Personality at work has never been more important. More and more recruiters are using personality assessments to evaluate candidates for hiring and job placement.
Although personality represents a small portion of what we’re like at work, it is the catalyst that leads to positive outcomes within an organization in the long run. Afterall, happy employees are motivated employees that drive success to a company.
Understanding a person’s natural specific traits and behaviors at work is essential for two reasons:
- First, it can predict how the individual will interact and behave with others in a group or team.
- Second, personality data identifies whether the individual fits with the tasks and responsibilities required for the position.
Consider traits such as communication and decision-making — for example. Both crucial performance elements for understanding and predicting work performance at an individual and organizational level.
Let’s take a closer look at the two traits mentioned:
Communication
We all know that communication is very important. And spending 8+ hours a day with coworkers certainly requires great communication skills.
A recurring problem we see in recruitment these days is recruiters heavily relying on resumes to screen candidates. Meanwhile, candidates are attempting to convince recruiters of soft skills they do not actually possess. Some will go out of their way to say that that they are “fantastic communicators” simply because they want the job… uh-oh!
So now what? Recruiters are finding that experience and education do not determine the way employees communicate with each other — but in fact, their personalities.Communication is a fundamental element in coworker relationships. The ability to express and communicate can make or break a team.Therefore knowing and understanding the traits and behaviors that form a candidate’s character is essential for predicting how he or she will interact and behave with others in the long term.
Decision making
Personality plays a huge role in the decision making process. Many of us are aware that there are multiple ways to make decisions. From a logical point of view, a decision should be made based on a high potential of achieving success. Yet this is not always the case, as decisions could be colored by a person’s values and motivations. For example, a daring and adventurous employee, may be quick and even impulsive in making decisions. While on the contrary, an analytical employee may need to contemplate every angle before weighing in on a decision.
Hence, organizations are beginning to recognize the importance of personality when looking for candidates to fill job openings. Different roles require different skill sets and aptitudes, and most certainly different personalities. Not everyone is meant to be in leadership position; not everyone has the grit to be a customer contact; and not everyone has the drive to hit sales quotas.
Research studies show that the relationship between personality traits and job performance, using data from tens of thousands of employees significantly predict job performance (Barrick & Mount, 1991). To add, some jobs more than others are sensitive to the affect personality has on performance. Those jobs include positions in sales, customer service and leadership.
Therefore, paying attention to personality traits and motivation drivers is not only prudent but mandatory when hiring or developing talent. Matching the right personality along with the right skills to each job is as important as evaluating a person’s training and hard skills set off of a resume.
By identifying individuals who have a matched personality profile to a job, sourcing becomes simpler.
Try screening employees within your company and select someone that has the soft skills to get the job done right and can be trained to acquire the hard skills. You may be surprised and discover potential high performance sales professionals that are hiding in your organization; and personality assessment tools will help you identify them!
Curious to find out if your candidates have the right personality traits for the job? Start your free trial today and test your candidate quickly & effectively for free!