R. Howard and Jo Forlander
(received for publication on April 1st 2013)
ABSTRACT
Although there is substantial evidence that dress code, non-verbal behaviour and eye contact, as well as conversational skills enhance a candidate’s chance of success in job interview there is less systematic evidence of how physical characteristics relate to success in the interviewing process.
A sample of post-graduate job seekers (n = 17), who were actively engaged in applying for work-positions, attended an interview skills workshop where interactive role-play and vicarious learning strategies were employed to develop the participants’ skills in interview situations.
Measures of the NEO ‘Big 5’ Personality traits were obtained using the 60 item short form.
Each participant then received a similar ‘interview outfit’, which consisted of navy slacks and a Royal Blue knitwear jumper. An inflatable jacket to be worn under the knitwear jumper was also provided, with instructions how to pump-it to a pre-determined pressure.
The post-graduates were then allowed to apply for a range of office jobs over a period of four weeks. At a later time these students reported the strategies used in the job search and success in generating follow-up interviews and job offers.
The results suggest that personality traits as measured by the NEO5 were not related to interviewee’s success, however there was a strong correlation between inflation pressure achieved in the under-vest and job offers. Furthermore there was a significant gender interaction effect in the results.
The discussion examines the possible influence of vest-pressure on interviewers’ inferences of the applicants’ personality during the interview.
INTRODUCTION
There has been an emerging consensus among personality researchers and personnel practitioners during the last 20 years or so that the ‘Big 5’ personality dimensions (OCEAN) represent a valid and reliable source of information about the individual characteristics of a potential employee. Furthermore, there is mounting evidence of a positive relationship between these personality variables and work-based performance (e.g. Hogan et al, 1996). However, there is little research to date on the relationship, if any, between personality characteristics and success at job interviews.
Dunn, Mount, Barrick, and Ones (1995) found that interviewers will use prior information about applicants’ personalities to make evaluations about them during the interview and there is also evidence that this process of inferring personality from non-verbal cues continues during the interview process without prior personality information. These trait inferences are made without intention and even without awareness (Uleman, 1987).
The most salient behaviours exhibited by the applicant in an interview situation are likely to have a bearing on how the interviewers evaluate ‘extraversion’. Extraverted people are likely to talk more, be more expressive and generally provide more information about themselves (Openness) than introverted people. However, when considering the dimensions Neuroticism, Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, it is more difficult to imagine reliable and valid verbal or non-verbal cues that might provide evidence for their existence.
In order to look for more ‘readable’ cues that might be used as ‘personality- markers’, the work of William Sheldon, who classified personality according to body type was re-examined. Sheldon called this body type of a person, somatotype. [For an overview of Sheldon’s work see: Ryckman et al, 1985].
Sheldon identified three main somatotypes:
[table id=4 /]
It was hypothesised that interviewers’ evaluation of candidates’ personalities would be based on these physical cues. Therefore, when wishing to recruit active, energetic and assertive people as potential leaders in the organisation, the selection process would favour Mesomorphs. Endomorphs could be recruited for more people-friendly roles such as found in customer relations etc., and ectomorphs would be more suitable for roles ‘behind-the-scenes’, in jobs associated with technical support and technology.
Previous research has also identified how interview preparation can affect job offer outcomes. For example Caldwell and O’Reilly (1985), showed that there were significant interview outcomes based upon the amount of prior research the candidates had carried out about the company and position on offer.
The aim of this present study was to examine how personality characteristics (measured and inferred) of job applicants impacted on the outcomes of job screening interviews.
Specifically, the personality of the participants was measured using the NEO5 personality inventory. This gave a baseline measure of the personality traits that might affect the interview outcome. However, as discussed earlier, not all 5 of these personality characteristics are equally observable in an interview situation. The situation is made more complex and obscure because in an interview, candidates are understandably trying to show their ‘best side’.
This study therefore employed a novel system of altering body shape to fit one of Sheldon’s three somatotypes. This controlled for variation in the scores on the NEO5 dimensions, and provided a more salient cue for interviewers to infer personality of the candidates from their body shape. Remember, this inferential process for the most part is automatic and takes place below the level of awareness of the interviewers.
The third control in this study was the provision of an interview skills workshop for all participants. This provided the candidates with equal information and skill sets, so that they could prepare equally well for the selection interview session.
This research is designed to add to our understanding of how personality is related to the outcome of a job interview situation. Personality in this study is represented in two ways: 1. by an objective psychometric measure obtained using the NEO5 questionnaire and 2. by a process of inference from the candidates apparent body shape.
METHOD
The participants were an opportunistic sample drawn from post-graduate Occupational Psychology students, who were invited to take part in a study about personality and early job-searching experiences.
The participants were informed about the procedure, the personality measures and the need to wear the ‘interview suit’ and inflatable under-vest. Copies of the BPS ethical guidelines were distributed and everyone was told that they could withdraw from the study at any time.
A total of 35 students completed the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) a shortened version with 60 items, designed to take 10-15 minutes for completion, (McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., 2004).
All participants were invited to attend a day-long ‘Interview Skills’ workshop that covered appropriate verbal and non-verbal behaviour in a job interview session. (See Appendix 1 for copy of handbook).
After the workshop the students attended a fitting session for the interview suit and the inflatable ‘blouse’. Everyone was shown how to inflate the under-jacket to the required pressure, which was randomly assigned to each participant. There were three pressures previously calculated to imitate one of the three Sheldon somatotypes by expanding the knitwear top. See figure 1 below.
Figure 1 Illustration of Inflatable Under-Jacket, uncovered, covered and inflated
Over half of the volunteers chose to withdraw from the study at this stage, leaving a sample of 17 students (M = 6, F = 11). Inflating pressures for the under-jacket (blouse) were re-assigned to balance the distribution of Endomorphs, Mesomorphs and Ectomorphs in the final (Interview stage) of the study.
Success in interviewing was measured by the number of job offers or follow-up interviews obtained by the candidates.
RESULTS
Only statistically significant results are reported or those non-significant results which raise interesting questions of interpretation.
Several of the results were worth noting:
- There were no significant correlations between the Big Five personality dimensions and interview success.
- There was a strong relationship between the jacket inflation pressure and interview success, however this relationship was gender specific. There was no significant relationship between inflation pressure and interview success for the male group.
- For the female group, there was a significant relationship between blouse-pressure and interview success. However, the relationship was not linear. When inflation pressure was plotted against interview success a curvilinear, bimodal association became apparent. (see figure 2 below).
Figure 2 Illustration of curvilinear relationship between inflation pressure and interview success for females.
These results are consistent with verbal reports (as yet unpublished) made to this report’s authors by several managers responsible for personnel selection in their respective companies.
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
The gender difference in the overall patterns of the relationship between under-jacket pressure and interview success was unexpected. If the inflated profile was imitating Sheldon’s somatotypes across genders, there should have been no difference in personality attribution from body shape. In all his studies Sheldon makes no mention of gender differences. This finding in the study was checked with a computed canonical correlation between pressure and success, which confirmed the result. This robust but puzzling result needs further investigation, as it challenges some of the orthodoxy surrounding the dynamics involved in interviewing situations and has serious implications for interviewers and job candidates alike.
Inspiration for this study was drawn in the first instance from the paper by David Caldwell and Jerry Burger, PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF JOB APPLICANTS AND SUCCESS IN SCREENING INTERVIEWS, Personnel Psychology, 51, 1998.
REFERENCES
Caldwell DF, O’Reilly CA. (1985). The impact of information on job choices and turnover. Academy of Management Joumal, 28, 934-943.
Dunn WS, Mount MK, Barrick MR, Ones DS. (1995). Relative importance of personalityand general mental ability in managers’ judgments of applicant qualifications. Joumal of Applied Psychology, 80, 500-509.
Hogan R, Hogan J, Roberts BW. (1996). Personality measurement and employment decisions: Questions and answers. American Psychologist, 51.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (2004). “A contemplated revision of the NEO Five-Factor Inventory”. Personality and Individual Differences 36 (3): 587–596.
Ryckman, R. M., Robbins, M. A., Kaczor, L. M., & Gold, J. A. (1989). Male and female raters’ stereotyping of male and female physiques. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 15, 244-251.
Uleman JS. (1987). Consciousness and control: The case of spontaneous trait inferences. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 13, 337-354.