Here is our list of the top five personality traits that employers look for when evaluating a potential employee. The data comes to you from Universum, an employer branding firm based out of Stockholm that surveys over 400,000 students and professionals every year on employment topics.
Professionalism (86%)
No big surprise here. If you want to land a job that could actually be considered a career (and even some that aren't), you're going to have to enter the interview with an air of professionalism surrounding you. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to wear a suit and tie with monogrammed cufflinks and have a bunch of personal business cards made, but you do have to carry yourself in a self-contained and mature manner. Even if the job is not your ideal fit, you must view it as a stepping stone towards what you love, and approach the interview as if it was for your dream job.
High-energy (78%)
This plays into the professionalism mentioned above. Even if you are not excited about the position it is your job to sell the interviewer on your enthusiasm. Some people are more reserved and others are far more extroverted and energetic, that's fine. You don't have to be something you're not, but you do have to be your own brand of energized. If you can energize yourself, others around you will take notice eventually. All of your actions will point to you being a present, focused, and determined individual, which are all traits employers love to see in their workers.
Confidence (61%)
If you are professional and energized, chances are high that you will be confident as well. It would actually be pretty hard not to be. Confidence is simply the belief in one's self to do the best job they can do. It does not mean a person always believes that they will be able to succeed, but rather, that they are sure of their ability to do the best they can to achieve their goal. All the confidence in the world will still not be enough to necessitate a person accomplishing their goals, but it is enough to make sure they will do everything in their power to get there. Employers will certainly take notice of this kind of attitude when they see it.
Self-monitoring (58%)
This is an important trait because employers want to know that you are capable of working without having to keep the supervisor on your back every 10 minutes. Like professionalism, self-monitoring is a matter of maturity, and many people simply do not have it. This is perhaps the only trait on the list that cannot be fully shown in a job interview. For that reason, it is important to highlight this attribute on your resumes, noting any times that you were in a leadership position or worked for long periods of time without supervision. Though the job may not matter to your prospective employer, the skill of self-monitoring certainly does.
Intellectual Curiosity (57%)
Intellectual curiosity is great because it says so many things about a person that are not easily quantifiable. Curious people love to learn and impart knowledge on others. They are outside-the-box thinkers capable of coming up with novel solutions to business problems. They are generally easier to get along with because they are more focused on learning about someone than they are about boxing them in with judgments and rigid beliefs. All of these traits amount to a person who can be a great addition to any business on both a professional and social level.
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