Prepare for the Hogan Personality Inventory Test (HPI): Sample Questions, Practice, & Expert Tips [2024]
The Hogan personality inventory (HPI) test is a long questionnaire your employer uses to predict if your personality style fits the desired job.
Taking this test can be challenging, as often choosing the first answer that comes to mind would not reflect your true strengths and potential.
Is there a way to answer the Hogan personality assessment to improve your chances to get hired?
Luckily there is. Our experienced psychologists have come up with a unique way to show your best self on the HPI, with just a short practice test.
On this page you will find free Hogan personality inventory (HPI) questions, score explanations, and key tips to get you started.
Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)
- A full HPI style personality test
- Personalized feedback to your job
- Hogan personality test study guide
- 30 Single trait practice tests
- Additional Guides per position
What Is the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)?
The HPI or Hogan Personality Inventory, or HPI test, measures your normal or “bright side” personality traits. That is, how you typically behave, how well you work with other co-workers, and whether you are more fit to be a leader or a follower.
The HPI is one of the most common Hogan Assessments, used by employers to determine whether you possess the necessary traits to fit the vacant role and the company’s culture and standards. This Hogan personality survey contains 220 questions rated on a 4-point scale. It is administered online and usually takes 15-20 minutes to complete.
Get a quick overview of the Hogan personality inventory test:
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The HPI is just one of several Hogan assessments—practice them all to get a complete preparation!
Need to also take a cognitive test? Check out our PI Cognitive Assessment Test.
What Does the Hogan Personality Inventory Test Measure?
The Hogan Personality Inventory questionnaire assesses your typical characteristics, to predict how you would interact and perform at work. Each question on the Hogan HPI test measures a particular personality trait, adding up to seven main traits- Ambition, Sociability, Interpersonal sensitivity, Prudence, Inquisitiveness, and Adjustment.
Each scale is composed of several subscales. You can read more about all the Hogan HPI subscales and corresponding questions on our Full Hogan Personality Test Preparation.
In addition to the traits above, the Hogan Personality Inventory test results are also used to assess expected job performance on six occupational scales:
- Stress Tolerance
- Service Orientation
- Clerical Potential
- Reliability
- Sales Potential
- Managerial Potential
You can also check out our free practice tests, such as Hogan Free Test, PI Behavioral Assessment, Caliper Assessment and Gallup StrengthsFinder Test.
Hogan Personality Inventory Test Sample
The Hogan personality inventory test has 220 questions that are administered online with no time limit. These may not seem difficult at first sight, but answering in a way that expresses your strengths can be quite challenging.
Take a look at sample Hogan HPI test questions, taken from our HPI Test Preparation
Answer & Explanation
To answer Hogan's personality test questions, you must first consider- is this answer right me you in the context of the job? does it fit its requirements? Even though the answer to each question may seem straightforward, the same answer could be great for one job but raise concern for another.
For example, you may have answered “strongly agree” on the second question, because in many situations you do tend to take charge and make things happen. That’s a great quality, that may also cause difficulties in certain situations. It all depends on the position you’re applying for.
How Do You Pass the Hogan Personality Inventory?
Here are a few tips on how to approach Hogan personality questions and raise your chances of passing the test:
- It’s all about how you behave at work
The sole purpose of the Hogan personality questions is to assess how you would behave at work. This means that when reading HPI questions, even if you’re asked about your “usual” behavior, always imagine yourself in the context of work and answer accordingly.
Think about how you would rate the following statement:
‘Sometimes I find it hard to motivate myself'
Now, reconsider your answer to this phrasing:
‘sometimes I find it hard to motivate myself at work’.
Did you answer differently this time? It’s common to struggle to motivate yourself in certain situations, like when you’re getting up in the morning or when you have some home chores. Choosing 'agree/strongly agree' here would indicate specifically that you have difficulty motivating yourself at work, which could negatively affect how you come across.
- Focus on the position you’re applying for
As mentioned, HPI test questions assess whether your personality fits your position. Since each position has different qualities that would make employees great at that job, consider the job requirements to express your best self FOR THE POSITION.
Think about how you would rate the following example- 'I’m always the dominant person in the group and enjoy taking the lead’
Answering ‘agree/strongly agree’ here would indicate you’re highly dominant. This could be great for positions that require taking initiative and leading like management positions. However, it is not ideal for a customer success position that requires working in a team and being more attentive.
- Watch out for extreme scores
You’re expected to score low/high on several traits, depending on your position, but not too low or high. This means you should watch out for extreme scores yet get a high/low score that fits the role’s expected competencies. Balancing your answers is a delicate skill that requires practice.
Think about how you would rate the following example- ‘I’ve never lied to someone I know”
First, pay attention to extreme or definitive words, like “always” or “never”.
A helpful rule is- when an extreme word appears, don’t choose an extreme answer (strongly agree/disagree).
Also, you might be tempted to answer “agree” to make a good impression. Since most humans have lied sometime in their lives, and you’re a human, answering 'agree' would come across as unreliable.
Let’s try another sample question- ‘Sometimes I feel like cursing’
Here, since the question doesn’t contain an extreme word, try to choose an extreme response.
have you chosen “agree”?
If so, well done! You’re a quick learner.
If not, it is perfectly normal since it takes some practice to get the idea.
Learn more about how to answer HPI questions to get a balanced personality profile on our full Hogan Personality Inventory Preparation.
To implement these tips and recieve the best possible outcome when answering these tricky personality statements, we offer a complete Hogan Personality Inventory preparation course with a full HPI practice test, answer explanations, and extensive guides.
Hogan Personality Inventory Test Preparation
As you can see, the HPI test is not an intuitive task. A Hogan-specific prep course could help you uncover what’s expected of you, which of your qualities make you a great candidate, and how to make sure you express them on the real test. For this purpose, our team of experts has worked tirelessly to develop an extensive PrepPack. It includes:
- An online Hogan Personality Inventory Practice Test - full-length Hogan personality inventory test simulation with 254 HPI style questions. After completing it, you’ll get in-depth score reports that pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses.
- A Professional Profile Guide- uncovering the most essential job requirements and the expected score in each of the measured HPI trait scales.
- An HPI Test Study Guide - providing insight into the underlying logic behind HPI questions and how to answer them in a way that fits your position.
- Additional practice tests for specific traits- strengthen your ability to exhibit specific traits with questions focused on single traits.
Note: If you’ve been asked to take Hogan’s HPI, HDS, and HBRI assessments, we recommend the Hogan bundle practice pack.
Headed toward a managerial position? Learn everything you need with our Leadership Assessment Test guide.
Hogan HPI Sample Report
The Hogan personality inventory test results are given to employers as percentile scores, indicating where you stand on a certain trait scale compared to others. Every score reflects distinct strengths and shortcomings, so high scores are not necessarily better.
This is what the HPI report would look like:
What HPI Score is Considered Good?
Since the ideal score for each personality trait differs from role to role, the answer depends on the position you’re applying for and the employer’s expectations. For example, scoring high on Ambition may be great for executive positions, as it means you would be driven, energetic, self-confident, and competitive. However, it may predict poor performance if you’re applying for a customer service role since the latter requires more sympathy and the ability to follow orders and cooperate in a team.
Going back to the example above- answering ‘strongly agree’ on ‘I feel in charge to make things happen’ would indicate you tend to be highly dominant, a great quality for managerial positions. However, if you are applying for a customer service position, a better answer would be answering disagree or strongly disagree, as it indicates that you are more likely to get along working in a team and to follow others.
Looking for more personality tests? Check out our Caliper Assessment Practice!
Related Links
Explore other assessments of personality, integrity, leadership, and culture fit:
16Personalities | Adept-15 | Caliper | CliftonStrengths | Cubiks PAPI | Hogan HDS | Korn Ferry | Kolbe | McQuaig Word Survey | MMPI | Myers-Briggs | OPQ32 | Predictive Index | WorkKeys Fit | WorkKeys Talent