I encounter an expectation quite often. Someone has brought me in to help with a recruitment, we are in the assessment phase, and the manager across from me leans back and says: "But what does the profile say?"
As if the answer would be right there. In black and white.
I understand why. It would be convenient. Decisions about people are hard – they are loaded, they are expensive to get wrong, and they carry consequences well beyond the job interview. Of course you want something to hold on to.
But that is not quite how it works. And pretending otherwise would be doing you a disservice.
What we are actually talking about
HEXACO and Big Five are not constructs someone invented. They are research-based models of personality dimensions – developed over decades of psychological research and repeatedly validated across different cultures and contexts. They measure fundamental patterns in how a person tends to function: how they handle relationships, uncertainty, rules, change, and stress.
That is real. It adds something. But it is a basis for further exploration – not a verdict.
A profile can show that someone has high stress tolerance. It cannot show how that person handled the specific crisis your company went through three years ago, or how they react when your CFO overrules them in a leadership meeting. Context is everything. And context does not fit in a form.
What the tool actually does – when used correctly
What I genuinely get from a psychometric tool is clarity. The structure helps me see patterns I might otherwise miss in a conversation. It shows where there might be tension – between how a person naturally functions and what the role actually demands day in and day out. It gives me better questions to bring into the next conversation.
That is not nothing. It is actually quite a lot. But it requires knowing what you are looking at – and what you cannot read from it.
That is precisely where experience matters. I have sat in enough assessment feedback conversations to know that a profile that looks "perfect" sometimes belongs to someone who is not a fit at all – and that a profile with tensions sometimes belongs to exactly the person the company needs. The tools are an instrument. The judgment is mine.
Why I am careful about how I talk about this
Psychometrics is sometimes used as a shortcut. Someone buys a tool, runs it without training, and then makes decisions based on a report they lack the competence to interpret. That is not good for the candidate. It is not good for the company. And it undermines confidence in a methodology that genuinely adds value when used correctly.
I am certified for a reason. Not to have a title – but because doing this in a way that actually helps requires knowledge.
The best people decisions are made when a structured process, well-founded tools, and trained human judgment work together. None of the three is sufficient on its own. All three together – that is when it truly makes a difference.
If you have thoughts, questions, or simply want to talk something through – feel free to get in touch. I am happy to have an initial conversation with no agenda.
Magdalena Hagström Ståhl
By M Consulting
Right person. Right place. Everything changes.