How the PI Behavioral Assessment works
The assessment is two questions on one list of 86 adjectives. The first asks you to tick the words that describe the way you feel you are expected to act by others. The second asks you to tick the words that really describe you. For each, you pick at least 6 and at most 79 words.
Each adjective is tied to one of four drives. Your choices produce a pattern across them, plus a secondary measure PI calls Objectivity, and you are given one of 17 Reference Profiles. Employers compare that pattern with what a role needs; PI says the assessment is not pass or fail.
PI has used the assessment since 1955. It is untimed, most people finish in about six minutes, and it is available in 68 languages.
The four drives it measures
PI defines the four drives in work terms:
- Dominance: the drive to exert influence. It covers how you approach control, independence and decisions at work.
- Extraversion: the drive for social interaction. It covers how you communicate, persuade and engage with others at work, not how social you are outside it.
- Patience: the drive for consistency and stability. It covers how you prefer to handle pace, time and change.
- Formality: the drive to conform to rules and structure. It covers how strongly you seek structure, rules and precision at work.
How to approach the two lists
The format is simple, but the two questions are easy to blur together:
- Read the instruction above each list. The first is about how others expect you to act; the second is about you.
- For the first list, think about what your current work or the people around you ask of you.
- For the second list, describe yourself as you are, not as the job advert reads.
- Go with your first reaction rather than weighing each word. There is no clock, and the average is about six minutes.
- Tick as many or as few words as fit, within the 6 to 79 limit. There is no target number.
Tips for the real PI Behavioral Assessment
- Do not try to guess the profile the employer wants. There are no right answers, and a high or low result on a drive is not better or worse.
- PI offers the assessment free on its own website, so you can see your profile before the real one.
- Take it when you will not be interrupted, so both lists get the same attention.
- Answer each list on its own terms. The two questions ask different things, so your ticks do not have to match.
Practise the PI Behavioral Assessment on CogniPrep
Ours uses the same two-question format with our own list of 52 adjectives, 13 for each drive, shown twice: first for how others expect you to behave, then for who you really are. There is no clock and no minimum or maximum number of words. At the end you see a score for each drive on both lists and the gaps between them. There is no overall score to beat.