The Self-Esteem Trait Identifies the Candidates Worth Interviewing Twice Before You Hire
A candidate can be genuinely humble or convinced they already outrank the person interviewing them, and both read as confidence across a table. The self-esteem trait scores a person's subjective opinion of his or her own worth, which is the reading that matters before you hand someone authority.
What Does the Self-Esteem Trait Measure?
The self-esteem trait measures the good feeling a person has with oneself, expressed as their subjective opinion of his or her own worth. However, it has little to do with actual worth or with competence, and there are very few positions where it carries benchmarks.
Why self-esteem problems are invisible in interviews
High scorers will convincingly tell you their abilities are better than they really are, because that is what they believe. Conviction reads as competence in an interview, and the claim only gets tested once the person is on your payroll.
What the Self-Esteem trait helps you evaluate before you hire
Self-esteem has little to do with actual worth, competence, or even self confidence. Self Confidence is a separate Emotional Competency score covering the belief that one can do something and then actually do it, so the two scores answer different hiring questions.
Why the Self-Esteem Trait Matters in Hiring
This trait behaves unlike most others on the report. Low readings are usually fine and the risk climbs only at the very top, which makes 89 the one line worth watching.
Every Range Cuts Both Ways
Humility and conviction each carry a cost and a benefit here, so no single reading on this trait is good news or bad news by itself.
The Value Is at the Top
The stated value of this score is identifying anyone above 89 before you hire them, which is a group no resume and no reference check surfaces.
A Prompt, Not a Verdict
Research on those scoring 100 found as many good attitudes as bad, so every reading here is a reason to look further into the full profile.
How high Self-Esteem scores show up on the job
The documented failure case is a manager hired at 100 who turned out to believe he knew more than the owner of the company, on a background drawn from an entirely different industry.
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How the Self-Esteem Trait Is Scored
Five ranges cover this trait, and the line that matters in hiring is 89, above which interviewing the candidate further is always advisable. Every range carries a strength and a caution, so contrast the number against the rest of the results rather than reading it alone.
89 is the line that matters. Above it, interviewing the candidate further before an offer is always advisable.
Low — 0 to 29
Humility is a virtue rather than a fault, and rarely a concern. It becomes one only where the role requires real leadership, and zero can be serious in rare cases.
Medium — 30 to 60
An average reading across the behavior traits is 50, which makes this a good score. The assessment states the range affects no position adversely on its own, so move on.
Medium — 30 to 60
An average reading across the behavior traits is 50, a good score here. This range affects no position adversely on its own.
Self-Esteem is one of four traits measured together in the Controller and Assertive quadrant
This score feeds the quadrant as well as standing on its own, and each trait beside it changes how you weigh the rest of the profile. It is one of the readings that build the Controller / Assertive Quadrant, the direct and results driven profile set directly opposite Supporter and Empathy.
Self Confidence
The two scores move independently, so a modest candidate can read low here and still hold a strong Self Confidence result. Check both before judging readiness.
Assertiveness
Assertiveness covers the comfort to speak up and persuade. High readings on both point toward leadership, since this range is itself an indicator of leadership potential.
Competitiveness
Competitiveness completes the quadrant but appears only on SL and Work Styles reports, so an IC profile builds this quadrant from three traits rather than four.
Confront People
Confront People covers facing difficult situations directly. High on both produces a manager who confronts with conviction, a combination the assessment already flags as potentially overbearing.
Personal & Assessment Honesty
Personal Honesty can move with this trait. Someone who thinks he or she is better than reality may show up with a low Personal Honesty reading.
Controller / Assertive Quadrant
Self-Esteem is one of four readings that build the Controller and Assertive quadrant, which carries a lot of confidence and determination at its upper end.
Best Practice: Assessment results support your hiring decisions, they do not replace them. Always read the self-esteem trait score alongside the full profile and your role benchmarks before drawing a conclusion.
How to Interpret Self-Esteem Results
The marker already adjusts for the way high and low scorers answer, so treat the number as a prompt for your interview rather than as a correction you have to make.
What to Do Based on Your Self-Esteem Score
Check only whether the role genuinely requires leadership. A zero can be serious in rare cases, so confirm the wider profile before ruling the candidate out.
Nothing to act on unless the role requires leading others. Reserve any concern for those positions, and read the score alongside the rest of the quadrant.
Nothing here needs action. Move to the rest of the profile, and spend your interview time on the traits that carry a benchmark for this role.
Verify claimed abilities against references rather than against the interview, because candidates in this range believe their own account of themselves and state it entirely convincingly.
Interview further before any offer is made. Ask how they handle being wrong, and check references on how they treat expertise that contradicts their own view.
Assessment results support decisions, they do not make them. Always interpret scores in context: the specific role, interview performance, references, and your organization's culture.
The Self-Esteem Trait Matters for Every Role You Hire
Very few positions carry a benchmark for this trait, so use the reading to shape your interview rather than to screen a shortlist.
Roles where Self-Esteem is especially critical
| Role | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Senior Leadership | A low reading is seldom a problem except where the applicant needs to be in a leadership role, which makes this the one place it counts. |
| Manager of Managers | Authority multiplies whatever sits underneath it, and a leader who believes their judgment outranks everyone above them will eventually test that belief on the whole business. |
| Board-Facing Roles | Unrealistic confidence produces expensive mistakes in front of a board, because candidates at this end state their own estimates with the same certainty as established facts. |
| Executive Hire | The cost of arrogance scales with the seat, so the extra interview is cheapest at exactly the level where hiring teams most often skip it entirely. |
Relevant for all role types
General Manager
Department Head
Sales Manager
Team Lead
Project Manager
Operations Supervisor
Customer Service Representative
Executive Assistant
If any of these situations sound familiar, this assessment is for you
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Frequently Asked Questions
The self-esteem trait measures the good feeling a person has with oneself, or their subjective opinion of his or her own worth. It has little to do with actual worth or competence, so read it as a measure of self-concept rather than of ability.
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