As early as Ancient Greece philosophers have understood there was variation in personality types. Luminaries like Aristotle, Freud and Maslow have sought to identify and categorize people by their propensity towards behaviors and responses to circumstances. In the modern world, the five factor personality model has come to be the most widely accepted and most studied model. Also known as the Big Five it measures the following:
Openness to experiences
Conscientiousness
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Emotional Range
Determining these various values was historically done via multiple choice questionnaires scored versus an algorithm. In 2014 IBM conducted significant research to identify if these same facets could reliably be measured via writing and specifically social media. The results were a resounding yes. That research became the basis for the Watson Personality Insights service which visualizes not on the Big Five but also measure Needs and Values. The full documentation of the research can be found here - https://console.bluemix.net/docs/services/personality-insights/science.html#science
We can put this data to work like any other input we have about a candidate. Openness to experience suggests imaginative and open mindedness as attributes. Conscientiousness suggests self-discipline and propensity toward thriving in leadership. There are tons of other examples of what we might be able to learn here - https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/big-five-personality-theory
At MillsThomas we hear clients say that cultural fit is as vital as skills — consider our use of IBM’s Personality Insights as a way to get a peek at the person not the candidate as you make vital decisions around who to add to your team.