Saturday, February 6, 2010

Dimensions of Personality

For employers it is important to understand the personality of a person they might hire. I have taken a personality test for serving positions in restaurants. Being around customers, co-workers, and supervisors in a fast pace, stressful environment while working with money all make it important to understand the dynamics of a hiree's personality. A list of personality traits have been identified and placed into five categories called the "Big Five", extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. The opposites of these five traits are clear signs that an employee will not be beneficial to the company. In many cases the cultural background, childhood circumstances and real life experiences all tie into specific decision making and parts of your personality. In the small write up "Employers Like Conscientious Military Veterans," caught my eye. On applications there is always a section verifying whether or not you were in the military. Yes, many military personnel have an outstanding work ethic and appearance but they could be lacking in other places which is what makes the "Big Five" so great for employers. These vets are more than likely conscientious but they could lack emotional stability because of the experiences they have endured. You are never able to judge someone correctly solely on their image in real life why should you do so in the hiring process, thanks to "Big Five" you do not have to.

1 comment:

  1. I do not totally agree with you, about the fact of hiring vets. As you say, they are very conscientious, which is very important in a company, overall in a crisis period. But I disagree when you say that they might be emotionnaly fragil because of their experience. Indeed, the vets used to manage men all the time, to make them self-confident, by training and by encouraging. Those qualities are necessary for a good manager, and I think that most of the vets have it.

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