Worker personality may matter more than skills, hiring managers say

Source: HR Dive โ†—

Worker personality may matter more than skills, hiring managers say

Hiring managers and job seekers agreed that the traits with the highest value are reliability, honesty, adaptability, flexibility and self-motivation. Worker personality may matter as much if not more than worker skills, according to survey results published Wednesday by Express Employment Professionals and The Harris Poll. In fact, 86% of the more than 1,000 U.S. hiring decision-makers surveyed said the right personality could outweigh a candidateโ€™s skills gap , potentially pointing to the power of soft skills in the workplace. Hiring managers typically assess personality through informal interactions, situational questions, behavioral interview questions and reference checks, survey results showed. Hiring managers and job seekers agreed that the traits with the highest value are reliability, honesty, adaptability, flexibility and self-motivation โ€” skills that play a large role in the recent technological shifts taking place at work.

Per a Test Gorilla report released last year, most employers surveyed said evaluating the whole candidate leads to better results; 78% of those surveyed said theyโ€™d hired a candidate with strong technical skills who ultimately did not fit well into the company due to a lack of soft skills. โ€œEvery employee has an effect on the workplace beyond the responsibilities listed in a job description,โ€ Bob Funk Jr., CEO, president and chairman of Express Employment International, said in a statement. โ€œThe right personality can build trust, make change easier to navigate and raise the standard for how a team works together. That is why employers see personality as more than a hiring advantage. It is representative of the business culture.โ€ Work ethic and willingness to learn are especially important to hiring managers, according to the Express Employment poll. A Graduate Management Admission Council report released earlier this year also pointed to a rising employer need for workers with emotional intelligence, grit and management capabilities , especially in an era of artificial intelligence use at work.

The plaintiff alleged that he repeatedly contacted Amazonโ€™s HR staff to correct the error to no avail. The officer also said she was forbidden to speak publicly about equity. The plaintiff alleged that he repeatedly contacted Amazonโ€™s HR staff to correct the error to no avail. The officer also said she was forbidden to speak publicly about equity.

Sources cited: ๐Ÿ“ฐ HR Dive โ†—

โšก Effects Interpreter

๐ŸŒWorld Economylow impact

What this means for you

  • โ–ถCross-border money flows can quietly change direction after events like this.
  • โ–ถConfidence among international firms may wobble until the picture clears.

๐Ÿ™๏ธLocal Economylow impact

What this means for you

  • โ–ถPay packets and rotas nearby might bend with the news.
  • โ–ถCareers in the industry might see fresh openings or closures.

๐ŸฆRates & Banksmedium impact

What this means for you

  • โ–ถYour loan or mortgage rate is more likely to drift than to lurch here.
  • โ–ถRate-setters usually take their time digesting this kind of news.

โค๏ธHealthmedium impact

What this means for you

  • โ–ถIt's easy to underestimate how much stories like this weigh on people.
  • โ–ถUnsettling news can weigh on sleep and mood, so peace of mind matters.

๐Ÿ’ทWealthmedium impact

What this means for you

  • โ–ถRetraining costs can be a hidden expense worth planning for early.
  • โ–ถRedundancy pay, where it applies, is worth understanding in full.

๐Ÿ Housinglow impact

What this means for you

  • โ–ถA slow-moving market like housing rarely reacts overnight.
  • โ–ถRental yields in the area may shift only slightly, if at all, from this.

๐ŸŒ Effects for your country

The U.S.'s central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The U.S.'s economy is growing at 2.3% with inflation at 3.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the U.S.'s own central bank rate closely. With the U.S.'s unemployment at 4.4%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone โ€” the real impact in the U.S. depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.

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Editorial note: This analysis was produced by the News Effects Interpreter, an AI editorial tool that cross-references 1 independent news sources and contextualises events in terms of their real-world impact on ordinary people. Original reporting is linked above. News Effects does not alter the facts of source reports.