You Seem Too High in Openness!

Using personality clues strategically to stress test potential hires

People love personality tests, and for good reason. While much of the popular literature on personality types can be considered "pop science", there are important insights to be gleaned from scientific research on personality. Personality traits have been shown to cluster together in non-random ways, representing dimensions of individual differences that are largely independent of factors like cognitive ability and domain knowledge that often receive more focus in hiring decisions.

One way I like to think of personality types is that they give us information on a person’s defaults - on what comes naturally to them and what requires more or less effort. The personality science literature also let’s us stereotype a bit better. If a person is good at X and Y, how likely are they to be good at Z?

However, few employers directly assess personality during the hiring process, and even those that do often fail to use the results constructively without a clear sense of what traits are relevant for the role. Rather than seeking a particular personality profile, personality clues that are gleaned from interviews and resumes are best used to identify potential risk factors - traits that may be predictive of suboptimal job performance. Given the probabilistic nature of these assessments, they are most useful as a starting point for targeted follow-up to evaluate areas of possible concern.

Imagine you’re a hiring manager with a list of job requirements, or preferably, an intuitive understanding of what the job entails. The first step is to turn the list of job requirements into a list of (meta) skills - things like build relationships and coordinate with people, process documents with exceptional attention to detail etc. These meta skills can then be mapped on to a detailed personality inventory that consist of the different facets of the big five or HEXACO or something to that effect. It’s important to map them to both traits that are positive for the job and traits that are negative for the job.

For example, the skill build relationships and coordinate with people seems to correspond to social self esteem, inquisitiveness and based on the nature of the coordination - you might want more or less agreeable people. If you are looking for a great salesperson, you probably want someone who is achievement striving but not easily thrown away by disorder or things not going according to a plan. You can pick up on some of these when you interview someone, and others as you glean their resume.

Crucially, however, the interview process must be recognized as an adversarial interaction where the candidate is motivated to highlight desirable qualities and downplay potential weaknesses. Direct questions about traits like conscientiousness are therefore unlikely to yield meaningful insights, as most candidates will simply claim to possess the desired qualities.

The solution lies in understanding two key points:

1. Certain traits, like conscientiousness and agreeableness, are generally seen as universally positive, so candidates will be eager to demonstrate them.

2. However, the ideal profile for a given role is unlikely to be uniformly high on all of these supposedly desirable traits. In fact, an overabundance of some can be a liability for certain roles (e.g. excess agreeableness in a sales manager), or they can correlate negatively with some other trait you care about.

Here are some examples:

1. High Conscientiousness in a Strategic Role:

   • Positive traits that may be emphasized: detail-oriented, thorough, organized, reliable, perfectionistic, hard-working, prudent, self-disciplined

   • Potential red flags to watch out for: inflexibility, difficulty with ambiguity, overthinking, paralysis by analysis

   • If a candidate for a strategic role emphasizes their perfectionism, prudence, and thorough planning, it's worth exploring their ability to make decisions with incomplete information, tolerate risk, and adapt to changing circumstances.

2. High Agreeableness in a Leadership Role:

   • Positive traits that may be emphasized: cooperative, empathetic, diplomatic, conflict-averse, team player, service-oriented, considerate, supportive

   • Potential red flags to watch out for: difficulty holding others accountable, overly accommodating, conflict-avoidant, may struggle to make tough decisions

   • If a candidate for a leadership role highlights their empathy, diplomacy, and desire to support their team, dig deeper into their approach to managing underperformance, navigating conflicts, and making unpopular decisions.

3. High Openness in a Process-Oriented Role:

   • Positive traits that may be emphasized: imaginative, curious, open to new ideas and experiences, creative, intellectually engaged, adaptable, unconventional thinker

   • Potential red flags to watch out for: distractibility, difficulty with routine tasks, may struggle with structure and consistency

   • If a candidate for a process-oriented role spends a lot of time talking about their creativity and love of exploring new ideas, probe further into their tolerance for repetitive work, respect for established procedures, and ability to maintain focus.

4. High Extraversion in an Individual Contributor Role:

   • Positive traits that may be emphasized: outgoing, energetic, assertive, communicative, enthusiastic, sociable, charismatic, confident

   • Potential red flags to watch out for: may become restless or dissatisfied working independently, prone to distractions, may struggle with solo deep work

   • If a candidate for an individual contributor role emphasizes their assertiveness, sociability, and communication skills, explore their comfort with working autonomously for extended periods, ability to self-motivate, and strategies for minimizing distractions.

5. High Neuroticism in a High-Pressure Role:

   • Positive traits that may be emphasized: self-aware, introspective, reflective, improvement-oriented, sensitive, cautious, detail-conscious, analytical

   • Potential red flags to watch out for: prone to stress and anxiety, may struggle with resilience and confidence, risk-averse

   • If a candidate for a high-pressure role highlights their self-awareness, sensitivity, and caution, probe further into their stress management techniques, ability to maintain composure under pressure, and approach to calculated risk-taking.

In conclusion, the key insight is that when it comes to personality traits, there is often no free lunch. The same qualities that manifest as strengths in one context may represent weaknesses in another. A penchant for meticulous planning can easily shade into indecisiveness; an agreeable and supportive nature can translate into conflict avoidance. Savvy interviewers can use this to their advantage, recognizing that candidates are eager to showcase their strengths.