So, you’ll only hire people who has character… I never understood this ‘character’ thing they test me for before going for a job interview. Anyway, I’ve failed most of the tests. Sadly, it’s no surprise, I’ve two disqualifying Personality traits doing the Character test – 1. I’m honest; and 2. I’m a non-conformist.
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For most employers that’s too much – I’d never heard of them again! That’s a shame, because I’d always thought that I could’ve made a positive impact on their businesses. But that’s my perspective. Hence, it’s my perspective versus their perspectives. And there you have it – nobody wins…
I think most employers seek to hire people who has character. It seems that they are looking to hire someone who has the classic virtues such as integrity, honesty, courage, love, and wisdom. Also, someone suited for leadership positions, high emotional intelligence and some cognitive intelligence.
But how easy is it to hire people who has character?
The theory behind people who has character
When you are sitting in front of the person who conduct your job interview, he or she is most likely to observe your personality and not your character. Because there’s a difference between your personality and your character.
Indeed, personality is easy to read, and we’re all experts at it, says Alex Lickerman M.D. in Psychology Today. He says that we judge people as funny, extroverted, energetic, optimistic, confident—as well as overly serious, lazy, negative, and shy. This may happen upon first meeting them, if not, then shortly thereafter.
On the other hand, is a person’s character usually not visible when meeting them at first. Your character traits will only be revealed under certain circumstances. For example, when you need to be kind to someone it shows that you have a caring character. However, when you’re rude when kindness is asked for, you probable have an abusive character.
A person’s character cannot accurately be determined when conducting a job interview…
How can you determine a person’s character before appointing her?
You can measure a person’s personality traits rather easily by means of a questionnaire. Indeed, the outcome of the questionnaire will tell you where the personality of the person fits in: extroversion, openness to (new) experiences, conscientiousness, emotional stability and agreeableness.
That’s nice, because you can compare your own observations during the interview with the results of the questionnaire. But will you succeeded to hire a person with character? You’ll only find that out later… Or before the interview…
You can have a peek at the person’s character when you pay a visit to her Facebook page. In fact, you’ll get much more info about her than you can get with an interview. Why?
Research suggests someone’s relationship status, interests, group membership, creative photos and even written vocabulary can help you form valid impressions of their openness, says Linda Kaye and Helen Wall (Edge Hill University) in The Conversation.
This is important because if you like someone based on their Facebook profile page, you’re likely to like them in the real world. So, producing an online profile that has enough cues for people to judge you accurately is particularly important for those instances when first impressions count, such as in online recruitment.
Many times, you’ll discover the ‘real’ person when scanning her Facebook page, and importantly some clues about her character can be found.
Concluding
I think that many business owners rely on a person’s personality when deciding to hire her (or not).
However, it is clear that personality is different from character in a sense that personality reflects the outer shell, whereas the character, shows the inner self. If you combine your personality and your character, the result will be who you are in reality (Dr Ian van den Berg, Educational Psychologist in Key Differences).
Even more, your personality is subjective, but your character is objective.
Read also: What Traits do a Business Owner Need to be Successful?
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