Some have asked me why personality is important when hiring.

Some have even questioned if personality is an important consideration when hiring.

I always answer with this question:
“What type of persons do you like to work with?”

And the answers I usually get include some or all of the following:

“Someone who is helpful”

“People who are friendly”

“Someone who is caring”

“Those who are good leaders”

“Those who are genuine”

“People who are un-pretentious”

“People who are authentic”

“People who care for the team as a whole”

“People who are not selfish and only care for themselves”

“Those whom I can relate to”

“People whom I can trust”

“People who are candid”

And this is not even an exhaustive list of the answers I normally get.

But if you look at the list above, you will realise that practically all of them point to a person’s personality or at least alludes to a person’s personality.

It is a fact that productivity and efficiency increases when everyone in the team or organisation are helpful, friendly and caring towards one another. Research has shown that a happy work environment is the pre-cursor to higher employee engagement and would also minimise employee attrition rates.

We all feel better when our colleagues are helpful, caring and friendly. These traits help make the office environment a much more pleasant place to be in. And this in turn creates a conducive environment where productivity, creativity, efficiency and effectiveness can soar.

Do you have to get familiar with personality instruments such as the MBTI?

In most cases, you don’t.

For most of us, the Big Five Theory of Personality that psychologists came up with back in the 1970’s is good enough for us to understand the basics of personality types.

I wrote about the Big Five back in November 2014. Click here to read the article.

So the next time you make a hiring decision, don’t overlook personality traits.