Let us ponder a while over Personality test and why is it important
The public sector demands punctuality, self-discipline, self-control and sound emotional capabilities. The people who aspire for such a profession need to adhere to the time schedule and work in stressful environment.
Personality is defined as attitude of a person as demonstrated at a particular place or circumstance. Personality traits do help in successful alignment with the particular job requirements. Personality is the set of characteristics that influences ones’ attitude and behaviour in different situations. Different researchers have defined personality and its traits in their own ways. The critical point to note here is that personality plays a very significant role in career.
Careers require some specific kind of qualities to be performed (Gottfredson et al., 1975). There are certain careers that require specific personality traits. These traits must match with the job requirements (Caldwell and Burger, 1998).
Judge et al (1992) stated that the career success is highly dependent on the compatibility and ease between personality of the person and the respective job trait requirements. Therefore, there is need to compare career choices with personality traits. The ignorance of personality type often leads to wrong career choice (Hirschi et al., 2010; Onoyase and Onoyase, 2009).
Let us ponder upon few of the personality virtues and their approach at workplace:
People who possess the virtue of Agreeableness are accommodating and are helpful in nature (Burd and Anderson, 2008). They are very social (Mount et al., 2005) and resolve issues by creating a comfortable and mutual win-win situation (Cattell and Mead, 2008). However, those who rank low on this personality trait are likely to be self-centred. They do not care for the feelings and concerns of the others (Howard et al., Howard, 1995). Ostendorf et al. (1992) took them as unfriendly and rough when they go for social relationships. Based on their self-belief, they are of the notion that others also work to get their personal motives fulfilled (Goldber, 1992).
Another important virtue is the openness to experience that denotes that such people are curious to explore and deduce meanings from different perspectives (Mount et al., 2005). They are considered to be highly spatial, creative and imaginative (Howard and Howard, 1995). They can analyze issues in a different manner (Cattell and Mead, 2008). Those who lack this attribute have traditional problem solving approach (Burd and Anderson, 2008).
There are certain set of people who possess conscientiousness and are very careful about their future plans (Burch and Anderson, 2008). They tend to work without flaws. The chaotic situations give them mental stress (Ostendorf et al., 1992). They are particular about cleanliness and like to see things at right place (Sucier and Goldberg, 1998). Those who are low on this trait are generally casual about their work, and this result in a stressful environment. Such people do not work in a crisp manner so as to ensure that their work is flawless (Goldberg, 1992).
There are people who seem to be open and frank. Such people do have trait of extraversion and are more interactive. They are able to put up their ideas with an ease. Research suggests that this personality dimension is vital to ensure career success (Judge et al., 1999). This personality trait makes people social (Mount et al., 2005). The person who is not extrovert is termed as introvert. Such people don’t open with others and tend to be self-focused.
You may find people around you who show the traits of frustrations, annoyance, hopelessness, tension and self-blame. They basically display the neuroticism trait of personality (Howard and Howard, 1995). This is the personality symbol of the persons who rank high on the neuroticism trait of personality (Ostendorf et al., 1992). Due to neuroticism people usually fail to achieve the desired success in their careers including extrinsic and intrinsic success (Judge et al., 1999). Such people make a fuss out of their own mistakes and faults. These people tend to get stressed and nervous (Sucier and Goldberg, 1998). They lack on emotional intelligence and do suffer from mental disorders and depression (Burch and Anderson, 2008). This may lead to serious impact on their physical as well as mental wellness (Goldberg, 1992). On the contrary, the people who rank low in this personality trait are psychologically stable and are cheerful& optimistic (Mount et al., 2005). They act mature and do not create a mess in the situations of anxiety and stress (Cattell and Mead, 2008).
Personality Traits and Career Preferences
Roberts and Robins (2000) identified that personality has a definite relationship with career goals. It is important for the aspirants and the organisation to understand the compatibility factors between the career decisions and the associated personality traits (Onoyase and Onoyase, 2009).
Let us ponder upon certain important and popular job profiles and the associated personality traits. Here we go!
- Managers/ Executives
Such a profile needs individuals who have instinct to interact in a social manner and can easily adapt with the changes and demand of the market. The managers need to have adequate self-control so that they can perform efficiently under stress and execute their plans.
Management is an art of making other people work for you hence one need to be social and must have the negotiation skills. The successful negotiations need clarity of concepts and the attribute of putting your points in a strong manner. Conscientiousness hence is a necessary trait. Being extrovert adds to the success of the managers. The capability of taking decisions and managing the resources is a but must characteristic of the managers.
While we discussed the traits required for the post of managers, it is equally important to know what kind of skills can make you fail as a manager. Neuroticism is one of such a trait. People with such trait as discussed earlier can lead to take wrong decisions and in turn create nuisance. Being emotional at negotiation table is detrimental.
Hence, we can understand that a moderate person with a mix of extraversion and agreeableness can be the best at negotiations.
- Entrepreneurs
The time of the day is marked by entrepreneurship. This profession requires risk taking and decision-making abilities. Further it requires social interactions hence the person needs to be extrovert. The person has to be vigilant enough to analyse the risks of the market.
The ability to kick off new projects and take it to the desired level is also required. Moreover, the person needs to be adaptive and eager to learn. Once again conscientiousness personality trait plays the important role. The person has to bear stress and risks hence the person should be low neuroticism. The entrepreneurs need to be careful enough to analyse the cost and benefits.
- Socialist
The society is full of people who intend to work for the cause of society and hence sacrifice their own peace and resources. They don’t work for profits. They have to interact a lot and need to empathetic. However, they need to be mentally tough to bear any kind of stress. Another important trait they need to have is to understand and agree on the matters for the betterment of the people and the society. They should never be selfish and work for their self-interest.
The people with shy nature are not suitable for such a profession. It means that extraversion can bring success to such endeavours.
Low or too high on neuroticism makes the people either not to be sympathetic or not to react in the moments filled with emotions. So the people who are average enough on neuroticism should move ahead to take this profession.
- Public Sector Professionals
The public sector demands punctuality, self-discipline, self-control and sound emotional capabilities. The people who aspire for such a profession need to adhere to the time schedule and work in stressful environment. Hence conscientious is the trait that is required in such an aspirant. The calm and cool person is likely to excel here. It is interesting to note that people who can’t work in a predefined mode are not likely to perform well in such a profession.
Since neuroticism leads to work in an environment where time is not a constraint hence people with such a trait are recommended not to take such a profession.
- Scientists and Engineers
The people who are open to learn and deduce the results from the problems are suited for such professions. Experience is a must requirement and it can only be achieved if the person is open enough to learn. The ability to bring out multiple aspects from the problem is required. This requires person to expose themselves to the environment. Being sensitive is the key to evolve the solutions. The people who are introvert are likely to have multi-angled explorations. On the contrary the extroverts are unable to be sensitive towards problems.
Having gone through the above, it is suggested that new aspirants and the organisations hiring people should assess the personality traits of the person. This would help the organisations and the person to have the best possible selection,with regard totheir expectations and would avoid any repent later on the part of the employer as well as the employees. The personality tests hence help both.