The Hogan Test and TT38
Hogan reveals reputation. TT38 reveals the underlying talents.
Hogan boasts one of the strongest published validity foundations available for understanding how others perceive an individual and what can cause an employee to falter under pressure. Excellent for engagement, but requires extensive training to use.
Hogan
Hogan consists of 5 parts and rests on one of the strongest published validity foundations on the market, designed to predict job performance and leadership effectiveness. For leadership selection, coaching, and succession planning, Hogan is indispensable.
TT38
TT38 outlines the talents behind Hogan. It shows whether the behaviour Hogan measures is natural, or if the person is adapting because the role demands it, which slowly drains them. It also adds the energy balance: whether a skilled employee is working within their talents or is on their way out, long before a derailer appears.
The chart makes it tangible: a green highlight indicates strong performance in an area, while yellow means it doesn't quite hit the mark. This way, you can instantly see where Hogan and TT38 each cover different aspects.
Hogan
TT38
Reputation - how do others perceive them?
Hogan measures reputation: the version of the person reliably experienced by colleagues and managers. TT38 looks inwards at the talents that drive the person behind the reputation.
Derailers - what happens under pressure?
HDS is Hogan’s hallmark: the overplayed strengths that cause a leader to falter under stress. TT38 doesn’t explain derailers, but shows when pressure arises because the work is far removed from natural talents.
Values and Motives - what drives them?
MVPI maps values, motives, and what gets people out of bed. TT38 supplements this by identifying which talents energise the work itself – not just which values the role should match.
Leadership Selection - do they fit the job?
Hogan is among the best-documented tools for predicting leadership performance and selecting senior staff. TT38 adds whether the individual’s talent landscape will sustain them in the role long-term.
Match over time - are they thriving?
A pure Hogan profile might match the role profile, without the person thriving. Well-being depends on whether tasks activate talents – and that falls outside Hogan’s scope.
Energy Balance - does the job drain them?
HDS shows what happens under acute stress. It doesn’t show the slow exhaustion that occurs when someone consistently works outside their natural talents. That’s what TT38 measures.
Development - what should they do more of?
Hogan points to risks to mitigate: what to watch out for. TT38 points to talents to unleash: what to do more of, and where one can grow.
Potential - ready for the next level?
Hogan shows who doesn’t have derailers. TT38 shows who has the natural capacity and the right talent landscape to grow into a larger role.
If you need to know more, let us delve deeper
Sometimes the problem lies where the profile doesn't look. A leader hits all targets, but the team around her loses momentum. A trusted employee resigns on a Friday, and afterwards, no one can pinpoint what they overlooked.
When the source of such issues lies in how people use their abilities daily, a picture of how they appear externally falls short.
Therefore, use the chart as more than just a list of differences. It shows you in which areas Hogan and TT38 answer the same questions, and where only one of them captures what the matter truly entails for you.
Simply put: if you need to select leaders, understand reputation, or identify what might cause a stressed senior professional to fail, Hogan is an indispensable tool.
But if you want to understand what enables people to perform at their best year after year without burning out, you're asking a question that TT38 is designed to answer.
Hopefully, the overview above has cut through some of the noise as you make your decision.
Once you've invested in Hogan's thoroughness, you keep it – and bring in TT38 where it's about more than reputation and risk. It's not so much an either-or situation.
Try to compare your own needs against the two. If the emphasis is on selection, leadership effectiveness, and spotting early warning signs, Hogan performs admirably. If it's more about whether your people are doing what they are designed for and thriving in it long-term, that points towards TT38.
And TT38 can certainly stand alone. If you don't already have a personality assessment tool, it functions perfectly as a central point in itself – all the way from recruitment to development and retention.
So what should you choose?
Do you have a talent for what drives you?
You can be good at something and still grow tired of it over time.
If you have your free TT38 profile reviewed with a talent advisor, you'll see what keeps you going, and you'll become better at spotting when one of your skilled people is running out of steam.