20+ Personality Tests You Must Take (+ What They Mean for Your Work Life)

Buzzfeed alone has hundreds of them, ranging from "Which Sandwich Are You?" (I'm a hamburger with lettuce instead of buns by the way, and I feel attacked) to "Which Buzzfeed Quiz Are You." While these are solid time wasters, they're not going to gift you some lost truth about why you are the way you are. However, there are free personality tests out there that can spur valuable self-reflection and even help you in the workplace.

Before you read any further, I have to say that no personality test (especially a free personality test) can boil down your unique thoughts, feelings, preferences, experiences, and behaviors. So, instead of looking at personality tests as comprehensive overviews of who we are, let's use them as tools.

These tools, when wielded properly, can help in various aspects of your life. They may give you an understanding of your introverted tendencies or help explain why you tend to be a perfectionist.

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With regard to work, in particular, understanding these types of personality traits can help you better empathize with your coworkers and boss, reflect on how you view yourself, and gain insight into how others might view you. 

The Best Personality Assessment Type Tests

Here are a few popular tests that may offer valuable insight into your personality dimensions and characteristics. We think these personality tests are well worth your time. 

1. The CareerFitter Career Test 

If you’re looking for a personality assessment that can directly connect you to your perfect career, take a look at CareerFitter.  This career personality test asks 60 quick questions that analyze your work personality strengths. From there, you can see which careers fit you best and save time with direct access to over 1000 careers research and tools. 

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life

Once you’ve taken the test, CareerFitter provides you with an overview of your personality showing you:  

The premium report is a one-time cost of $19.95. You get an online dashboard that includes your list of best careers, a Full Work Personality Report, and more!

Each career calculates your Fit Score. Your strengths in relation to characteristics most commonly found in professionals working in the career
Career Reports are linked to companies hiring for that career.

CareerFitter is more than a career test it takes you through the process of uncovering your natural personality strengths and environment preferences. It allows you to share a visual of your strengths on LinkedIn and every career allows you to quickly view who’s hiring near you.

How to read your results:

Sure, it’s great to know your Myers-Briggs type or your Enneagram, but the CareerFitter Career Test will tell you exactly how to use your personality to find your career and propel your career forward. You’ll never get stuck in a career or job that doesn’t suit your strengths. 

The science behind the CareerFitter Career Test is what sets it apart! It evaluates the four Dimensions of Your Personality at Work:

These dimensions help identify work environments that will energize your creativity rather than drain your spirit. They’ll show how you approach everyday situations, how you make decisions, and how you strategize. 

As you answer the questions, this test shows you in real-time how it measures the eight characteristics of your personality at work. CareerFitter has been a leader in career assessments and tests for over 23 years helping millions find the career that fits them best.

2. Myers-Briggs Personality Test

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (mbti test) is taking over the world. Some employers have even started asking for your Myers-Briggs test score in interviews! The reason for this test's success is two-fold. One, it's a free quiz that takes less than 15 minutes, making it accessible. Two, it measures personality traits on a contrasting spectrum, which means the results are read as black and white—making them easy to understand.  

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

I'm conflicted about this method of "scoring," because I find people unique in their shady grey areas. It can be confining, and often a gross oversimplification, to label someone by a five-letter score.

No one score is better than another, and no matter which letter we're looking at, all of them have qualities that—if taken too far—can have negative consequences. So again, we won't look at this test as an end-all-be-all, but as a tool for self-reflection. 

How to Read Your Score: 

Extraversion (E) vs. Introversion (I)

The first letter in your score represents how you interact with your surroundings. Do you feel like your brain is firing on all cylinders—like you're your best self—when you're out with a group? So much so that you seek out these types of experiences? You're exhibiting extraversion in a major way.

On the flip side, if external stimulus can become draining and overwhelming and you seek out solitary moments, you're leaning toward introversion.

Sensing (S) vs. Intuition (N)

If you're trying to decipher why you focus on certain information more than others, this is the letter for you. "Sensing" or observant individuals will focus on information that is delivered as tried and true. They tend to be pragmatic and thrive in routine. "Intuitive" individuals enjoy ideas, novelty, and imaginative problem-solving.  

Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F)

This letter interprets how you respond to emotions within yourself and others. For "Thinking" individuals, subduing emotions is important, as they value efficiency and logic. Often, this type is misclassified as cold or unfeeling, when in reality they experience emotions, but might not view them as "useful" in situations.

"Feeling" individuals, are more sensitive to their own and others emotions, potentially making this type more empathetic. This type can be misclassified as weak in the workplace when, often, these are the people who will go above and beyond to fight for their principles and beliefs.  

Judging (J) vs. Perceiving (P) 

This trait helps break down your decision-making process and how you respond to structure. The "Judging" trait responds best to certainty and order, and often folks with this trait have contingency plans for every event. Complete with mental checklists, this trait translates to a strong work ethic but might be viewed as inflexible. The "Perceiving" (or prospecting) trait responds more readily to unexpected challenges and thrives in sifting through a variety of options.

3. The Enneagram Test

The Enneagram Test is a wildly popular personality profile test that has been around since the 1960s but has recently experienced a kind of resurgence in popularity thanks to social media. There are countless Enneagram Instagram accounts—both serious and funny—that focus on the Enneagram personality types. 

The Enneagram essentially says that there are nine major personality types. These are: 

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

Once you take the test, you'll receive a score that shows you which of these types is your "basic personality type," or the one that you align with the most. What makes the Enneagram a little more nuanced than some other personality tests, though, is that they also include what they call "wings."

The wing is most often one of the numbers that is beside your "basic personality type" number. Your wing includes personality types that you likely also have but that aren't as "dominant" as the ones in your basic type. 

The Enneagram also includes what they call the "levels of development" within each personality type. These levels range from healthy to average to unhealthy. You might experience an "unhealthy" trait when you're stressed out or burned out or just plain tired.

These levels allow you to have an impersonal look at why you may feel you'd be "acting out of character" if you make a mistake at work or if you are rude to someone. The Enneagram says it may actually be in your character, but only when you're operating at an average or unhealthy level and not at your "best." 

The Enneagram is super complex (and it's helpful to look at the visual of how it works), but it's fun to learn what "type" your friends, significant other, and coworkers are. While it can't explain everything, it might provide insight into why your friend seems highly sensitive when you learn she is a "Two" or why your coworker doesn't veer away from confrontation when you learn she's an "Eight."

4. The Four Tendencies

We're cheating a little bit with this one. That's because The Four Tendencies doesn't gauge your personality, but rather, how you respond to expectations. The creator, Gretchen Rubin, explains that there are two types of expectation. Inner—which is something like a self-created New Year's resolution—and outer—which are things like boss-assigned deadlines, or answering a friend.

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

Your "tendency" (either Upholder, Obliger, Rebel, or Questioner) is determined by how you respond to these expectations. Rubin argues that people who understand their tendency "make better decisions, meet deadlines...suffer less stress, and engage more deeply with others."

While this might seem like a lofty statement, I was pleasantly surprised by how learning my tendency—Obliger—and organizing my goals with my tendency in mind, helped quell some feelings of burnout and allowed me to work with a coworker more effectively.

As an Obliger, I respond well to outer expectations. If a deadline is set by a coworker or boss, I'm the first to create an organized list of how we're going to meet it. At my last job, I didn't feel supported in this, so my perception was that I was the only one who cared about the task at hand. This lead to major feelings of burnout.

Later, I discovered my coworker was a Questioner, meaning she responds best to inner expectations and needs to understand why a deadline is set to move forward. Once we learned each other's tendencies, we had an easier time communicating. I would explain more clearly why deadlines were set, and she would be more intentional about setting top priorities so I wouldn't become overwhelmed. Win, win!

5. The Big 5 Personality Test 

Also known as the five-factor model or OCEAN Personality Test, this personality test is the only one recognized by personality psychologists. (Psst, if you want to know more about this awesome-sounding profession, check out this podcast episode of Ologies.)

What's unique about this test is that you are looking at five broad dimensions of how people differ, and instead of saying you are either "this" or "that," you are given a percentage.

The five factors this test looks at are: 

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

Because this model is recognized in academia, there are a few studies that take advantage of this naming convention. One that caught my eye talks about how people who exhibit a high percentage of conscientiousness might find more professional success. It also shares behaviors that contribute to conscientiousness—so if you didn't score high in conscientiousness—you can fold these behaviors into your routine.

A challenge with this test is that the agreeableness trait can be incredibly difficult to judge on your own. Depending on how self-assured you are, you might view yourself as more or less agreeable. Because of this, I recommend having a trusted friend or family member (that you feel safe with) take the test as you. It can be so eye-opening to compare these results, especially if you've ever wondered how other people view your actions. 

6. CliftonStrengths Assessment

While the CliftonStrengths Assessment is not only for work, it's one of the most career-oriented personality tests out there. (We even hosted a webinar about CliftonStrengths Assessments). They have assessments that are geared toward managers so that you can learn how your personality type plays into your management style—and how the personality types of your team members play into their work.

This assessment separates personality types into four "domains." These are:

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

Under these four domains, there are 34 separate "themes" that allow you to see where your natural talents fall. 

Essentially, this personality test helps you determine what your strengths are—and how to harness them. Another benefit of the CliftonStrengths Assessment is that it helps explain the motivation behind why people behave in certain ways. It makes it easier to work with people when you understand your own personality and reasons for motivation—and when you understand theirs, it's even more beneficial.

The Best Fun Personality Tests

As someone who is constantly curious about why I am the way I am—I'm elated whenever a new personality test comes on the scene. Below are a few more tests that I would definitely categorize as "fun." 

The Best Personality Disorder Tests

First, a disclaimer. We are not psychologists and these are to be done for recreation purposes only. One of the reasons why we love learning about our own personality type is that it impacts how we work with others.

Additionally, we've seen first-hand how it can positively impact a team to learn more about your coworker's and boss' personalities. Again, these are meant to be used for recreation purposes only. Personality disorders are a serious matter and if you suspect you or someone close to you has one, we recommend connecting with a mental health professional. 

15. Borderline Spectrum Test

The borderline spectrum encompasses a range of symptoms, all pointing to the presence of borderline psychic organization or borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, there is considerable variation in the type and severity of the symptoms. People experiencing BPD symptoms can have frequent mood changes that are intense and last longer than usual. Negative thoughts and fear of abandonment can overshadow otherwise healthy relationships. 

This borderline spectrum test combines the insights of several prior efforts to research the borderline spectrum to bring you a single, composite test measuring borderline personality occurrences across 10 different domains.

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

The IDRlabs Borderline Personality Test utilizes research from psychology professor Mary Zanarini, as well as DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, to produce this free online test. BPD's consistency is challenging due to ongoing stigma and the disorder’s similarity to other mental health conditions. The reliability of these different results can make the accuracy in diagnosing challenging, but Dr. Zanarini’s McLean screening instrument demonstrates one step toward improving diagnostic efficacy and subsequent treatment of affected individuals..

16. Dark Triad Test

The Dark Triad is a personality inventory that explores the socially undesirable traits of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. The Dark Triad test is often used by police and the courts, in psychiatric wards and evaluations, and even in big corporations.

Studies have shown that people who score high on the Dark Triad are more likely to commit crimes or get in trouble with the law and also more likely to cause social distress among their friends or problems for their workplace.

On the other hand, studies have also shown that Dark Triad individuals are often perceived as possessing leadership qualities and that they have high social status.

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

The three socially dark characteristics of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy are often conceptualized as three interrelated traits known collectively as the Dark Triad.

This test aims to measure the respondent's Dark Triad traits according to brief and easy-to-answer test items that provide an accurate measure of the individual's Dark Triad traits.

The Best Relationship Personality Tests

Another part of our lives where it helps to have more insight into how your personality plays a role is with your relationships. Both personal and work relationships. Here are a few of our favorite tests!

17. Couples Psychometric Test

The Couples Psychometrics Test determines which TV or movie couple you and your partner are based on a set number of questions.

The Couples Psychometrics Test can be found on the Open-Source Psychometrics Project's website, which offers tons of personality tests that are used to collect anonymous data and research (some of the data is even published in academic journals). The test, which can be found under "Statistical 'Which Character' Personality Quiz" on the Open Source Psychometric Project's website, uses a slider bar to determine whether you and your significant other are "creative or conventional," "alpha or beta, "strict or lenient," etc.

It can be done in five versions: recommended, quick, emoji, recommended + emoji, and exhaustive.

Each version varies in length, with the recommended version offering 36 questions per partner. Once you finish, the test will match you with fictional couples from movies and TV shows who have similar personality traits.

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

The website says that the test is for "educational and entertainment use only" and that "it should not be used as psychological advice of any kind and comes without any guarantee of accuracy or fitness for any particular purpose."

So, no, it's not 100 percent accurate and probably can't help fix any real issues in your relationship, but it's fun and maybe that's what your relationship needs the most. 

18. DISC Assessment Test

The DISC assessment determines where you lie on four DISC factors:

DISC is one of the most popular and authoritative career assessments out there, and many companies encourage their employees to take it. In fact, our CEO Lauren McGoodwin, took it in her last job and literally credits it for helping her work better with her colleagues.

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

There's no doubt that personality affects our career ambitions, as well as how we perform in different workplace environments. If you’re particularly extraverted, maybe you’ve chosen a career path that enables you to work daily with large groups of people.

If you have certain communication styles that are a complete 180 from your boss' style, then maybe you two clash a lot. 

Arming yourself with a sense of self-awareness could help you find your optimal career path, foster better work relationships, and mitigate work conflict more effectively. 

19. Crystal

Crystal provides a free DISC assessment, which tells you how your personality fits into your work environment, who you work well with, who you might have a conflict with, how you perceive others’ behaviors, and how others perceive yours.

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

The test helps you understand how your own personality biases you towards certain colleagues (i.e. your personality might take another coworker’s comments offensively, while the coworker just believes in being direct), which could strengthen your work relationships.

Crystal also enables you to build an extensive personality profile on a single website. When you have that, you can input your company, and Crystal lets you see your colleague’s personality profiles. By seeing your colleague's personality data, you have access to critical information that impacts your responses, interactions, and empathy toward them.

The Best EQ + Emotional Intelligence Tests

On the simplest level, “emotional intelligence” is the ability to read the room. It’s a person’s innate sense of what’s going on beneath surface-level dialogues and how the people around them actually feel about the situation at hand. Arguably, having emotional intelligence is the most important factor in dealing with conflict and communicating with others.

In fact, research has shown success is 80-90% attributable to emotional intelligence (EI), and only 10-20% to your IQ.

20. Berkeley Emotional Intelligence Test

The Berkeley Emotional Intelligence Test, shows you 20 pictures and asks you to recognize the facial expression on each person’s face. It’s easy, quick, fun, and an informative way to learn how well you read other people’s emotions— which is a critical skill for assessing and mitigating conflict.

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

When you have a better understanding of your EI, you can use that information to your advantage. Facial expressions are a universal language of emotion, instantly conveying happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and much more. Reading these expressions is essential to compassion and empathy. 

21. VeryWellMind Emotional Intelligence Test

The VeryWellMind Emotional Intelligence only asks you 10 quick questions before delivering your results. It’s admittedly not medical or scientific by any means but does offer other articles depending on your score. 

How This Test Can Help Your Career/Personal Life:

Similar to the last test, it arms you with valuable information on how well you can read the emotions of others. With EI playing such a big role in your overall success, being armed with this data can never hurt.