Birkman Personality Test 2023: Format, Tips & How Best To Prepare

The Birkman test is one of the most used assessment tests by companies looking for new employees that are suitable for the position. However, the test can be used for personal purposes.

They build the Birkman personality test on an empirical personality type model. Created by Dr. Roger Birkman, a psychologist, the test has become widely known by various organizations.

The test is not a pass-or-fail assessment test; it is designed to evaluate the person taking it on levels like; expectations, needs, interests, behavior, and preference. 

Although organizations mainly use it, it can also be used individually. The test is one of the highly used personality tests.

It was mainly about Dr. Birkman’s observations about business and the military, his life events, his academic studies in psychology, and his goals to help individuals become their best versions.

For over 66 years, Birkman International has developed various refined devices to make the assessment test more valid and accurate.

The test has helped produce more positive behaviors from the individuals who have taken it at one point in their life. It also helps to detect our basic needs and what motivates us.

Dr. Roger Birkman (1919 – 2014) was an organizational psychologist whose research has positively helped the world.

Through his personality testing and organizational assessments, many companies have found suitable candidates for their company, and individuals have been able to discover themselves.

This overview aims to give insight into a Birkman personality test, the tips, and how you can prepare for this test.

What Are Birkman Personality Test And Their History?

Dr. Roger Birkman created the Birkman personality test. The test resulted from his life events, childhood experiences, and all he experienced when fighting in the second world war. During these periods, he developed an interest in understanding the personality differences in people and how they affected our day-to-day activities. 

The Birkman personality test was created in 1951 by Dr. Roger. As a psychologist, he took note of his surroundings, how to differ humans in terms of personality, and why certain people respond to things the way they do. 

His test of social comprehension (also known as the Birkman Method®) has helped thousands of companies in the world today and every individual that has taken the test. 

The test was created to assess human behaviors, motivations, and perceptions.

“The reality of life is that your perceptions–right or wrong–influence everything else you do. When you get a proper perspective of your perceptions, you may be surprised how many other things fall into place.” – Dr. Roger Birkman.

“Impressive scientific advances have been made in every field of endeavor. But nowhere seemingly is there a greater challenge to the creativity and ingenuity of man than that which personality measurement presents.” Dr. Roger Birkman.

The Birkman personality test, also known as the ultimate self-assessment, is the leading personality test often used by major companies to find fitting candidates for their companies. The test is not created to be complex or challenging; it focuses on assessing a candidate’s interests, behavior, needs, and preferences.

Birkman assessment test is an online personality, social perception, and occupational interest assessment test. It uses 11 scales to describe a candidate’s needs or expectations and the effective behaviors of the test taker.

How Does The Birkman Personality Test Work?

The Birkman personality test evaluates an individual’s interests, preferences, and behavior. The test is not created to measure your level of personal knowledge, and that is why it is not a pass-or-fail kind of test; it is a personality test used by organizations on their employees and new applicants.

Duration for the Birkman personality test is usually 30 minutes, although this might vary from company to company; the test format is a questionnaire comprising 298 questions, 250 true-false, and 48 multiple-choice questions. The test is available in over 20 languages, including American English, Spanish, French, and more.

The Birkman personality test provides coverage of an individual’s interests, needs, preferences, and behaviors.

This test embodies relevant questions about the test taker’s psychological behavior, career interests, motivational factors, the concept of self, and stress behavior.

The Birkman test is the ultimate self-assessment test. The test has undergone several revisions to make it accurate and reliable for companies to make use of.

As a candidate preparing for the Birkman personality test, you should know that the test has 250 questionnaires. And they are divided into two parts equally. 

The first part includes True/False questions about the concept of self, while the second part is True/False questions about most people.

The first part of the questionnaire, which is the concept of self-questions, will focus more on your underlying motivations, expectations, everyday interpersonal style, and how you respond when stressed.

In the second part of the test, the questionnaire will ask test-takers 48 multiple-choice questions about occupational job preferences and their interests.

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What Are the Birkman Personality Test Colors?

The Birkman personality test is designed to help you place yourself into one of the four colors. The colors in the test stand for different types of styles of behavior. 

Here is a list of colors available in a Birkman test:

#1. Red:

The red color in the Birkman personality test signifies that the test taker likes practical results, is action-oriented, and is also good at crisis management. This color also means that the individual is action-filled and good at making certain decisions that some might consider risky.

 If you’re on the red color level, you can handle complex and sticky situations, you’re very decisive, and you prefer results.

The downside of being red is that such individuals get easily offended, can be aggressive when they don’t achieve the desired result, can be impatient about things generally, and are often stubborn.

#2. Green:

The green color in the Birkman personality test signifies that the test taker can communicate things that might be considered risky. They enjoy sharing with other people. They prefer career paths like telemarketing, sales, teaching, advertising, and other related jobs. 

If you’re on the green color level, you can communicate easily with strangers, and you are not afraid of a large crowd. The green color represents the flexibility of the individual. They are often approachable and friendly.

The stress behavior of the green color is that such individuals are often unfocused and prefer arguments to accept defeats.

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#3. Blue:

The blue color in the Birkman personality test signifies that the test taker is creative and innovative with new ideas. They are often the developer or designers of new projects. They enjoy career paths that will have them come up with new ideas.

If you’re on the blue color level, it means that you enjoy your creativity. What most people will consider unfixable, you always find ways around it to make it work.

These personalities are creative, good planners, sensitive to new information, and critical thinkers.

The downside of being on the blue chart is that they are indecisive and need constant motivation.

#4. Yellow:

The yellow color in the Birkman personality test indicates that the test taker prefers a system, order, and procedure; they don’t enjoy change.

They love it when there is an order to their day-to-day activities. A career change for them would sound like a terrible idea. They enjoy working with figures and rules and also making progress.

 If you’re on the yellow color level, you enjoy consistency in everything you do. They are loyal, follow an order, and are properly organized.

The downside of being on the yellow chart is that they are overly cautious of their surroundings, rigid, and dislike the word “change.”

What Do The Birkman Personality Symbol Keys Stand For?

The Birkman personality symbol keys represent various things. Which are:

#1. The asterisk (*)- Interests:

The asterisk represents your interests. Meaning the things you enjoy doing and things that motivate your interests. 

#2. The diamond(◊)- behavior: 

The diamond symbol visualizes your behavior. Meaning the things you do on norms, your strengths, and weaknesses.

#3. The circle (○) -Needs:

The circle symbol represents your needs and preferences. This will explain more about what your needs are.

#4. The square (□)- Stress behavior:

The square symbols portray your stress behaviors. This explains more about your behavior when a particular necessity is not in order.

How is the Birkman Personality Test Scored and Presented?

The Birkman personality test score is available in over 40 different report styles. The test consists of 298 questions, 250 true-false and 48 multiple-choice. Once the test is completed, results are available immediately. 

This is not a pass-or-fail type of test; the test result will be translated into a four-quadrant report: motivation, Self-Perception, Social Perception, and Mindset.

From these four groups, you will know your personality type and the job type that suits your personality. Your high scores will signify things you enjoy doing, and low scores will indicate stuff you don’t like.

How Does the Birkman Personality Test Assess Personality?

The Birkman personality test is designed to assess an individual on various levels, as this will help the test takers understand what they are lacking and how they can get better. The test includes behavioral qualities like motivation, self-perception, social perception, and mindset.

#1. Motivation:

This section in the Birkman test is centralized on your interests and how they are related to your preferences. Knowing what motivates your interests will help increase your job satisfaction and also help improve your performance on various levels.

Motivation is what drives your interest and what factors keep you motivated. The Birkman test will evaluate your interests and passion to determine what motivates you. This section is an important section that will help individuals discover what motivates them in their careers.

#2. Self-perception:

This section in the Birkman test is centralized on your personality and how you view yourself. This section aims to help you discover your strengths and weaknesses.

Understanding what can make or break will help you know how to deal with your weaknesses and how they affect your behavior at work.

 The questions that would be asked in the section will be centralized on evaluating your contributions, task management, and your relationships generally.

Self-perception is measured through relationships, social contribution, and task management questions. Self-perception will show you how you see yourself from your view.

#3. Social perception

This section in the Birkman test is centralized on how you view the world around you. This section aims to measure how comfortable you are in your current situation.

The test questions that will be asked in this section will be focused on your needs, how you feel about the place you are, and how you would act or react if you were to move from there.

#4. Mindset

This section in the Birkman test is centralized on your beliefs. The Birkman test will assess your interpersonal, beliefs, how they influence your view, and how you react to them.

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How Can I Prepare for the Birkman Personality Test?

The first thing you need to remember before the test is that the test is created to help you know yourself on a different level. Although companies make use of the Birkman method test to understand how well a candidate will be suitable for their company. 

These few tips on how to prepare for the Birkman personality test will help you through the test:

#1. Make your findings of the company:

Making your finding of the company and the role will help you achieve the best result in the test. The Birkman test is created to help you, and it is not a pass or fails kind of test. 

So you have nothing to fear, but companies looking for employees usually have a type of trait they require. And that is why you need to understand what the company wants and your role ahead of the test. 

#2. Always practice:

One of the best ways to prepare for the Birkman personality test is to practice with other free dummy personality tests. Doing this will help you understand your weaknesses and also help you prepare for the actual test.

The Birkman test isn’t a difficult test in that you will have to spend hours studying the sample questions, but knowing the kind of questions that will likely help you do better on the test.

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#3. Answer honestly and professionally:

Nothing beats honest answers. Staying honest and professional during any personality test will not only help the company know you better, but it will also help you know more about yourself. 

The Birkman personality test is a professional test company uses to know an applicant personally and at work. That is why you must give professional answers to help the company understand you well.

#4. Read the questions correctly:

The Birkman test is designed to evaluate you on different levels. With each section, endeavor to read the questions correctly. Some companies usually give more time to candidates during the test. Reading the questions carefully will help you provide accurate answers.

 #4. Be consistent with your answers:

Avoid giving wrong answers. The test questions might be much, but they follow an order where the system can figure out if some of your answers have not been honest enough, and this can be bad for the role you are applying for. Don’t contradict yourself with your response to each question.

 #5. Trust your guts:

Some of the questions are created to seem complicated. This is why you must read the questions carefully and trust your gut. Don’t overthink your response to a question; answer honestly.

FAQs

Conclusion 

The Birkman personality test is mainly based on career, interest, preference, and work skills. It was created to examine an individual’s needs, behavior, and interest. You can as well take the test to learn more about yourself. 

Birkman’s test provides feedback on the occupational and behavioral data by using an unequaled methodology for evaluating an individual’s behavior and personality through positive psychology. 

References.

• practiceaptitudetests.com– Birkman personality test
• wikijob.co.uk– Birkman method personality test
• practice4me.com– Birkman test
• psychometric-success.com– Birkman test
• jobtestprep.com– Birkman test assessment
• birkman.com– The Birkman method

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