10 Personality Traits Employers Are Looking for Most
Technical skills aren't the only things employers are looking for in new hires.
More than three-quarters of hiring managers believe that less tangible skills associated with a candidate's personality, such as a positive attitude, matter just as much as hard skills, according to a new study from CareerBuilder. That is, personality counts as much as the skills learned to perform a specific job function that can be measured, such as operating a computer program.
Another 16 percent of employers said they value personality traits more than hard skills when evaluating candidates for a job. [10 Most Desirable Tech Skills]
"When companies are assessing job candidates, they're looking for the best of both worlds: someone who is not only proficient in a particular function, but also has the right personality," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. "Along with responsibilities, it's important to highlight soft skills that can give employers an idea of how quickly you can adapt and solve problems, whether you can be relied on to follow through, and how effectively you can lead and motivate others."
The study revealed the top 10 personality traits companies are looking for when making a new hire. Employers want candidates who are:
Hard workers
Dependable
Self-motivated
Team-oriented
Organized, and able to manage multiple priorities
Good under pressure
Effective communicators
Flexible
Confident
Haefner said job candidates need to do more than just list personality traits on their resumes, however. Simply saying you are a team player, for instance, isn't enough for most hiring managers. Instead, jobseekers should share concrete instances of when they worked on a team to accomplish a particular goal, she said.
"Provide an example of a high-pressure situation that you handled with ease," Haefner said. "Try to make the intangible tangible."
The study was based on surveys of 2,138 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes.
Originally published on Business News Daily.
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