Personality Versus Skills When Hiring

As a business owner, I have handled a lot of employees and have interviewed hundreds of applicants. In every interview, I always ask myself this: “Beyond the job description, what kind of employees do I want to have?”

I’ve had a lot of hits and misses in hiring—not necessarily because the applicants were not up for the job, but because I found some failing in some areas, like not being able to work well with his colleagues, not being able to handle bulk transactions, or not having the initiative possessed by other employees. I learned that there are two things to factor in when hiring new employees: skills and personality.

It helps, first, to define the concepts.

Skill is the ability to do a particular task. This can range from general skills, such as knowing how to use basic computer software, how to type fast, or how to cook; to technical skills like computer programming, electrical wiring, preparing exotic dishes, and accounting. Skills are things that anyone can learn, given the right amount of information and training.

Personality, on the other hand, is the combination of characteristics and behavior of people that, ultimately, makes us different from one another. Some people may be grumpy when asked to do challenging tasks; some remain quite the optimist in the face of great loss; and some have a tendency to abuse their authority when placed in higher ranks.

Who should you hire?

Do you really need a fast typist to draft contracts or someone who may not type as fast but is extremely meticulous about details? You will definitely choose the latter. Some tasks do not only require people with a lot of skills, but also people possessing the personality fitted to produce great output.

A lot of professionals agree that they would rather choose someone with a great personality although lacking in the skills department, rather than someone skillful but a pain in the neck. Some people who are smart and
talented tend to think of themselves highly as compared to those who are open-minded, who know that there are a lot of things they have yet to learn.

Personality must be the bigger determinant in hiring, but that does not mean that you disregard skilled applicants altogether. See what the job requires. If you are looking for an IT technician, maybe you could hire the most skillful IT specialist you can find. It varies from position to position.

The right personality

If you think that you can learn about your applicants’ personality through a short interview, then note that it’s only too easy to practice well-scripted answers. Anyone can say they are hard-working, that they can deal with stress easily, or adapt and learn fast. This is why conducting a personality test is important if you want to recognize those that possess the personality that can help you build that winning team.

You can avail of different personality tests online, along with the interpretation for every choice or score. However, it would be best to seek the assistance of those who are experts in this field. You can seek help from industrial psychologists who have the experience to improve the chances of making a correct assessment.

For most positions and companies, there should be a stronger emphasis on looking for a potential employee with a good personality. This is especially true in cases where there are people in your firm who can train the newbie. There are initial expenses incurred in the training, but this is just a short-term disadvantage that would likely be less troublesome than hiring someone with a personality problem.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin. C-6, Sunday, February 1, 2015. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.