As a career explorer, you may be seeking ways to gain a deeper understanding of yourself. Have you ever thought that understanding yourself might be the key to understanding your unique value proposition to employers? If so, a great free tool to explore is Crystal Knows.
What Is Crystal Knows?
Crystal Knows is an AI-powered personality data platform designed to enhance communication and relationship-building in professional settings. But it’s much more than that, in my opinion. They offer several free personality tests that help you gain a better understanding of yourself.
To generate revenue, the product utilizes the DISC framework to predict individuals’ personality traits, categorizing behavior into four key areas: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. They accomplish this by analyzing publicly available online information, including LinkedIn profiles, social media activity, and other digital tools.
The actual value for Career Exploration is the free personality tests and the graphics that they provide you after you complete the tests.
What Free Personality Tests Are Available?
DISC Personality Assessment
- Overview: This assessment categorizes individuals into four primary personality types: Dominance (D), Influence (I), Steadiness (S), and Conscientiousness (C).
- Purpose: Helps users understand their behavior, communication style, and work preferences.
- Opinion: DISC was one of the first assessments I took as part of an interpersonal communications class, but to me, it’s too simple. However, many businesses use it for its simplicity, which can be both a pro and a con. I’m a Di on this one. That’s big D, little i in their vernacular.
16-Personality (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) Test
- Overview: Based on the Jung, Myers, and Briggs typology, this test categorizes individuals into one of 16 distinct personality types.
- Purpose: Provides insights into thinking patterns, decision-making processes, and interpersonal interactions.
- Opinion: I took this assessment for the first time when I was unemployed, as I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of myself. It was helpful, but I didn’t like the idea of being pigeonhole into one of sixteen options. I tend to think your personality is more complex than that.
Enneagram Test
- Overview: Classifies personalities into nine types, each representing core motivations, fears, and desires.
- Purpose: Aids in self-awareness and personal development by highlighting underlying emotional drivers.
- Opinion: I took this after my second divorce. I met someone who introduced me to the concept, and I enjoyed learning about it. Crystal Knows has a lot of information about this one and the various options.
Career Personality Test
- Overview: Aligns personality traits with suitable career paths.
- Purpose: Helps individuals identify professions that match their natural preferences and strengths.
- Opinion: I don’t have much to say about this one because I’ve never taken it, but I understand that its creators based their assessments on the Myers-Briggs and DISC assessments.
Each of these assessments provides a foundational understanding of a career explorer’s personality, which can be beneficial for personal growth, career planning, and improving interpersonal relationships. While the basic tests and results are free, Crystal Knows also offers premium features and detailed reports for users seeking more in-depth analysis.
What Do the Reports Look Like?
The LinkedIn Banner
The Personality Poster
The Email Signature
The Social Graphic
The Personality Profile
I’m not sure if I received the options above because I paid for a month of their service or if they were included with the free subscription, but test it for yourself and see.
Premium Features and Applications
Like most software companies, they want you to pay for their product and premium features, including:
- Sales Enablement: Crystal provides sales professionals with insights into prospects’ personalities, enabling them to tailor email communications and improve engagement and conversion rates. When speaking to someone with a D personality, it is helpful to communicate with them in their preferred style to elicit a response. As a job seeker, you are a sales professional trying to sell yourself, so understanding the personality of the people you are interviewing with is likely helpful as well.
- Hiring and Recruitment: Recruiters and HR teams can utilize Crystal to assess candidates’ personality fit for specific roles, aiding in the selection process. As I mentioned earlier, this can work both ways if you are a candidate and use the tool to assess the people who are interviewing you within the organization.
- Team Collaboration: Managers can leverage Crystal’s insights to understand team members’ communication styles, fostering better collaboration, reducing conflicts, and improving overall team performance. I can honestly say I don’t know anyone who has used it for this purpose, and I think sales enablement is the primary use here.
- Communication Tools: Crystal offers a Chrome extension and integrates with platforms like Gmail, Outlook, Salesforce, and HubSpot, providing real-time personality insights and communication advice directly within users’ workflows. These communication tools fit well with the sales enablement angle outlined above.
What Does It Cost?
Crystal offers several pricing plans:
- Free Plan: Includes basic personality assessments and limited profile access.
- Premium Plan: Priced at $49 per month, this plan provides advanced tools, personalized communication advice, and access to up to 200 profiles annually. This plan is likely too expensive for anyone in career exploration mode to use on an ongoing basis, but it’s worth testing for a month if you’re heavily into LinkedIn.
- Custom Plans: Tailored solutions for organizations requiring more extensive features and integrations. This one is not for career explorers, but it’s available if you land your dream job and want to use it for your team.
For more information or to explore Crystal Knows’ features, you can visit their official website at crystalknows.com.
What Should You Do Next?
I hope you found this helpful. If you have never heard of Crystal Knows, it can be a valuable resource for self-discovery and personal growth. If you need help in determining the next step in your career and finding a career coach is on your to do list, then check out my pricing and process page to see if I’m a good fit for your needs and then schedule some time for a free consultation so I can listen to your career story and point you in the right direction.
