A Winning Personality

Finding your perfect career match is about more than experience and qualifications. Personality matters too.

For every personality there’s a job that fits, but there’s 1 personality trait employers value most across all career types. We’ll get to that in a mo.

The effects our personality has on our job performance can depend on what our jobs are. An introvert could be an amazing programmer, and an extrovert might make a rubbish librarian.

But, it’s more nuanced than that. For us recruiters, we can’t simply presume outgoing, extroverted people fit in every job situation.

A study by Psychological Science shows those who manage to match their jobs to their personality do better, get promoted, and have more success. But there can be too much of a good thing.

“Employees who were more agreeable, more conscientious, or more open to experiences than their jobs required actually earned less than people who had congruent levels of those traits.”

Ouch!

It’s all about finding the right fit and matching personalities to the right environments.

So, that 1 personality trait most coveted by employees across the board? Being highly conscientious. This is linked with hard work, good organisation skills, and following rules. All prized in today’s workplaces.

So, no slacking!

Written by Jason Connolly