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  Highly conscientious people will tend to take a methodical and structured approach to job seeking. They will be careful to meet deadlines for completing application forms and sending in information, and they are likely to turn up to an interview smartly dressed and on time, carrying all the information they need in a neat folder. They will try hard to provide interviewers with the answers to their questions, but they could find that their tendency to focus too much on minor details makes their responses less effective. They may find assessment procedures quite stressful when they do not know what to expect and are unable to prepare themselves appropriately.

  Low conscientiousness

  People who are low on conscientiousness see deadlines, procedures and work demands as flexible. They prefer not to be constrained by set plans and rules and to be able to respond to the requirements of the moment. They tend to dislike work that requires a meticulous or careful approach. They prefer looking at things in more general, global or ‘big picture’ terms to getting tied up in detail. They may be more concerned with getting things done and prefer not to spend time checking quality and accuracy. They may become impatient if they are slowed down by someone who wants to do things with greater care and attention. They don’t mind taking some risks and are likely to be willing to go with new opportunities that arise even if this means changing plans. They tend to be unstructured in their approach. They can be untidy and messy in their work habits, miss deadlines and fail to finish things properly, leaving loose ends for others to tie up. They may be easily distracted on to other tasks and leave some things undone unless reminded.

  Low conscientiousness people are better suited to work in unstructured environments where the focus is on meeting constantly shifting priorities, where it is important to work with the needs of the moment rather than to plan ahead to meet fixed deadlines. They can be suitable for roles where a flexible approach is helpful, such as sales. They can be better at working in multi-tasking or swift-moving environments than people who are high on conscientiousness, but they are not well suited to doing careful, meticulous work, and they may find it difficult to meet deadlines without external prompting and support.

  As job seekers, low conscientiousness people will tend to take quite a haphazard approach and often miss opportunities through being late for deadlines or failing to prepare thoroughly. They may arrive late for interviews and forget to bring important documents with them. On the other hand, their natural tendency to extemporize may stand them in good stead when they are dealing with questions they had not expected or exercises they had not prepared for. They are likely to be able to take a broad perspective rather than being distracted by minor details when they are answering an interviewer’s questions.

  Moderate conscientiousness

  People who are intermediate on conscientiousness may be moderately careful and meticulous in their work and place a reasonable degree of importance on meeting standards and deadlines. However, they will not be too rigid in their approach and will balance the need for structure with an understanding of the need to shift priorities to more important tasks and to sometimes leave tasks unfinished. They will be moderately tidy and careful, but they may make errors from time to time or sometimes leave things in a bit of a mess, although they might have a burst of tidying up from time to time.

  People with this behavioural style will be well suited to jobs that require a moderate degree of structure and attention to detail. They will also be suitable for jobs that have elements of structured, careful, detailed work as well as elements that require more global thinking or flexible working.

  Others who are moderately conscientious may be high on some of the traits associated with conscientiousness and low on others. For example, a person might be very structured and tidy in their work but pay little attention to deadlines and be very willing to restructure what they were doing to meet new priorities. Alternatively, a person might be very risk averse and safety conscious but pay little attention to detail and quality in their work. Depending on which elements of conscientiousness were high and low such people could be suited to roles that required strong conscientiousness in some aspects and low conscientiousness in others.

  Assess yourself on conscientiousness

  Circle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostly in the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both you are likely to be moderately conscientious.

  HIGH LOW

  Are you usually early, on time, or late for meetings? Early or on time Late

  Are you structured or spontaneous? Structured Spontaneous

  Do you focus on detail or the broad picture? Detail Broad picture

  Do you find procedures and quality standards helpful guides or a bureaucratic nuisance? Helpful Nuisance

  Extroversion

  High extroversion

  Extroversion is one of the best-known personality traits – indeed, the word has entered the general vocabulary. Extroverts are lively and gregarious, and they like to spend time with other people, partying and having fun. However, as well as these better known characteristics, there are some others that are related to extroversion. Extroverts seek excitement and like to be stimulated in all manner of ways. They are often eager for novel experiences, and are the first to want to try out something new. They tend to be quite optimistic in their outlook, which makes them willing to take on new and difficult tasks. They prefer to be in noisy surroundings with lots going on. They like to be the centre of attention and tend to enjoy having an audience to listen to them. They are confident and are rarely reticent about putting themselves forward or singing their own praises. Extroverts may prefer to discuss things with others to thinking things through in their heads. They often want to share their thoughts and feelings with others, and this can lead them unintentionally to say things that are indiscreet or inappropriate on occasion. They make their presence felt in a group and can be quite forceful and assertive. They typically dislike spending time alone, and they may not be good listeners, preferring the sound of their own voice. Their optimism and excitement seeking may mean that they underestimate the risks or difficulties involved in a course of action and take on more than they can deliver.

  Extroverts are well suited to roles that require a lot of contact with others, especially jobs where it is important to build rapport with someone quickly, such as many customer service and sales roles. Extroversion is helpful when others need to be motivated or engaged, and this might include positions as team leaders, teachers or trainers and tour guides. It is a positive factor if a role requires much public speaking or influencing and persuading others, and it can also be useful where there are many challenges and it will be necessary to take risks. Extroverts are less well suited to roles where much of the time is spent concentrating and working alone. They are easily distracted, and their need for contact with others may lead them to spend time chatting rather than working. Strong extroverts may sometimes find it hard to be constantly diplomatic and discreet. Equally, they may underestimate the need for caution in some situations.

  Extroverts are likely to do well in interviews. They are comfortable meeting new people and are likely to easily strike up a rapport with an interviewer and make a strong impression. They are not shy about talking about themselves and do not tend to suffer from any false modesty about their abilities and achievements. They may sometimes find that their mouth runs away with them and that they give away more than they intended in response to an interviewer’s questions. Role plays, presentations and group exercises are also likely to suit the extrovert personality. However, exercises requiring quiet concentration may be more of a challenge, and extroverts may struggle to concentrate on tests and questionnaires or find it hard to focus on completing an application form accurately.

  Low extroversion

  People who are low on extroversion are described as introverts. These are people who like to balance time spent with others with time on their own. They like to think things through in their heads before shari
ng their ideas with others. They may find meeting new people difficult or awkward and they prefer to avoid noisy gatherings with many people because they are uncomfortable in such situations and prefer to interact with a few people they know well in less hectic surroundings. They are often quite reserved and would rather be ignored than made the centre of attention. They are more comfortable deferring to others than behaving in an assertive manner, and they may not enjoy influencing or leading others. They tend to be modest and may be reticent about their own skills and achievements or even underrate their capability. They usually keep their feelings to themselves, and others may find them difficult to read. This can make them slow to develop rapport with others and to develop new friendships.

  Introverts are particularly suited to roles where there is minimal interaction with others, such as working with machines, tending land or animals, and working with information or computers. In jobs such as driving or operating machinery people spend a great deal of time entirely on their own or with very little opportunity to interact with others, and introverts are much more tolerant than extroverts of this type of work. Introversion may also be a positive trait for jobs that require being with others in a listening rather than a more active role, such as being a counsellor or running focus groups. Introverts can also be good team workers, but they are most comfortable in a low-key role.

  Introverts can find the whole process of job seeking quite difficult. Their ability to concentrate alone will help them in completing application forms and collecting information in preparation for a selection day, but they may find the social side of selection more difficult. They may be uncomfortable talking about themselves at interview, and their natural modesty will make it difficult for them to sell themselves effectively. Their natural tendency will be to give short, direct answers to questions, and interviewers may struggle to get them to talk more openly about themselves and their approach to work. Group exercises, requiring interactions with many people, may be particularly difficult, and introverts may find a selection day a tiring experience. However, introverts can learn to present themselves effectively at interview and may show their strengths in written exercises, tests and questionnaires.

  Moderate extroversion

  The majority of people are neither strong extroverts nor strong introverts. The typical person is mildly to moderately extrovert, and this sort of person may be similar to the extrovert described above, but in a more moderate manner. They like having fun with others and enjoy parties and excitement, but in moderation. They like to balance this type of experience with quieter, more restrained activities. They don’t mind being the centre of attention from time to time, but they like to be able to shade into the background sometimes. They are reasonably comfortable meeting new people and establishing rapport but are more comfortable with people they already know. They can cope with spending time alone but like to connect with others when they can.

  People who are moderately extrovert are suited to roles that have some elements that require extrovert behaviour and some that do not. For example, someone working in IT maintenance may spend time working directly on computers without human interaction, but another part of the role may involve training users on how to use the system and providing support, which will require contact with people.

  Less commonly, some people who are overall moderately extrovert may have some features of a very extrovert behavioural style but not others. For example, someone might be strongly gregarious and prefer lively surroundings but not be very assertive and dislike trying to influence or persuade others. People with these mixed types of behavioural style will be best suited to work that matches their own characteristics.

  Assess yourself on extroversion

  Circle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostly in the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both you are likely to be moderately extrovert.

  HIGH LOW

  If you are tired, would you rather spend time on your own or with friends? With friends Alone

  Are you more of a talker or a listener? Talker Listener

  Do you enjoy meeting new people? Yes No

  Do you prefer lively and loud environments or quiet and calm ones? Lively and loud Quiet and Calm

  Agreeableness

  High agreeableness

  People who are high on the trait of agreeableness tend to be considerate and helpful in their behaviour. They can be good friends and are often sympathetic listeners, and they will try to help others with their problems and concerns and are concerned for the welfare of others. They prefer cooperation to competition when they are working with others and will generally like working in teams. They tend to be trusting and tolerant of others and are not easily irritated by other people’s behaviour. They may, however, find it difficult to keep a professional distance and become too involved in other people’s problems. They tend to dislike and avoid conflict and will try to smooth over disagreements between others. Their dislike of conflict can make it difficult for people with this behavioural style to deliver bad news or to challenge other people’s behaviour or opinions, and they can be too gullible and easily taken in by other people.

  People with this behavioural style can be good in situations where helpfulness and sympathetic listening are required. Suitable positions include some of the caring professions as well as the service industry, such as customer care. However, highly agreeable people will struggle with roles that are competitive or that involve conflict. Roles where there is a recurring need to be assertive with others, such as dealing with difficult customers, enforcing performance and quality standards, and selling and negotiating on behalf of an organization, could be a problem, and people who are too agreeable may have difficulty with staff management roles for this reason. They may find it difficult to maintain an emotional separation from people they work with, and where this happens it can lead to burn-out in caring rules.

  Agreeable people will be accommodating as job seekers. They will try hard to meet the needs of the employer, such as being available for interview when it suits the recruiting organization. Their cooperative and helpful attitude may be appreciated by an interviewer, but their dislike of conflict will tend to make them less effective when it comes to negotiating terms and conditions or salary. Where agreeableness is a positive factor for the job they are likely to come across well in interpersonal exercises such as role plays. However, they may find competing with other candidates in a group exercise more difficult.

  Low agreeableness

  People who are low on the trait of agreeableness are more selective in their sympathies and support for others. They may be quite competitive in their approach to many situations and generally consider their own, or their department’s or organization’s, needs before others. They will tend to invest energy in getting the best outcome from situations for themselves and those with whom they identify. They are likely to be independent thinkers and to take quite a sceptical approach to what they see and hear. They may question other people’s motives and intentions rather than taking them on trust, which means that they are unlikely to be taken in. When there is a difference of opinion they will express their own view and try to influence others to their way of thinking. They will not shirk from delivering bad news or expressing views that may be controversial.

  Someone who is low on the agreeableness trait will be suited to work in a competitive environment or where straight talking is required. This could include many roles in sales and where there is the cut and thrust of business competition. They will generally be able to maintain a professional distance and not become emotionally involved in other people’s problems. They may be suited to roles where standards or policies need to be enforced, such as roles in security or managing difficult people. However, their general lack of empathy may mean that they lack insight into other people’s problems and ride roughshod over their feelings.

  The competitiveness typical of low agreeableness people may stand them in good stead as job candidates. It may
give them the extra drive needed to put some effort into preparation for job interviews and to present themselves effectively on the day. They need to be careful not to behave too aggressively with interviewers, but their assertiveness may help them stand out from the other candidates and negotiate a good deal if they are offered the job.

  Moderate agreeableness

  People who are intermediate on agreeableness will be generally sympathetic and supportive of others but will be more easily able to maintain an emotional distance from other people’s problems than those who are high on the trait. They will be willing to help others but will balance this with meeting their own personal needs. They are likely to have the flexibility to work in both cooperative and competitive modes without being extremely competitive or extremely compliant. Although they may not enjoy giving unpleasant messages, they will face up to doing it when necessary. They will express their own views in a discussion but will also listen to what others have to say and be ready to be persuaded by a stronger view.

  A moderately agreeable behavioural style is suitable for many types of work because people like this will be comfortable working cooperatively or competitively. They can deal sympathetically with other people but can also maintain sufficient professional distance not to become inappropriately emotionally involved in their problems.

  Others who are moderate on agreeableness may have some of the traits of agreeableness very strongly but be at the non-agreeableness end of the spectrum on others. For example, a person might be trusting of others but not sympathetic to their difficulties. Another person might be caring and cooperative in their approach but rather low on trust and be wary and suspicious of others.