SHL OPQ Personality Test: What It Measures and How to Approach It
Updated: September 2026
Key Facts
- The OPQ (Occupational Personality Questionnaire) is SHL’s personality test — separate from SHL’s aptitude and general ability tests.
- It measures 32 personality characteristics, grouped into three areas: how you relate to people, how you think, and how you handle feelings.
- There are no right or wrong answers and it is usually untimed — it builds a profile, it doesn’t score you pass/fail.
- The modern version is forced-choice: you rank statements by how much they’re like you, a format designed to make faking difficult.
- It’s one of the most widely used personality questionnaires by large employers, especially across the UK and Europe.
What the SHL OPQ actually is
The OPQ — the Occupational Personality Questionnaire — is SHL’s personality assessment. If you’ve already met SHL’s numerical, verbal, or general ability tests, this is the other half of what SHL offers: those measure what you can do, the OPQ measures how you tend to work. They’re different tests with a different purpose, and employers often use both in the same hiring process.
The current flagship version is OPQ32, which builds a profile across 32 personality traits. It isn’t an exam. There’s no passing mark. Instead, your answers are turned into a profile and compared against a relevant group of other professionals, so the employer can see your working style relative to the role.
New to personality tests in general? Start with our complete guide to job personality tests → for how these assessments work across every brand — then come back here for the SHL specifics.
What the OPQ measures
The 32 traits sit inside three broad areas. You don’t need to memorise all 32 — understanding the three areas is enough to know what the test is reading:
1. Relationships with people — how you interact with others: whether you’re outgoing or reserved, how much you like to influence and lead, how you handle relationships and social situations.
2. Thinking style — how you approach information and decisions: whether you’re detail-focused or big-picture, analytical or intuitive, structured or flexible, conventional or open to new ideas.
3. Feelings and emotions — how you manage pressure and your own emotions: how relaxed or tense you tend to be, how you respond to setbacks, how you handle stress.
How this maps to the five core traits
These three areas map cleanly onto the five traits that sit under every personality test:
- Relationships with people → largely Extraversion and Agreeableness
- Thinking style → largely Openness and Conscientiousness
- Feelings and emotions → largely Emotional stability
So while SHL uses its own language and 32 fine-grained scales, it’s ultimately reading the same underlying picture as any other personality test. Learn the five, and the OPQ’s structure makes sense.
The format: forced-choice, and why it matters
The modern OPQ is forced-choice. Rather than rating single statements on an agree–disagree scale, you’re shown small sets of statements and asked to pick which is most like you and which is least like you.
This matters more than it looks. Because you’re forced to choose, you can’t simply agree strongly with every positive-sounding statement — picking one means rejecting another. The format exists specifically to stop candidates from presenting themselves as strong on everything. It’s untimed, so there’s no speed pressure; the goal is a genuine read of your preferences, not a race.
No right answers — but faking still fails
It’s tempting to treat “there are no wrong answers” as an invitation to guess what the employer wants. That’s the trap. Here’s why it backfires on the OPQ specifically:
- The forced-choice format already makes it hard to look good on every trait at once.
- Repetition across the questionnaire means the same tendencies come up in different forms — answer as an invented “ideal” candidate and your choices start to contradict each other.
- An inconsistent or overly polished profile reads as impression management, which employers treat as a warning sign in its own right.
A genuine, consistent profile that’s a reasonable fit for the role beats a suspiciously perfect one every time.
How to approach the OPQ
- Answer as your professional self. Picture yourself at work, not at home. That’s the honest and relevant version of you.
- Go with your instinct. It’s untimed, but overthinking each block creates inconsistency. Your first read is usually your most consistent one.
- Don’t try to be strong on everything. The forced-choice format won’t let you, and trying makes your profile look managed.
- Know the role. If you know the job leans on teamwork, or on independent analysis, let the genuinely true side of yourself come through — that’s positioning, not lying.
- Stay consistent. The same tendencies are probed more than once. Answer honestly and they’ll line up on their own.
You can’t revise your way to a different OPQ profile, and you shouldn’t try. What you can do is walk in understanding exactly how the test works, answer without anxiety, and avoid the self-inflicted red flags that filter out candidates who were perfectly employable.
Want the full method? Our complete guide to job personality tests → breaks down all five traits, both question formats, and the honesty-and-consistency approach in depth. Also facing SHL’s aptitude tests? See our SHL General Ability test guide →.
Frequently asked questions
Is the SHL OPQ a pass or fail test? No. The OPQ has no pass mark. It produces a personality profile that’s compared against a relevant group, and the employer judges fit for the role — not a score you pass or fail.
How long does the SHL OPQ take? It’s usually untimed and most people complete it in around 25 to 45 minutes. There’s no time pressure, because the goal is an accurate read of your preferences rather than speed.
Can you prepare for the SHL OPQ? You can’t revise to change your personality profile, but you can prepare by understanding the format, knowing the traits it measures, and practising answering consistently and instinctively as your professional self.
Is the OPQ the same as SHL’s aptitude tests? No. SHL’s aptitude and general ability tests measure reasoning skills. The OPQ measures personality and working style. They’re separate assessments, and employers often use both together.
Should you answer honestly on the SHL OPQ? Yes — honestly, but through a professional lens. The forced-choice format and repeated questions are designed to catch candidates trying to fake an ideal profile, so consistency and honesty work in your favour.
Disclaimer: SHL, OPQ, OPQ32, and the Occupational Personality Questionnaire are trademarks of their respective owners. AptitudeAce is an independent preparation and educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or otherwise connected to SHL or any other test publisher. All references are made solely to help candidates understand and prepare for the assessments they may encounter. Content is provided for educational and preparation purposes only, and any practice materials are original and do not reproduce the content of any specific published test.
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