The good news, at least from my boss' perspective, is that I'm resilient to stress.

The bad news: I'm not fond of authority and I've never met a detail I liked.

At least, that's what was suggested by two online personality assessments, one taken through Fitability and the other through ComputerPsychologist.com.

Personality testing has been used by large corporations for decades, but only recently has it moved on to the 'Net where it's more available to small and mid-size firms. The idea, says Fitability CEO Regi Campbell, is that such tests can help employers gauge job fit - and that, in turn, leads to less turnover and happier campers. "Fit with the job is an overlooked factor," says Campbell. "If you want to kill someone like me, put me in a job where I have to do detail work day in and day out."

A number of firms offer online testing, and each test records results in a slightly different way. For example, Fitability compares results to a database of 750 job profiles; its scale of five traits showed me to be more private than most editors but also more resistant to stress.

ComputerPsychologist's testing method is usually based upon benchmarks established within a company - the company selects 10 customer service reps, for example, tests them and then uses their scores to form a range. If a job candidate falls within that range, "they are psychologically similar to employees you know do well," says Executive Vice President and Psychologist David McCord. Because those benchmarks didn't exist for Catalyst, McCord used an existing project manager profile to form a range for my scores.

Overall I found the tests to be fairly accurate, though there were some misses - both suggested that I am hesitant to offer opinions, which prompted a lot of laughter in my office. As McCord points out, test results should be considered "hypotheses to be explored ... it should never be the sole basis of your hiring decision." What testing can do is help employers narrow the candidate field and be better prepared with more targeted, probing interview questions.

If you're thinking about using personality testing to screen job candidates, consider these guidelines:

1. Know what you want to measure - particular characteristics associated with success on a particular job - and why. "A person may be disorganized and messy," says McCord, "but they may have an assistant who will dot their i's and cross their t's."



2. Make sure the test is valid for your purpose - a test measuring intellectual ability may not be valid for measuring creativity.



3. Remember that no test can predict job performance or measure a personality trait with 100 percent accuracy.



4. Keep results confidential. Tell test-takers why the test is being given and how the results will be used.



5. Make sure whoever is looking at test results (whether it's the CEO or the HR manager) knows how to interpret them. It may even be worth consulting briefly with an outside psychologist who's familiar with the test.