Beyond recruitment, personality profiles serve as an essential tool for managers—used from day one to support leadership and collaboration.

For over a decade, nearly every recruitment process at Laattapiste-Pukkila Oy has involved the same trusted partner: Senior Consultant Kari Kuosmanen from Minervapartners.

“In practice, Kari has recruited a significant portion of our staff. With his help, we gain a much clearer understanding of what kind of personalities are the best fit for our company culture and teams,” says Marko Saapunki, CFO and HR Director at Laattapiste-Pukkila.

At the heart of Kuosmanen’s recruitment process is the WorkPlace Big Five personality profiling tool, which is used for all candidates who reach the final stages of recruitment.

“We’re looking for people who fit the Laattapiste-Pukkila’s ‘DNA’. I can’t always put into words what that means, but once I see a candidate’s personality profile, I can quickly assess—often within minutes—whether they possess the key qualities for the role and the culture, or if it’s clear that they’re not a good match,” Kuosmanen explains.

Bringing Personality to the Forefront

Every recruitment at Laattapiste-Pukkila begins with a discussion between Kuosmanen and the hiring manager: What kind of person are we looking for? What are the expectations? What’s the current team dynamic?

The first round of 20–30-minute interviews usually includes 6–8 candidates. From there, two finalists are selected for WorkPlace Big Five profiling and an in-depth, 90-minute follow-up interview.

“I can’t determine someone’s suitability for a role based solely on the first interview. Of course, the basic competencies and experience must be there, but the real insight comes from the profiling,” Kuosmanen says.

He prepares thoroughly for the in-depth interview by reviewing the profile in depth.

“Personality is a complex combination of many elements. The results must be interpreted from multiple perspectives. I ask myself: what are the critical personality traits in this individual that I need to understand?” Kuosmanen explains.

Searching for the Right Traits

As a sales-driven organization, Laattapiste-Pukkila typically looks for people with a commercial mindset. Kuosmanen, therefore, searches for traits like high energy mode and drive in the profiles.

“We’re not looking for people who avoid conflict at all costs – we need those who are willing to engage with customers and close deals. One crucial trait we look at is whether the person is self-centered or genuinely motivated to help others,” Kuosmanen explains.

To complement the profiling, Kuosmanen also uses cognitive ability tests with final candidates.

“For example, if someone is naturally fast-paced and spontaneous but also scores highly on the ability test, it’s likely their quick decisions lead in the right direction,” he says.

Adding Value for Candidates

After reviewing the candidate’s profile, Kuosmanen conducts the in-depth interview and concludes by sharing a personalized analysis of their personality and working style.

“Candidates are welcome to disagree—and that often leads to even deeper discussion. But most are amazed at how accurately I can describe them based on one hour of conversation. That’s the power of profiling,” Kuosmanen says.

It’s important to him that even those not selected for the role gain value from the process and walk away with better self-understanding.

“Most importantly, they understand that they weren’t bad – simply that someone else was a better fit for this particular role,” he adds.

An Exceptional Team

Thanks to personality profiling, Laattapiste-Pukkila has succeeded in building high-performing, cohesive teams.

One example is the customer service team led by Customer Service Manager Sara Kosamo. About half of the team members were hired in a short time period using the WorkPlace Big Five Profile.

“We’ve invested time and energy into understanding each individual’s strengths – and also potential challenges they might face in this type of work. Working in customer service comes with its fair share of demanding situations,” Kosamo explains.

According to Kosamo, the team works incredibly well together, with mutual respect and attentiveness at its core.

In customer service, the desired profile includes stability, responsibility, patience and comfort with routine work and an analytical approach.

“Without personality profiling, we would’ve had to rely more on intuition. And intuition can sometimes be wrong,” Kosamo reflects. “I remember a case where both Kari and I had a great impression of a candidate in the initial interview. But the personality profile and in-depth discussion revealed traits that suggested they would not thrive in the role. Conversely, some candidates’ strengths have only become visible through the profiling process – and they ended up being hired.”

A Key Leadership Tool

At Laattapiste-Pukkila, personality profiling isn’t just for hiring—it’s an ongoing tool for leadership.

According to Saapunki, the profile offers valuable insight that managers can use from the moment a new employee starts.

“It makes leadership easier when you understand your team members better. For instance, people recover from workload at different rates, which is something managers need to be aware of. Sensitivity to time pressure and ability to focus also vary—and these differences matter,” he explains.

Sara Kosamo also uses profile insights during onboarding.

“I feel much more confident starting the onboarding process when I already have a framework for understanding the person. With a more analytical individual, I know to go through things more thoroughly. With a fast-paced person, it’s better to learn by doing,” she says.

Kuosmanen refers to profiling as ‘Development Discussion Zero’.

“A profile is like a user manual for a person. It saves a lot of money and time—not having to wait six months for the manager to figure out how someone works. With the profiling, I can brief them right away on the person’s work style and what they’ll need in terms of leadership,” he explains.

WorkPlace Big Five: A Smart Recruitment Partner

Enables more informed hiring decisions
Supports individualized onboarding
Serves as a leadership tool from day one

Learn more about WorkPlace Big Five and add it to your professional toolkit.

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Kari Kuosmanen is an experienced recruitment professional and Senior Consultant at Minervapartners. He has used the WorkPlace Big Five Profile for over ten years.