Why I took every assessment available—and what they all said about my HR career

It wasn’t the first time that I’d done my Hogan assessment, but the results still stung. I received my report at the end of my MBA program, sitting in a room with 100+ of my classmates. As the professor started to discuss the Hogan results, I was mortified and wanted to hide my report from my peers.

In many ways, my Hogan report said what I already knew was true. I’m highly self-critical, which forces me to second-guess myself. I constantly seek out others’ opinions, even for minor decisions.

And I often end up regretting the decisions that I make, such as the VP job offer that I turned down a few years ago. Being self-critical means that I constantly ask for feedback, in an attempt to improve myself. Yet ironically, I have a hard time accepting any critical feedback and I take it really personally.

It's not just Hogan. Over the years, I’ve completed every assessment I could get my hands on—DISC, Gallup CliftonStrengths, Harrison, VIA Character Strengths, MBTI the GC Index and more. This is something that highly self-critical people do! We constantly look for ways to improve ourselves. The assessments all say the same thing.

Why did I do so many assessments? Because I spent years in HR roles that slowly eroded my confidence, drained my energy, and left me questioning my own capabilities. Despite climbing the ladder in HR, achieving what looked like success from the outside, I carried a persistent feeling that I was doing something wrong. I was good at my job, but I wasn't thriving in it.

It took a mountain of assessment data and years of reflection for me to figure it out: Maybe I never belonged in HR at all.

What the data reveals

So why did I feel so misaligned with work that should have been fulfilling? The assessments provide a clue; each one added another piece to the puzzle I was trying to solve. Some interesting patterns emerged that were impossible to ignore:

My interests told a different story. After spending 15 years in HR, I took the Harrison assessment, which determines your suitability for different careers. My ideal career matches are Editor (93.8%), Book Editor (93.0%) and Copy Reader (92.8%). These matches clearly align to my love of writing and editing, but not a single HR role made the top tier.

My personality wasn't built for HR. The Hogan results were particularly revealing. I scored in the 4th percentile for Affiliation—meaning I preferred to work alone and didn't need or want the constant social interaction that HR demands. My Interpersonal Sensitivity score was in the 2nd percentile, making the emotional labor of HR particularly draining.

My strengths pointed elsewhere. Several of my assessment reports cited “analytical” as a strength as well as my focus on consistency and fairness. My analytical mind makes me logical, rigorous and dispassionate. I search for patterns and when I can’t find them, I call B.S.. This strength can be problematic when dealing with people because people are messy, irrational and unpredictable. At the same time, fairness and consistency are so important to me. I think everyone should be treated the same and the rulebook should apply equally to everyone, regardless of seniority, connections or perceived value to the organization. But in HR, it is often so difficult to apply this fairness across the board. Both because senior management will often step in and override HR decisions and leadership often “plays favorites” with specific employees. This never sat well with me and is one of the reasons I’m no longer in an in-house HR role.

Over time, the evidence was stacking up. I was trying to succeed in a field that required me to work against my natural strengths, talents and behaviors.

Over time, the evidence was stacking up. I was trying to succeed in a field that required me to work against my natural strengths, talents and behaviors.

A similar thing happened to my client Rita. After finishing her Hogan debrief, she told me, "If I had done this a few years before, I would have probably had a different career path." (You and me both Rita!) As Head of HR at an international school for 8 years, Rita had felt stuck. She had proven herself beyond the administrative work she started with, but as a perfectionist with strong work ethic and loyalty, she found herself working longer hours than even the teachers, taking on work that didn't fall under HR's remit. All of this contributed to self-doubt and questioning her abilities.

Through coaching, Rita established boundaries that allowed her to stop working nights and evenings, created space for personal pursuits, learned to speak up with confidence and push back on last-minute requests, and identified her strengths to write a new story for her next career phase.

The hidden cost

Staying too long in the wrong role doesn't just limit your career—it damages you. You begin to question your judgment, your capabilities, even your worth. I see this pattern constantly in my coaching practice. Brilliant senior HR leaders come to me feeling stuck, unmotivated and convinced they're not good enough for the next level. They've internalized years of struggling in roles that don't align with their strengths. And now they believe that the problem is them.

When you're in the wrong role for your personality, your values, and your natural strengths, even your genuine successes feel hollow. You achieve things, but they don't energize you. You solve problems, but you don't feel fulfilled. You advance, but you don't feel aligned.

The assessment data doesn't lie

If you're feeling stuck in your HR career, the issue might not be that you need to upskill or build your confidence. The issue might be that you're trying to force yourself to succeed in a role that was never the right fit for you.

That realization made all of the difference for my career. Once I understood myself more, I could finally step into work that energized rather than drained me. Coaching senior HR leaders allows me to use my analytical strengths, my love of problem-solving, and my altruistic desire to help others improve—all while working in a way that honors my need to work on my own terms.

My Harrison assessment also showed that I’d be suitable in a Career Counsellor role (81.4%) and as a Teacher Trainer (74.3%). As an Executive Coach and Corporate Trainer, I use the skills and strengths found in both of these roles in my work today.

Your journey to awareness

My journey to self-awareness took years of trial and error, multiple assessments, and countless coaching sessions. I made costly mistakes—staying too long in roles that weren't right, doubting my capabilities when the real issue was misalignment, and letting imposter syndrome convince me

I wasn't ready for work that actually excited me.

I don’t want you to repeat my journey.

After 7 years with her company, my client Jackie had risen to Head of HR for APAC. But success felt hollow. Her learning curve had flattened, and despite her senior title, she still felt like the most junior person in the room when dealing with the mostly male management team. She was feeling small in rooms where she belonged, trapped in execution mode instead of strategic thinking, and suffering from self-doubt that overshadowed 7 years of proven success.

Through coaching and the Hogan assessment, Jackie didn't just find her voice—she reclaimed it.

She identified her unique strengths and began to see herself as others saw her: a senior leader, not an imposter. Jackie shifted from execution to driving real HR strategy, started contributing to leadership decisions that shaped company direction, and gained clarity on her next career step.

The revelation? She had outgrown HR entirely and was ready to step back into a commercial role with P&L responsibility.

Both Jackie and Rita discovered in months what took me years to understand about myself. With the right assessment tools and guidance, you can quickly identify whether your current challenges stem from a skills gap or a fundamental misalignment.

If you're feeling stuck in your HR career, before you assume you need upskilling or different strategies, ask yourself: Do you really understand who you are and what kind of work allows you to thrive? The clarity you seek is closer than you think. 

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Ready to discover what your assessment data reveals about your true career path? I help senior female HR leaders gain the clarity they need to love their work or find work they love—without spending years in trial and error. I write about:

👂 Executive & career coaching

📄 Career development and career transition

🎯 Job search strategy

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