Predictors of job performance: How important is Personality?

It is considered that experience and skill are important predictors of job performance, and traditionally the hiring process has been based on these qualities. In recent years, however, personality has increasingly been recognised as an equally important predictor of job performance. 

Business mogul and entrepreneur Richard Branson is known to place more value on personality than skill set when hiring. Branson maintains that most jobs can be taught relatively quickly, and suggests “if you can find people who are fun, friendly, caring and love helping others, you are on to a winner”. Indeed, more and more businesses are incorporating personality testing into their hiring processes.

Attributes that make up Personality

Motivation, resilience, flexibility, and the ability to take initiative are examples of personality characteristics that strongly affect individual job performance. When planning your next workforce addition/s, it is important to underline which mix of these attributes equals ‘getting the job done effectively’ for the short and long term in your unique setting.

For example, the way individuals approach and complete tasks, adapt to change, and deal with stress are strongly influenced by personality and can have various connotations to performance depending on the environment and culture, not just the role at hand. A receptionist at a health clinic may have to be far more open to sudden adaptation and change than a law firm receptionist.

Predicting environment match 

Personality may also determine the workplace environment in which an individual is most likely to be successful. For example, introverted individuals are more likely to perform well in a job involving independent work, whereas extroverted or outgoing individuals are generally better suited to jobs involving more human interaction. 

Matching personality types together

Employers should also keep in mind how the workplace dynamic is influenced by the personalities of employees, who are more likely to stick around if they are happy in their workplace and get along with their co-workers. Matching younger up and coming employees to more experienced mentors can have great benefits for both parties, but be sure that there isn't a large clash in flexibility or openness.

Recruiting based on personality therefore has a noticeable effect on your organisational goals. Being sure that your chance of turnover is significantly reduced is ultimately going to save costs, knowing that your staff members are adaptive to change will allow larger changes to become successful more quickly, and knowing that your staff are resilient during times of stress will reduce complaints and increase openness to job rotation and potential promotion.

Whilst experience certainly counts for something, the role personality plays in predicting job performance should not be discounted. Businesses can benefit from including an aspect of personality testing early in the recruitment process.

Want to learn more about testing personality directly related to your role and company?

Talent assessment and development Psychologists, Psych Press have a large selection of in-house and customisable assessment tools that link personality to performance prediction for a variety of companies. One such tool, Business Personality Reflections (BPR) has been used for a multitude of roles to ascertain a strong fit for recruiting decisions. Based on a wide field of research and multiple industry norms, this assessment provides a full report for your informed decision. To find out more visit the Psych Press Business Personality Reflections page.

Why a candidate’s attitude should affect your hiring choices

We've all experienced bad customer service from time to time, whether it was in a clothing store, at your local supermarket, or calling up your utilities retailer to inquire about a bill. A common feeling following bad service is often complete dissatisfaction. This can lead to an effort to avoid the provider in the future, make a complaint and most commonly; share your negative experience with others. This same idea can be applied to the inner workings of all workplace relationships; if attitudes don’t match, your output will suffer. To make sure you proof your hires from possible PR nightmares and losses let alone poor staff relationships, it is important to get accustomed to considering the attitudes when making hiring decisions.

How can different attitudes affect your business?

The attitude of an employee can have both detrimental and advantageous effects on a business as a whole, so before you delve into the hiring pool it is important to consider a few things first. Maintain a positive workplace, whether you’re working as an employee, running your own business, or managing a business for another.

A positive working environment will influence: 

• Satisfaction of employees and clients
• Faster work rates and productivity
• Higher work quality
• Greater employee retention

Those who have a negative attitude towards their work, brand, colleagues or simply display an attitude that does not match the personality required to get the job done in your particular industry are disconnected from the business; they will produce a much lower quality of work and are less likely to remain within the business. High employee turnover is very costly to a business and in this case it is quite preventable.

How can an attitude within the office effect business reputation?

Whilst not all employees will have direct contact with your clients, they will more than likely have an influence over the level of care and satisfaction your clients are going to experience. It is important that an employee shows engagement and concern for the well-being of the business’s clients. A poor attitude is likely to lead to a manifestation of disengagement and disinterest toward the client which will likely have them searching elsewhere for a better and more satisfying service.

What to look out for

So, you know what you want and it’s time for planning the hiring process, what should you be looking out for that influences attitude?

In organisational psychology, attitudes are defined as an individual’s beliefs, feelings and their unique behavioural tendencies towards events, objects, groups or activities. Attitudes are generally made up of feelings an individual experiences, behaviour that is elicited in response to a particular stimuli and the the thought process or knowledge that surrounds a particular stimulus. Most traditional hiring techniques still rely on an interview in an attempt to grasp attitude, however benefits can be found in using assessment first to reduce a large candidate pool then utilising the interview in a general sense way to confirm the findings. This two-pronged approach removes the bias where applicants ‘put on a good face’ in an interview setting. 

When in the interview, find out how much the candidate knows about your business and ask if they’re aware of your business values. Having actively researched this shows they care about the business values they could potentially be representing, be sure to find out why they applied to check if their values have aligned with yours. Then present the candidate with a range of scenarios for them to consider and discuss what they would do. An individual who presents as solution-minded as opposed to problem focused is a much more desirable candidate for your business. Finally, watch their body language, do they appear interested in what you are saying? Are they interested in finding out more by asking you questions?

So, when you are next faced with the hiring process, consider what needs to be discovered in an applicant’s attitude and how it can be reliably measured before jumping to conclusions. This way you save unnecessary stress and ‘bad hire’ factors later on. Happy hiring!

Looking for a hiring assessment partner? 

Since 1994, Psych Press’ psychologists have been enhancing employers’ efforts to hire right the first time and bridge their workplace needs to a reliable means of measurement. Taking assessments and candidate management online, even with virtual interviews to save incredible amounts of time has been their next achievement, where all the benefits have been passed onto recruiters and hiring managers. To learn more about Psych Press’ ideals and processes visit their psychometric screening webpage or call 03 9670 0590 or email at info@psychpress.com.au for a confidential discussion.