The personality factor

Personality assessment plays a key role in the recruitment process. Which aspects of personality are usually tested? What is emotional quotient? Can you improve it?

EVERYBODY HAS an identifiable pattern of personality that helps others to predict to a reasonable extent his/her reactions to various situations. Personality is influenced by the factors such as genetics, upbringing and experience. In other words, heredity and environment play key roles. You may say that a person is affable, assertive, bold, caring, cooperative, domineering, enthusiastic, gentle, hesitant, inconsistent, just, kind, loyal, moderate, naughty, outspoken, persuasive, quizzical, relaxed, sensitive, shy, tolerant, uncompromising, warm, zealous, etc. Several qualities do aggregate in a person.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires have been intelligently devised to assess personal qualities through one's responses to a series of questions. It may be noted that here are no `right' or `wrong' answers in this exercise. Further, no tight time limit is prescribed for furnishing answers. An expert can construct a personality profile from a series of answers given by a particular candidate.

For example, a large number of well-constructed questions like those given below can bring out your nature.

* I prefer to talk to one person and not to a group - [True/False]

* When someone relates a story, I have an inclination to check its veracity - [True/False]

Honesty matters

While answering the questions, the best policy is honesty. If you try to make a clever guess of the requirements of the employer and then try to cook up answers artificially, you are not likely to succeed in the effort involving a large number of questions.

Remember what Mark Twain said, "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." Jerome K. Jerome's words are also relevant in this context: "It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar."

Further, even if you succeed in hoodwinking the examiner, you fail ultimately since you are attempting to secure a job that does not suit you. The test gives you an opportunity to discover the real you.

Do not be under the impression that any one type of personality is better than another. Each personality suits a set of jobs. After all, the questionnaire offers you reliable guidance as to what occupation would give you job satisfaction. If you are really not good at mixing well with others, why should you go for a public relations job?

Different styles

You may be asked to write about your dream job and its characteristics in terms of environment, responsibilities, professional prospects, challenges, opportunity for service, and remuneration.

It is not just one type of questionnaire that is being used in all situations. There are different styles such as 16 PF and OPQ (16 Personality Factor Questionnaire / Occupational Personality Questionnaire).

The 16 PF has 16 personality scales:

* Warmth

* Reasoning - general intelligence

* Emotional stability

* Dominance

* Liveliness

* Rule-consciousness

* Social boldness

* Sensitivity

* Vigilance

* Abstractedness

* Privateness

* Apprehension

* Openness to change

* Self- reliance

* Perfectionism

* Tension

Whatever might be the type of the questionnaire, it should fulfil two attributes - validity and reliability.

Emotional quotient

Intelligence plays a signifi- cant role in achieving career success. Intelligence quotient (IQ) is a popular term. But there is another term EQ that is supposed to be of greater significance in achieving success in any walk of life. EQ stands for emotional quotient, which is an index of emotional intelligence. Pioneering studies in this subject were carried out by Peter Slavey and John Meyer. IQ is inborn. It indicates a person's ability for effective memorising, efficiency for learning, capacity for logical thinking, and skill for quickly solving problems. There is a multiple intelligence theory that enunciates that there are different kinds of intelligences such as:

* Logical-mathematical intelligence

* Linguistic intelligence

* Spatial intelligence

* Bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence

* Musical intelligence Interpersonal intelligence

* Intra-personal intelligence

* Naturalistic intelligence

"Any occupation or task will involve a combination of these intelligences. Every individual has a differently balanced portfolio of abilities, which require careful nurture and attention to develop talents to the full potential." However you cannot enhance your IQ.

EQ that shows the ability for understanding your own as well as others' emotions is the aggregate of one's emotional competencies. It can be improved by conscious effort. Such improvement will help you in managing emotions, motivating yourself, and effi- ciently handling relationships. EQ is measurable. Further, high EQ helps you develop healthy soft skills and manage yourself to be responsible for your own happiness. It gives you a competitive edge. Qualities such as empathy, optimism, selfawareness and social arts (communication, leadership, negotiation, social analysis) have a key role in achieving success.

The key soft skills are:

* Curiosity, Logic & Creativity

* Leadership Cooperation & Collaboration

* Organisational Awareness

* Customer Service Orientation

* Organisational Skills

* Communications Skills

Hard skills such as technical competencies can be easily identified. But it is difficult to quantify soft skills. True intelligence is in fact the right combination of IQ and EQ. Your responses to a wide variety of situations can be used to measure your EQ.

Look at a few questions.

* I worry regularly in some circumstances - [True/False]

* For some things I have done in the past, I feel guilty - [True/False]

Imagine you're an insurance salesman calling prospective clients. Fifteen people in a row have hung up on you, and you're getting discouraged. What do you do?

* Call it a day and hope you have better luck tomorrow.

* Assess qualities in yourself that may be undermining your ability to make a sale.

* Try something new in the next call, and keep plugging away.

* Consider another line of work.

It is in our own interest that we make a deliberate effort to improve our EQ, so as to enhance our employability. Ý