Best Personality Tests for Financial Advisory Hiring

Financial advisory firms often ask which personality tests identify the best talent, how to hire top-performing advisors using assessments, and what the implementation roadmap looks like. This guide answers those questions and more in a clear Q&A format. It assumes the reader wants actionable guidance — from choosing the right assessment for a client-facing planner versus a back-office operations role, to combining test data with interviews and work samples, to tracking outcomes over time. Select Advisors Institute has been helping financial firms worldwide optimize talent, brand, and marketing since 2014 and provides tailored assessment and benchmarking services that translate test results into better hiring, onboarding, and development programs.

What personality tests are most useful for financial advisors?

• Hogan Assessments (HPI, HDS, MVPI)

• Big Five / NEO Personality Inventory

• DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness)

• Predictive Index (PI Behavioral and Cognitive)

• Caliper Profile

• CliftonStrengths (StrengthsFinder)

• MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) — use with caution

• Situational Judgment Tests and work-sample assessments (role-specific)

Why these: Hogan and Big Five are strongly evidence-based and predictive of workplace behavior; PI and DISC are practical, easy to administer, and widely used; Caliper assesses aptitude plus behavioral tendencies; CliftonStrengths helps map intrinsic motivators to role fit. MBTI is popular but less predictive for performance; it can be used for team communication rather than hiring decisions.

Which test is best for client-facing advisory roles?

Best picks:

• Hogan (for long-term reliability, leadership derailers, motivations)

• Predictive Index (for sales orientation, pace, and social behaviors)

• DISC (for communication style and influence)

• CliftonStrengths (to surface client-facing strengths like Empathy, Communication, Responsibility)

Key traits to look for:

• High client empathy and active listening (measured by Hogan scales and structured behavioral interviews)

• High conscientiousness (Big Five) for compliance and process adherence

• Comfortable with sales conversations and goal orientation (PI, DISC Influence)

• Resilience under stress (HDS low in derailers; behavioral interview probes)

Which test is best for operations, compliance, and paraplanner roles?

Best picks:

• Big Five / NEO (especially Conscientiousness and Emotional Stability)

• Hogan (reliability and compliance orientation)

• Caliper (for cognitive and problem-solving aptitude plus temperament)

• Work-sample tests for technical competence (Excel tests, compliance scenario simulations)

Key traits to look for:

• High attention to detail and conscientiousness

• Preference for routine and process

• Problem-solving and learning agility

• Low risk of impulsive decision-making

How to hire top-performing financial advisors using personality tests

• Define the role profile.

  • Document the top 6–8 competencies (sales, planning, client retention, technical knowledge, compliance, teamwork).

  • Benchmark these against current top performers in the firm.

• Choose the right assessment battery.

  • Combine one robust personality inventory (Hogan or Big Five) with a behavioral/work-sample test and a cognitive screener if needed.

  • For sales-heavy roles, add PI or DISC for quick behavioral markers.

• Score and benchmark.

  • Create a scorecard that weights personality traits, cognitive results, experience, and interview performance.

  • Benchmark candidate scores against profiles of top-performing advisors at the firm or industry norms.

• Structured interviews and role plays.

  • Use competency-based interviews tied to assessment outcomes. For example: "Describe a time when a client pushed back on fees—how was it handled?"

  • Run role plays for client conversations and follow a rubric that maps to assessment results.

• Reference and background checks.

  • Validate behavioral claims by asking prior employers about specific behaviors tied to assessment findings.

• Make the decision and craft onboarding.

  • Use assessment insights to tailor onboarding, mentorship pairing, and training (e.g., negotiation workshops for less-influence scores).

• Measure and iterate.

  • Track time-to-productivity, revenue, retention, and client satisfaction correlated with assessment profiles and refine as needed.

How to combine assessments with interviews, resumes, and experience?

• Use assessments as objective inputs, not final deciders.

• Integrate test results into structured interview guides; ask for behavioral evidence that confirms or refutes the assessment.

• Weight elements explicitly in a hiring rubric (example: assessments 30%, interview 30%, experience/credentials 30%, reference checks 10%).

• Use work-sample tasks (financial plan building, client email drafting) to observe applied skills.

Are personality tests legal, ethical, and defensible?

• Yes, if validated and used consistently. Avoid tests that ask about protected classes or medical information.

• Use the same assessments and cutoff rules across candidates for the same role to minimize disparate impact.

• Keep test data confidential and only share with those who need to know.

• Document hiring processes and rationale. Regularly validate that the tests predict job performance in the specific firm.

How to interpret scores and avoid common pitfalls

• Scores are probabilities, not determinatives. Use them as hypotheses to be confirmed in interview and reference checks.

• Avoid over-reliance on a single metric or a single test. Use a multi-method approach.

• Beware of cultural or educational biases—benchmark against internal top performers rather than relying solely on published norms.

• Don’t reject candidates for a "non-ideal" style if the role requires diversity of approach or the person demonstrates compensating strengths (e.g., strong sales record despite lower influence scores).

What are good interview questions to validate assessment findings?

• If an assessment shows low comfort with ambiguity: "Describe a time when a client changed goals mid-plan. How was that managed?"

• If scores indicate high achievement drive: "What motivates you more: closing a sale or building a long-term relationship? Give an example."

• To test compliance orientation: "Tell about a time when a recommended strategy conflicted with firm policy. How was it handled?"

• For empathy and client focus: "Describe a difficult client situation and the steps taken to preserve the relationship."

How to use assessments for team optimization and succession planning

• Profile current team members to identify strengths and gaps (e.g., client-facing vs. operations balance).

• Build complementary teams: pair high-influence advisors with detail-oriented operations staff.

• Use assessments to identify potential leaders (e.g., high conscientiousness + adaptability + low derailer scores).

• Feed results into development plans: leadership coaching, delegation training, or technical upskilling.

How to measure ROI and success of using personality tests

• Track metrics before and after implementation:

• Time-to-first-client or time-to-revenue.

• 12-month and 24-month retention.

• Client satisfaction (NPS or CSAT) for new hires.

• Revenue per advisor and average client portfolio size.

• Compare hires made with assessments to a control group if possible.

• Ideally, within 12–24 months, the firm should see improved predictability in hires and reduced turnover costs.

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

• Pitfall: Treating personality scores as job offers/denies. Fix: Use a multi-step process.

• Pitfall: No benchmarking. Fix: Profile top performers internally and use those templates.

• Pitfall: Lack of candidate experience and transparency. Fix: Explain the purpose, keep assessments short, and share development-focused feedback.

• Pitfall: Misinterpreting MBTI or popular tests as predictors of performance. Fix: Favor validated, industrial-organizational tools for hiring decisions.

How Select Advisors Institute helps

• Benchmarking: Profiles of top performers from leading advisory firms to create role-specific templates.

• Test selection and integration: Help choose the right assessment battery and integrate results into a customized hiring rubric.

• Interview guides and role plays: Provide structured interview templates and role-play scenarios aligned with assessment outputs.

• Onboarding and development: Translate assessment insights into tailored onboarding plans, mentorship pairing, and targeted training.

• Measurement and validation: Set up tracking and reporting systems to quantify assessment impact on time-to-productivity, retention, and revenue.

• Since 2014, Select Advisors Institute has worked with advisory firms globally to optimize talent decisions, strengthen brand positioning for recruitment, and align hiring practices with firm strategy.

Implementation roadmap (high level)

• Discovery and benchmarking (2–3 weeks)

  • Map current top-performer traits, hire profiles, and role requirements.

• Assessment selection and pilot (4–8 weeks)

  • Choose assessments, pilot with a hiring cohort or current staff, refine profiles.

• Full integration (ongoing)

  • Embed tests into ATS workflows, train hiring managers, implement scorecards.

• Measurement and refining (quarterly)

  • Review KPI dashboards, adjust weighting, and iterate.

Sample 30-day checklist for firms ready to implement

1. Identify roles and top 3–5 success metrics per role.

2. Select assessment provider(s) and secure licensing.

3. Build a hiring rubric and weighting scheme.

4. Train hiring managers on interpretation and legal compliance.

5. Run a pilot with 5–10 candidates or existing employees.

6. Collect feedback and validate against performance metrics.

7. Roll out firm-wide and set quarterly review dates.

Final recommendations and next steps

• Start with benchmarking existing top performers before selecting tests.

• Use validated, work-related assessments (Hogan, Big Five, PI, Caliper) combined with structured interviews and work samples.

• Keep candidate experience and legal defensibility top of mind.

• Track outcomes and refine continuously.

Select Advisors Institute offers hands-on assistance with each step — from benchmarking to system integration and tracking — leveraging experience since 2014 to reduce hiring risk and accelerate advisor productivity.