Section Fouropenness to experience. Conscientiousness has been found to
be a good predictor of job performance for almost all types of
jobs and, not surprisingly, extroversion has been found to be
related to performance in sales jobs. Finally, paper-and-pencil
integrity tests have been found to be useful in predicting theft
and other undesirable behavior, even though applicants may
attempt to fake their responses.^40
Performance or work sample tests require job applicants
to perform some of the actual tasks required for the job. For
example, applicants for machinist jobs could be given a set of
blueprints and be asked to produce a part, while applicants for
a computer technician job might be asked to diagnose a
problem with a network server. Work samples or performance
tests have the advantage of legitimacy because it is easy to see
the connection with the job. Because applicants are frequently
potential customers of the company, they may be more likely to
feel that they have been treated fairly if they have been given
work sample tests. Work samples or performance tests also
tend to be free from racial or gender biases as well. Work
samples also can be obtained from applicants for positions such
as graphic designer, commercial artist, or business writer by
asking applicants to supply portfolios of their work for review.