Character Fitness

When a friend tells you that your blind date has a good
personality, you're being warned about his or her looks. But if you
happen to be a personnel director, take heart. You might just have a
top-notch employee on your hands. Psychologists have long focused on
cognitive skills as the key to job success. But smarts are no guarantee
of first-rate workplace performance, insists Joyce Hogan, Ph.D.

"Employers say they want someone who comes to work, is motivated,
handles pressure, and interacts well with clients. These aren't cognitive
characteristics--they're personality characteristics," the University of
Tulsa psychologist says.

Many companies already do personality testing, sort of. Mostly
they're trying to screen out prospective workers who may be predisposed
to show up drunk or pilfer a blouse. But there's more to personality than
one's propensity for thievery. Hogan notes that more and more firms now
assess a whole range of personality traits in their applicants: "We find
them are certain characteristics important for each job category."

Take truck drivers. A good one, says Hogan, should be
conscientious, able to handle deadline pressures, and not too sociable.
At CSX Transportation in Jacksonville, Fla., organizational development
manager Doug Klippel says the company has cut driver accidents 20 percent
simply by preferentially hiring applicants with such traits.

The best managers, on the other hand, tend to be likable and
emotionally stable. And since they oversee a staff--a staff composed of
people--extroversion would be helpful, right? Wrong. Studies show it's
largely irrelevant.

By the way, if your blind date turns out to be less than charming,
you might advise that he or she consider a job in sales. "Our successful
salespeople tend to be lower in likability," reports Klippel. "They're
kind of tough-skinned--they don't let rejection bother them."