A service we offer to our clients, and always suggest that they take us up on, is a free PGI personality profile courtesy of our partners at radius 360.

We fully stand behind PGI Profiling, not only offering it out to clients and candidates, but being something that we utilise ourselves, both as a part of our hiring process and to strengthen the bonds within our existing teams. However, we often find ourselves explaining the benefits of the process, and what everyone stands to gain from including it in the recruitment process, so in this article I’ll explore a few of the biggest benefits to both our clients and candidates.

What is PGI Profiling

In short, a Persona Grata Inventory (or PGI) profile is a personality test, that is designed to give an insight into how an individual operates naturally, and in turn can be used to identify certain personality traits a person has. The strength of the PGI profile comes from taking that information about the candidate and applying it to how they could fit into your business. For example, identifying potential strengths and weaknesses, suggestions for effective communications and teamwork, and proposing areas for development for that specific individual.

What are the benefits for our Clients?

Firstly, I want to head off the trap that a lot of people will fall into when looking at these PGI profiles. They are not a definitive representation of an individual. Yes, they can give you an insight into some aspects of their personality, but by no means are they the be all and end all. We always recommend to our clients, who do utilise our PGI offering, to not use these profiles in place of an interview, but rather in conjunction with one.

The PGI profiling holds two major benefits for our clients, getting an idea of how a candidate might fit into your team, and knowing how to give a better interview.

Team Fit

A PGI profile can give you a feel of a where a person would fit into your team, should you decide to bring them onboard. They can highlight an individual’s potential strengths and weaknesses, so you can better understand where they can add the most value to your business. They can also highlight some of the candidates’ personal traits, such as how well they work with others compared to individually, or how highly they value certain things such as a sense of loyalty. Perhaps most importantly the PGI profiles provide an excellent insight into how a person communicates with others, and in turn how others can effectively communicate with them. This helps to not only get the most out of someone if they do go on to work in your company, but also leads on very nicely to the next major benefit of these profiles.

Giving a better interview

In our opinion being given the ability to give the most effective interview possible is by far the biggest benefit the PGI profiles that we offer can provide. Whilst knowing more about the team fit, strengths and weaknesses, and effective communication with a candidate is highly valuable information to have, the biggest difference the PGI profiles can make is to allow you to tailor the interview process to be as effective as possible.

Knowing the PGI profile before going into an interview allows to you make sure that both parties get the best meeting possible. You’re able to take the candidates personality into account and get the most out of them in what is realistically a very short time span. If done effectively then the candidate comes out having had an excellent interview experience and knowing they have been able to perform to their best in what can otherwise be a nerve-racking time. Once the candidate’s personality is understood, a faster connection with them can be made, and helps get the most out of the interview time. They can be made to feel more comfortable, in turn giving more honest and open answers.

If you know the candidate strengths and weaknesses going into an interview then you have an idea of the sort of questions to ask to evaluate those. If you know how the candidate communicates best, then you can think about how to structure the process to get the most out of them. If you know the things most important to the candidate, then you make sure to highlight those in the interview. In essence, having a PGI profile for a candidate prior to meeting with them allows you to give yourself the best possible chance of securing that candidates interest, which can make all the difference in the recruitment market, considering how candidate driven it currently is.

What about the benefits to the Candidates?

It may seem as if all the benefits of completing a PGI profile are geared towards the client being able to make the right decision, but as with just about everything else in the interview process, this is a two-way street. For every benefit to the client there is an equal benefit to the candidate, and properly utilising your PGI profile means that you can give the best interview possible to secure yourself a new role.

In contrast to the client side, the biggest added value to you as a candidate is knowing your strengths and weaknesses going into the interview. You’ll know what the profile has highlighted as your biggest attributes to their business, and therefore know what you can focus on accentuating during the interview. Likewise, you’ll know the weaknesses it will have brought to the interviewer’s attention, allowing you to plan for how best to address them.

The PGI profile will also help you to prepare for the interview, not only highlighting strengths and weaknesses for you but allowing you to do some research into how you might fit the role and the company. For example, you could directly compare your profile against the job specification, allowing you to assess your suitability for the role, and enabling you to discuss that during the interview. Alternatively, you could focus on the weaknesses the profile highlights, and think about what you can do to overcome them and improve your skills. Applying for a new job without a profile is a bit like going on holiday to somewhere new, without any tourist information, whereas having a profile is like going away - not just with any guidebook - but with a personalised information pack that will allow you to make the most of your precious time.


Hopefully, after reading this article, you are onboard with the benefits of having a profile to hand when interviewing a candidate, or alternatively when attending an interview for your next role. To further demonstrate how confident we are in this having a major impact on your recruitment process, we are offering this service to our clients completely free of charge.


To discuss how we can integrate PGI profiling into your process, and why we are the right choice to assist with all your recruitment needs, please contact one of our specialist Consultants today