Personality Traits that Employers Look For

When a serious job search begins, the goal is to match what hiring managers actually want. Line that up and your odds of an offer climb. Your background and schooling matter, yes, but they account for only a slice of what a company weighs before bringing someone on. The rest comes down to a handful of traits that set you apart from everyone else in the applicant pool. Figure out which traits those are and an interview becomes far less of a guessing game.

The useful part is that these qualities can be built. Name them, measure where you stand on each, and you have a plan for the weeks before an interview. Some grow slowly with practice. Below are six to pay attention to.

Professionalism comes first. Across companies surveyed nationwide, 86 percent said they expect a high degree of it from new hires. Since an employer can't watch you work before the offer, the interview is where that impression gets made. Two things carry most of the weight here: treating everyone you meet with respect, and dressing the part.

Then there's confidence. Plenty of people wish they could walk into a room with their head up, yet few manage it without rehearsal. Surveys of large firms around the world keep turning up the same complaint, that most of the applicants they meet don't come across as sure of themselves. Your resume makes claims; in the room you have to stand behind them. Lose the interviewer's attention early and it rarely comes back.

Intellectual curiosity is the next one. A genuine appetite for learning signals that you'll figure things out and get the work done. It pairs with strong problem-solving. Someone with this trait wants to understand how the workplace runs and why it runs that way, keeps looking for better fixes, and stays current on the tools and methods moving through the field.

Being open to new experiences is related but distinct. Show that you're open-minded and an employer reads several things at once: that you can handle real technical change, that you pick up new skills quickly, that you bring creativity, and that you're drawn to variety. People like this tend not to stop at the job description. They do more than what was assigned.

Self-monitoring saves a manager the trouble of hovering. When you can regulate your own work, close supervision stops being necessary. You get things done, you operate on your own, and you meet whatever lands on your desk. In an interview this comes through in stories, so talk about challenges you've already cleared. Bring up a stretch of real difficulty and describe how you kept going through it.

Agreeableness is easy to overlook, and worth the attention. When it's there, an interviewer sees someone willing to give of themselves, someone trustworthy, open, and generous. You help the people around you and you build cooperation when a job calls for it.

With the six named, start by taking an honest read of how each one lives in you right now. That tells you where the gaps are. Odds are at least two already run strong, so those need little from you. Put your effort into the weaker ones, and aim to walk into the interview carrying all six, even if a couple are still rough.

References: http://psychology.about.com/od/overviewofpersonality/a/persondef.htm and https://www.pinterest.com/pin/317785317429054388/