Précis  of an article that appeared in the Daily Telegraph

Square holes for square pegs
By Adrian Furnham 
Professor of Psychology at University College London

The Big Five Model of Personality -

Extraversion
Agreeableness
Openness
Natural Reactions
Conscientiousness

Some people are talkative, sociable, socially self-confident. They like other people and tend to be socio-centres. They are comfortable in groups and teams and enjoy intensive and extensive people contact. Others are quiet, retiring, apparently shy. They prefer to work alone and have a much lower need for social contact of all kinds. This, of course, is introversion-extraversion.

The salient question here is about social contact at work: with colleagues and total strangers (i.e. customers). People can be excited, enlivened and energised by social contact, or frightened and exhausted by it. Long-distance lorry drivers, authors, and gardeners tend to be introverts; sales people, cabin crew, hotel receptionists tend to be extraverts.

Next, some people tend to be sunny, cheerful, warm and empathic while others are dour, unsympathetic, grumpy.

This is about being hard or soft-hearted. It's about sensitivity to and interest in the feelings of others. This dimension is called agreeableness. Nurses, social workers and primary school teachers, indeed all those dealing with the vulnerable, need to be agreeable.

Agreeableness can be a handicap when agreeable managers have to deal with recalcitrant, incompetent and disagreeable staff. Their natural warmth and kindness may prevent them from ''kickin' ass'' as frequently as they should.

Third, some people are curious, imaginative and artistic, while others are conventional, practical and focused.

This dimension is called openness to experience. The more open people are the more prone to boredom. They think outside the box too much. You do not want creative airline pilots whose job it is to sit in small, dark, cool spaces watching computers for hours.

Nor do you want openness in those dealing with rule-enforcement in security and safety. But you want it in 'shovels-full' in marketing R&D and design.

But the last two characteristics are the most important - Conscientiousness and Natural Reactions.

Some people are calm, contented and placid. They are stable under fire, resilient and emotionally robust. Others are easily upset, tense, anxious, moody and highly strung. It is, in short, the ability to handle pressure and stress - Natural Reactions.

Most jobs have some sources of stress. Tight deadlines. Disgruntled customers. Competing demands. Indolent staff. Tough performance standards.

The unstable cave-in with psychosomatic illness (ulcers, irritable bowel, migraines), depression or erratic behaviour. They are a menace to themselves, their colleagues and the business.

And finally, there is conscientiousness, the work ethic, diligence, prudence. Some people are hard-working, self-disciplined and well organised. Others are (alas) disorganised, easily distracted and undependable.

Conscientious people have self-discipline, drive and a sense of direction. They stay on and come in when required over and above what it says in their contract. They just need a direction and an appropriate reward.

Recommendations
1.  Do a job analysis: understand what and how people are required to do things and then search for those best fitted to the job.

2.  Conduct a validation study - that is, test a group of employees to establish benchmarks against which to compare job applicants.  We call this service Success Profiling.  Email or call us on +44 (0) 1 689 606 552 for more information.