviour in some limited situations. It is a result of analysing the specific situation, and making a conscious decision. Behavioural flexibility is based on self awareness; it requires to know your natural strengths and preferences; it allows yourself to act in your comfort zone most of the time, but when it is important, and you decide so, you stretch yourself, and you act according to what the situation requires, instead of following your habitual behaviour mode in that specific case. Behavioural flexibility is a realistic goal and a useful method!
