What is the Occupational Personality Questionnaire?
The SHL Occupational Personality Questionnaire - OPQ32r or OPQ - is a widely used way of measuring workplace behavioural style. It considers personality relative to team working, a particular work environment, and particular job requirements. OPQ's clear framework can help HR professionals and managers understand how personality affects job performance and empower them to make efficient and well-informed decisions.
The OPQ personality assessment describes 32 crucial components of an individual's preferred behavioural style at work. These are grouped into three key domains: Relationships with People; Thinking Styles and Feelings and Emotions.
The reports are clear, targeted and in-depth, with potential strengths and areas for development identified. They can be used by trained HR personnel or by line managers. Comparison groups are also available, which enable specific role, level, industry, and cultural group comparisons.
How could the Occupational Personality Questionnaire be applied?
The OPQ can be used both for personal development and recruitment; it helps make sure the correct decisions are made, which has further benefits such as lower staff turnover, greater staff satisfaction, maximising of development investment and higher performance.
Whilst often applied in a recruitment context, the OPQ is also a popular choice for identifying training and development investment for existing staff - with application ranging from team building to succession planning to organisational change. Popular reports include: The Manager Plus Report; The Candidate Plus Report; The Universal Competency Report; The Sales Report; The Team Development Report, and The Leadership Report.
How is the OPQ test taken?
The OPQ can be taken online or with paper and pen. Improvements of the latest OPQ32r model include a clearer questionnaire format, which broadens is potential usage across more educational levels, and a shorter testing time using item response theory - the majority of candidates complete the questionnaire within 30 minutes.
Who is OPQ developed by?
The OPQ is developed by SHL, who have conducted over 90 independent validation studies over the past 25 years, in 20 countries and across 40 industries.
LCP can provide 360-degree feedback and psychometric testing as part of our leadership training, business coaching and learning and development consultancy services. Don't hesitate to call 01274 590232 or email enquiries@lcp.org.uk for more information.
● Measure crucial aspects of behaviour for job performance, that may otherwise be difficult to identify e.g. reading CVs or interviewing
● Improve hiring decisions, leading to higher performance
● Make better assessment of job and team fit, lowering staff turnover
● Save both time and money in recruitment by identifying the best candidates earlier
● Choose targeted output reports from over 30 languages