General Motors Personality Test – Hiring Process, Interview & Preparation Guide

Who doesn’t want to work at the iconic motor company?

Going through the recruitment process for a position at General Motors you can expect to be in competition with a lot of people. To whittle down the list of applicants, the company run several tests to ensure they select the best employees for their business.

For you that means having to adequately prepare for the tests This can be done by using a test prep pack that will spare you from spending countless hours trying to second guess how the test will be carried out and how you will measure up in the testing.

Visit Job Test Prep for a pre-test prep pack that will see you well prepared for this test. In it you will find details about the test and sample tests to hone your skills.

The personality test is perhaps the most difficult. We all have a concept of personality. In all our social interactions we form ideas of the type of person we are dealing with. But the personality required in the workplace is very different to the personality that we may engage with in an informal social setting.

What type of personality is required in the workplace?

Workplaces require people to have the necessary skills to carry out the work they are recruiting for. These skills are usually referred to as “hard skills,” acquired in a training program.

Personality skills, known as “soft skills,” are more difficult to define. These are the skills needed when dealing with co-workers, work superiors and especially with customers.

They include:

  • Communication skills
  • Listening skills
  • Ability to follow instructions
  • Ability to take constructive criticism
  • Teamworking skills
  • Leadership skills
  • Honesty and Integrity

Companies have their own personality profiles. When preparing for the personality test, it is essential to have access to the desired personality profile. Your personality test prep pack provides you with that information.

Having the profile in your possession your next task is to discover how personality is measured in the recruitment process.

Take Practice Test

How is personality measured?

Personality is measured by General Motors and other companies with a psychometric personality test. It is important to note that your personality reveals itself in your behavior and in your responses to specific situations.

Preparing for a personality test does not mean you have to undergo a fundamental change in the type of person you are. It means you must adjust to the workplace norms.

To determine if your qualities are suited to the work environment the potential employer may place you in several situations and evaluate how you would deal with them.

Examples of questions

The following examples give an idea of how this works.

  • A customer accuses you of shoddy workmanship on a vehicle.
    Do you
    1) Accuse the customer of being unreasonable?
    2) Assert that you are highly experienced and have never had a complaint?
    3) Offer to have another look at the problem?
  • An efficient co-worker is not giving his best on a particular day.
    Do you
    1) Call the manager and ask to be paired with another work partner?
    2) Lose your temper and berate your co-worker?
    3) Offer to help in exchange for him helping you out when you are feeling below par?
  • A team leader has been taken ill on a workday. Someone is needed to take over the role. Do you say
    1) “Not my problem.”?
    2) “Do we get extra pay for this?”
    3) “Happy to help.”?
  • Another test may ask you to decide how well a series of statements describe you.
    For example: For each of the following statements select one answer from each of the options given. Option A) agree, Option B) disagree or Option C) not sure
    1) I enjoy working with people
    2) I like helping people
    3) I prefer to be the team leader

Reading through the examples given you can see how easily personality reveals itself in each of the answers.

This is how the personality test prep pack works. It presents you with the various types of questions and scenarios presented in the personality test recruitment process.

With the ideal employee profile in hand, you will be able to judge the type of personality your answers are showing you to have. Your next step is to concentrate on completing exercises from the test pack until you approach the desired personality type for the job.

Take Practice Test

Preparing for the personality test

Unfortunately, a lot of people fail to adequately prepare for this part of the recruitment process. They take the attitude of, “I am who I am, there’s nothing I can do about that.” They are failing to realize it is their behavior they are being measured on.

Take a simple scenario where you see somebody behaving in a way you don’t approve of/like, at the local supermarket. You decide the person is somebody you don’t want to know. But this person could well be a decent sort who hasn’t learned to modify their behavior to create a better impression.

When it comes to your personality test don’t be that person.

Using the prep pack

If you do decide to use a prep pack you will cover

  • Personality
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Core performance

You will get timed practice tests, scorecards and answer explanations. It will help you calculate:

  • How many exercises you must cover
  • The amount of time completing the exercises will take you
  • The amount of time reviewing your answers will take

Remember this is an exercise in learning in the same way as preparing for a math test. Apply the same principles you would ideally apply in any learning situation.

  • Work in small chunks of time, ideally 40–50-minute sessions
  • Take a break after not more than 50 minutes
  • Build in revision time at the end of each preparation session to ensure you remember the material
  • If possible, work in a dedicated learning place. This will allow you to escape from study when you take a break.

Take Practice Test

Doing the test

  1. Having done your preparation, you have every reason to approach the test with confidence. If you are feeling nervous take some deep breaths to steady yourself. Do the same if you feel stressed at any point during the test.
  2. You have learned from your test prep pack how much time you need to spend on each question. Try to stick with that schedule. Bad time management can lead to stressing over answers at the end of the test.
  3. Read each question carefully and before answering get a picture of the type of person your answer will reveal.

Ask yourself, “Does this person correspond with the company’s personality profile?”

Congratulate yourself at the end of the test. You have mastered the German Motors personality test and can sit back to await the grading!

Written by Elizabeth O Mahony

With 25+ years’ experience as a teacher and state examinations corrector, Elizabeth now writes for the education and careers industry. Her experience preparing students for examinations and running an academy for supplementary education give her invaluable insights into what it takes for job seekers and graduates to succeed in assessments.

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