Personality testing and profiling for anaesthetic job recruitment: attitudes of anaesthetic specialists/consultants in New Zealand and Scotland.

Specialist/consultant anaesthetists based in New Zealand and Scotland were sent a reply paid postal questionnaire asking about their attitudes to personality testing and personality types in the recruitment process for registrars and specialists. The questionnaire consisted of nine Likert-style questions and 14 visual analogue questions. The overall response rate was 65% (523/808). The responses to all the questions were broadly similar in the two countries. Personality testing was deemed of use in recruiting trainees and specialists, with a slightly greater proportion considering personality traits more important than academic achievement. An overwhelming majority believed the presence of an adverse personality trait would influence an appointment process, but few believed that the personality makeup of anaesthetists influenced the way in which they react to stressful situations. A slight majority considered the interview process a poor predictor of personality. New Zealand anaesthetists rated independence, orderliness, compassion, empathy, reflectiveness and patience higher than did anaesthetists in Scotland. In contrast, anaesthetists in Scotland rated pragmatism, as opposed to perfection, as a more important characteristic than did the New Zealand specialists. Personality assessment, although not effective as the sole tool for candidate selection, may have a role in the process of anaesthetic job recruitment and warrants further investigation.