How Portrait and PortraitXT work
In Portrait, each item shows two images, each standing for a trait, sometimes with a caption. You pick the one that describes you better. It is reported to have about 50 items in five minutes.
PortraitXT uses written statements about how you work, and you rate each one on a scale from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree. It is also reported as about 50 items in five minutes.
HireVue says its personality games track standard personality questionnaires closely. Your answers become a profile rather than a mark, and you may receive an insights report on your working style and personality afterwards.
How to answer
A few rules keep your profile accurate:
- Answer as you are at work on a normal day, not as you imagine the ideal candidate.
- Go with your first reaction. Fifty items in five minutes is about six seconds each.
- In Portrait, when both images fit you, pick the one that fits more often. When neither fits, pick the one less unlike you.
- In PortraitXT, use the whole scale. Keep the strong options for statements that are clearly true or false of you.
- Expect similar ideas to come back in different words. Answer each one on its own rather than trying to match an earlier answer.
Worked example
A PortraitXT-style statement: “I like to finish one task before I start another.” If that is true of you most weeks, Agree fits. Strongly agree is for when it is true almost every time.
A Portrait-style pair: a detailed checklist against a rough sketch. If you usually plan before you start, pick the checklist; if you prefer to get going and shape the work as you go, pick the sketch.
Tips for the real Portrait and PortraitXT
- Do not try to guess what the employer wants. There is no correct profile to aim for.
- Check which form you have. Pictures mean Portrait; statements on a scale mean PortraitXT.
- Keep moving. A long pause on one item rarely changes your answer.
- If an insights report arrives, save the link. HireVue says the link never expires and that receiving the report does not mean a decision has been made.
Practise Portrait and PortraitXT on CogniPrep
Both of our versions give you 50 items from a bank of 54 and five minutes. In Portrait each item is two ways of working, each shown as a symbol with a caption, and a tap commits your choice; there is no Back button. In PortraitXT you rate statements on a five-point scale from Strongly disagree to Strongly agree, and some are worded in reverse. Neither is scored: you get a work-style profile at the end.