What We Can Learn From The Traitors
We didn’t watch The Traitors like normal people. While everyone else shouted at the TV, we quietly thought: “Yep. Seen that in an interview.” “And that.” “Oh, that one costs companies a fortune.” Because underneath the cloaks and candlelight, The Traitors is a very familiar mess. People make confident decisions about others with very little insight. Which, unfortunately, is how a lot of hiring still works.
Strip away the castle and the theatrics, and you are left with a familiar situation. A group of people trying to decide who to trust, who to back, and who to remove, with limited information and plenty of pressure. In other words, hiring without data.
On The Traitors, the loudest voices often take control of the room. They sound certain. They speak first. Others follow. High Extraversion looks impressive, but confidence is not the same thing as competence, and it is definitely not the same thing as job fit. Interviews reward the same behaviours for the same reasons.
As pressure builds, behaviour does not become random. It becomes clearer. Some people dominate. Some react emotionally. Others step back and observe. These are not surprises. They are stable personality traits becoming more visible under stress. This is exactly why psychometric insight matters more than polished interview answers.
Likeable people are protected longer than they should be. Quiet people become suspicious faster than they deserve. First impressions harden into decisions. Without a way to properly interpret behaviour, unconscious bias fills the gaps. That is not a personality problem. It is a hiring one.
The Traitors works because it exposes an uncomfortable truth. Humans are inconsistent judges of other humans when relying on instinct alone. Psychometric testing exists because behaviour follows patterns, and patterns beat hunches every time. Reality TV gives you a reset button. Hiring does not.
That is why tools like those at www.big5assessments.com exist. Not to remove judgement, but to give it something solid to stand on. Because watching The Traitors feels a lot like déjà vu for anyone who has ever hired someone and hoped for the best.
About the Author: Nikky Van Bommel
Nikky van Bommel is the Marketing Director for Big 5 Assessments and has worked in the Psychometric Testing industry for over 10 years. Nikky is responsible for all marketing and social media for the organisation. 
