Generally companies use personality testing as an indicator of how fit you

are for the job you are applying for. I know at the company I currently work at
we had to take a personality test from the Gallop strength center team called
Strength Finders. This test lists your top 5 strengths and helps you better
understand how those skills can be translated into your current job role.
Companies just seem to want to ensure that they are hiring the right person
for the right job at the right time.
According to the article Zappos hires based off the notion that they will only
hire someone if they are weird and lucky. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh states
that Even if they're a superstarif they're not living up to those core values
then we will fire them just for that reason (Wei, 2010). Hsieh wants to build
his staff based off the ten core values that it took him a little over a year to
create. He says that by weird he only means that he is embracing peoples
individuality and celebrating the fact that people are different. In the
textbook it discusses the Big Five, which is the general consensus by
psychologist of five dimensions that describe human personality. The Big Five
model of personality helps in outlining the factors of an individuals
personality. However it does not actually prove the ability of the individual to
actually be precise at doing their job (Ivancevich, 2014).
The Big Five personality dimensions are: extroversion, emotional stability,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience.
Understanding individual differences is crucial to helping decide if the
behavior of that individual will be in direct correlation with the job task they
have applied for. So to Hsiehs point in the interview, by basing his hiring
practices off his core values and the individuals personality, he now has
created a culture at Zappos that he can be proud of.
Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R., & Matteson, M. (2016). Organizational Behavior
& Management (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Wei, W. (2010, October 25). Zappos Only Hires People Who Are Weird And
Lucky In Life. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from
http://www.businessinsider.com/tony-hsieh-zappos-company-culture-2010-10