Hiring by Enneagram Type: Unethical or Effective?

The regional head of HR at a global car leasing firm leaned in, clearly energized as I explained the core traits of the nine Enneagram personality types. “This is brilliant—we make our entire sales team Type 3s!” he exclaimed.  My eyes widened as I processed the implications of what he was suggesting.

As we continued our discussion, he posed a question I’ve heard countless times: “Can we have applicants take an Enneagram assessment as part of the recruitment process and then hire based on type?”

Whether it is said out loud or thought subconsciously, the question of hiring by type has been coming up ever since the Enneagram entered the business world decades ago. While the appeal of hiring based on Enneagram type is understandable, it also introduces serious legal, ethical and practical risks. Hiring by type is not only ineffective but potentially discriminatory, and organizations can make far better use of the Enneagram as a tool for onboarding and integration.

The Enneagram in the Workplace

The Enneagram has been making appearances in the business world since the 1990s. Over the decades, the personality system has been used for executive coaching, team building, conflict resolution, icebreakers for company offsites and more. Companies including Google, the CIA, Genentech, NASA, Unilever and Nike have turned to the Enneagram as a powerful, non-personal way to explore work styles, team dynamics and interpersonal challenges. 

Widely regarded as one of the richest and most nuanced personality systems, the Enneagram differs from tools like Myers and Briggs or DISC in a critical way by focusing on motivation rather than behavior. It goes beyond describing what you do. It helps uncover why you do it.

The Enneagram arrives in the workplace through a variety of entry points. Some organizations bring in certified practitioners to offer executive coaching for senior leadership. Enneagram workshops can be part of a company’s annual offsite. Team building and conflict resolution training programs are other common places you will find the Enneagram. And sometimes the Enneagram makes its way to the human resources department and becomes part of the recruiting and onboarding process.

Recruiting and the Enneagram

Across human resources departments worldwide, more and more Enneagram assessments are finding their way into employee personnel files and like any tool, the Enneagram can be useful when used the right way. But to use it effectively, we begin by asking a few fundamental questions starting with one of the most critical ones: is it legal to use the Enneagram as a hiring tool?

Is it Legal to Use the Enneagram in Recruiting?

While it may not explicitly be illegal, using the Enneagram as a tool to select or screen out candidates runs the risk of opening a company up to legal liability. For example, in the United States, using Enneagram assessments to eliminate or favor candidates might violate the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s anti-discrimination laws.

Consider this scenario: a San Francisco-based technology company incorporates an Enneagram assessment into its initial screening process. Applicants are asked to complete an online test before advancing to the interview stage of the recruitment process. The company begins to prefer candidates who are Type 3 Achievers and Type 8 Challengers since they are seen as assertive, go-getter types. It filters out candidates who test as Type 2 Givers and Type 9 Peacemakers since they are seen as too passive. Over time, a trend appears showing that most applicants who are hired are male and from Western cultural backgrounds. Women and candidates from more collectivist cultures don’t advance in the hiring process. 

While it isn’t universally true that Type 3s are more likely to be male and from Western cultural backgrounds, in certain candidate pools this may be the case. Whether deliberate or not, favoring certain personality types over others may result in filtering out people with protected traits like gender or ethnicity, leading to a discriminatory hiring process.

Using the Enneagram as a decisive hiring filter could also open a company up to lawsuits by rejected candidates who point to the fact that the Enneagram isn't a scientifically validated tool for predicting job performance. If a candidate learns they were rejected based on their Enneagram assessment results, they may have a legal argument that the decision was arbitrary and based on unscientifically valid criteria.

But even beyond the legal concerns, there is an ethical question.

Is it Ethical to Recruit by Type?

Using the Enneagram to filter candidates, whether to favor or reject someone based solely on their type, raises ethical concerns. It reduces individuals to a stereotype and misuses a system designed for growth and self-understanding. This kind of “type bias” is similar to other forms of discrimination, reinforcing narrow ideas of who belongs in certain roles.

The reality is that no Enneagram type has a monopoly on traits like drive, collaboration or leadership. Every type expresses itself through a wide and nuanced range. Oversimplifying these dynamics to fit a hiring formula dismisses the individuality, talent and lived experience each person brings to the table.

Another ethical challenge is who decides which types are “right” for a role? These judgments are highly subjective and often reflect cultural or organizational bias. And there is a lot of variation within types. As we know, there are introverted Type 7s and extraverted Type 5s. Type is broad and doesn't dictate talent.

As leadership coach and team development consultant Pieter Polhuijs puts it, “I’ve seen Type 5 Investigators make amazing HR leaders, and I’ve seen Type 6 Skeptics be extremely successful as sales people. It isn’t someone’s Enneagram type that makes them good for a role. It is their level of self-awareness and personal mastery.”

Is it Effective to Recruit by Type?

Even if it were ethical or legal, hiring by type is still ineffective. Success in a role depends on far more than personality type. It is shaped and influenced by communication ability, adaptability, emotional intelligence, lived experience, self-awareness, and more.

While stereotypes may suggest that Type 3s make great salespeople or Type 5s are ideal engineers, these assumptions collapse under scrutiny. As Enneagram trainer and organization development consultant R. Karl Hebenstreit notes, “When we refer to an Enneagram type, we are usually imagining the fixated version of the type, someone acting out their unconscious patterns. But hiring someone with high mastery, a person who has grown beyond the automatic responses of their type, is ultimately far more valuable.”

In other words, effectiveness isn’t about being a particular type, but rather about how well someone understands and manages their own patterns, regardless of type. Building on the insights of Hebenstreit and Polhuijs, I’ll use myself as an example. 

I’m an Enneagram Type 7, the Enthusiast, a personality described as positive, upbeat, fun-loving and variety seeking. Type 7s do well in fast-paced, highly diverse and innovative environments. We excel at brainstorming and future casting. While imaginative in our thinking, we are not as good with the details and, in general, we don’t do well in repetitive, overly structured environments. And yet I built a successful career for over 20 years as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and even served as a CFO. I was able to be an effective accountant as a Type 7, I just did it differently. I gravitated to strategy roles where being able to project the future was valuable. I knew I wasn’t detail oriented so I built in extra checks and procedures to make sure my work was accurate. I was able to succeed in the role by adapting how I worked.

Where the Enneagram Does Belong: Onboarding and Team Development

If companies shouldn’t use Enneagram assessments as part of the hiring process, when does it fit into the recruiting process?

Hebenstreit offers a practical answer, “Whenever there is a change in the team composition, it is a good time to do Enneagram training. In my experience, when a new leader is brought in it is particularly valuable. And if a new team member is added, have them do an Enneagram assessment and add it to the team report.”

Used after hiring, as part of onboarding and team development, the Enneagram becomes a tool for insight rather than exclusion. It can help new hires integrate more smoothly, it fosters empathy and understanding among teammates, and it supports the growth of healthy, high-functioning teams. The strongest teams aren’t made by selecting certain types but rather by understanding the nuance of every individual. And in this space of understanding, the Enneagram offers a valuable lens.