General Personality Survey

The General Personality Survey (GPS)—also known as the ViewPoint General Personality Survey—is a comprehensive, business-friendly assessment designed specifically for the workplace. Taking roughly 20 minutes to complete online, the test features 155 non-intrusive, behavioral questions based on the industry-standard “Big Five” personality model (Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Openness, and Stability).

Unlike clinical personality tests that evaluate mental health abnormalities, the GPS focuses strictly on normal, everyday professional behaviors. It avoids sensitive personal topics like religion or sexual history, providing hiring managers and corporate consultants with an objective, data-backed look at how a candidate behaves, handles stress, and interacts with team members.

What It’s Best Used For

• Pre-Employment Selection: Assessing candidates across all job levels and industries to predict job performance and cultural fit early in the hiring process.
• Employee Development & Coaching: Tailoring individual training, mentorship, and professional development programs using the survey’s detailed component scales.
• Onboarding Optimization: Understanding a new hire’s core traits (such as adaptability, dependability, and compliance) to integrate them smoothly into their new team.
• Leadership Benchmarking: Vetting current or prospective staff for specific leadership potential using its built-in occupational scales for Change Leadership and Operational Leadership.
• Building Productive Teams: Mapping employee profiles to evaluate how staff members naturally cooperate, build workplace relationships, and handle everyday task management.

It is entirely legal to use in Canada.

Primary Use – Selection and Development
Assessment Type  – Personality
Job Level – Al
Job Type  – All
Number of Items – 155
Estimated Time – 20 minutes (timed)
Administration Format – Proctored or Unproctored

Despite the accumulating evidence for the effectiveness of personality measurement in the workplace, practical and legal constraints have hindered their use in many contexts. For example, personality instruments that measure abnormality or mental illness are legally prohibited prior to a job offer in most instances. Even instruments that measure the normal range of personality may have items about sensitive subjects such as sexual history or religious beliefs that could be seen as prohibited inquiries. More generally, most personality measures were not designed from the “ground up” to meet the needs
of businesses to select and develop their employees.

Therefore, we endeavored to create a personality measure that would overcome the shortcomings many businesses have found with published personality tests. This instrument, the ViewPoint General Personality Survey (formerly titled the Performance Perspectives Inventory), is designed to provide the following advantages for personnel selection and development in business setting:

• Big Five model of personality, with Component Scales for measurement specificity
• Designed for Internet-based personnel selection and development in occupational settings
• Brief, but comprehensive
• Business-friendly items and terminology
• Item format designed to maximize applicability across languages and cultures
• Utilizes existing research findings to design scales
• Easy, flexible administration, reporting, and interpretation.

Comprised of 155 non-intrusive, behavioral questions, the GPS is unlikely to cause concerns about job relevance. The instrument takes less than 20 minutes to complete, and research shows that GPS scores accurately predict job performance and how someone will be described by others. Additionally, we can validate the GPS within your organization in order to:

• Determine the ideal profile for the target job(s)
• Develop organization-specific norms

ViewPoint® GPS is based on the Big Five, the industry standard in personality assessment. Listed below, each GPS Major Scale is also further divided into 4 to 5 additional Component Scales:

GPS Competencies Assessed

• Agreeableness (kind vs. tough) – the extent to which one seeks to please, support, and cooperate with others.
• Conscientiousness (structured vs. easygoing) – the extent to which one persists at tasks, pursues goals, and takes an organized approach to assignments.
• Extraversion (outgoing vs. reserved) – the extent to which one enjoys the company of others, and prefers influencing or persuading others.
• Openness (conceptual vs. practical) – the extent to which one enjoys thinking about and analyzing a variety of topics, coming up with new ideas, and trying new things.
• Stability (steady vs. unpredictable) – the extent to which one remains even tempered and retains a positive attitude, even in difficult circumstances.

The GPS also provides feedback on eight specialized Occupational Scales:

• Creating
• Dependability
• Loyalty
• Providing Care
• Providing Service
• Selling
• Change Leadership
• Operational Leadership

With its rich, in-depth feedback, the GPS is ideal for hiring managers or consultants conducting selection, coaching, training, on-boarding, and/or in-depth individual assessments.

It Assesses:

• Adaptability
• Building Relationships
• Builds Effective Teams
• Compliance
• Courage
• Dependability
• Developing Others