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Introverts In Jobs With Significant Public Contact
Introduction
An introvert is an individual with a preference for remaining alone. Such a person is uncomfortable in social circles given the fact that he/she can be easily misunderstood in those circumstances. However, it should not be assumed that introverts are necessarily shy; they just prefer spending their time in deep thought. As a matter of fact, most introverts have very carefully crafted ideas, they however get minimal airtime from other personality types who dominate the social and business climates of the world today. Introverts are not fond of small talk because their conversations are well laid out. This has been the reason why most of them have been misunderstood as arrogant or detached. (Robbins & Judge, 2007)
Numerous psychologists/sociologists have come up with theories linking personality type or emotional behaviour with performance at work. Consequently, these theories indicate that one’s personality can affect satisfaction at work. In line with these thoughts, it would seem plausible to select a certain job type to suit a certain personality type. The validity of this argument shall be examined below with specific reference to introvert personalities in jobs with significant public contact.
Whether introverts can be successful in jobs that require significant public contact
An individual’s personality refers to a person’s traits, situational interactions and even their appearance. Luthans (2005) refers to a five-factor model of personality traits known as the big five. According to the latter author, these personality traits are the most significant in analysing what kind of personality an individuals possess. The five factors include;
- Openness to experience
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Emotional stability
- Conscientiousness
Openness to new experiences refers to a person’s sense of curiosity, flexibility, creativity and sensitivity. On the other hand, extroversion refers to the process of being talkative, assertive, sociable and outgoing. Additionally, an agreeable person is one who is cooopertaive, caring, good natured, warm and trusting. Emotional stability refers to possessing a sense of calmness, security and happiness. Lastly, conscientiousness refers to the process of being self disciplines, dependable, organised and responsible.
Barrick, Mount and Jugde (2001) assert that there are two personality traits needed in almost all types of jobs. These are emotional stability and conscientiousness. On the other hand, the remaining three personality traits (Openness to experience, agreeableness and extraversion) are necessary only in certain jobs. These authors further argue that jobs involving a lot of interaction with the public such as sales or marketing jobs will be more suitable for extroverts because these jobs require a high level of competitiveness. On top of that, such jobs require quick decisions since parties involved have very little time to spare or the may have very little patience to give a chance to introvert personalities. This means that introvert personality types would not be suitable for jobs with significant public contact such as sales.
Carnevale and Isen (1986) assert that many extrovert individuals are likely to be happier or to have subjective well being. This also means that introverts are less likely to display such personality traits. The latter researchers also argue that happy people appear to be more socially engaged than those who are not. This means that most of them seem to be more helpful than their introvert counterparts.
Carnevale and Isen (1986) further assert that happy people induce positive moods in the people they interact with. This means that the people they have to do business with are likely to cooperate with them after this positive mood induction. The opposite effect can be carried forward to the introvert personalities; an introvert is less likely to appear happy and is less likely to induce good moods in others. This implies that if they wanted to sell something to them, or if they wanted to convince them of a particular issue, it would be significantly hard to do so given the fact that a negative mood would induce poor cooperation from correspondents. On the basis of these arguments, an introvert person in a job that requires significant public contact would not deliver because they solicit negative reactions from the people they come into contact with. Sales men would not deliver high sales because customers would not be induced to cooperate with them.
However, Barry and Stewart (1997) brought a flip side to the latter assertions. Although they agreed with Carnevale and Isen (1986) that introverts may not be very high performers in sociable jobs, they brought out the fact that extroverts were not as reliable as introverts in terms of another parameter. Most introverts register greater levels of job attendance than extroverts because extroverts are likely to get bored easily. It would therefore be appropriate for a sales team to constitute of fifty percent introverts and fifty percent extroverts.
Examples of personality traits
Young (2008) asserts that there are numerous facts one needs to consider while making a career choice. These include,
-Skill requirements
-Physical requirements
-Personality type
Consequently, the latter author believes that not all individuals can do all jobs. There are certain personality types that would be more suitable for certain job types. Failure to match the two issues is likely to affect one’s quality of life or one’s financial gains in that respective career. This author affirms the fact those individuals who do jobs that fit their personalities are the ones who are more likely to be stable and happy with their jobs all their lives. Young (2008) further gives information about matching personality types and career paths. Additionally, he explains what kind of personalities introverts have. These are people who prefer working by themselves. Consequently, if such a person was given a job to deal with other parties, then they would be out of their element. On top of that, introvert people prefer sticking to a certain routine. This is an aspect that is uncommon in jobs that have high amounts of contact with the public. Such jobs would require one to step out of their shell and change there routine every day because different people will require different approaches. (Keirsey and Marilyn, 1984)
Young (2008) further adds that introverts do not like change. Again, this is a quality that can rarely be found in jobs that require significant public contact. Real estate executives, sales men, hotel managers and counsellors all have one thing in common; they do jobs that require significant contact with the public. Another aspect that is common in these professions is the fact that they present different challenges every day. They require flexibility and a person who hates change would not fit in such a job description. This automatically disqualifies the introverts.
The last aspect about introverts that disqualifies them from jobs with significant public contact is their love for technicality. Introverts are fond of working with their hands and most of them would do very well in engineering jobs, IT related jobs such as computer programming, library cataloguing and research. Jobs with high levels of public contact may not require a lot of technical skills. Instead, such jobs require people-skills where individuals are expected to be very creative and innovative. While some introverts may posses these aspects, it is very likely that most of them may not. Consequently, they are likely to perform poorly in such levels of jobs. (Hogan, 2007)
Bodine (2006) explains that there are four key traits that distinguish sales persons/ persons working in jobs with significant amounts of public contact from other professions
- Cognitive empathy
- Ego drive
- Service mindedness
- High resilience
- Conscientiousness
He explains that Cognitive empathy refers to the process of looking at things from the mindset of the buyer. In this regard, sales persons or persons in jobs with significant contact with the public need to ask consumers what they require. According to the author, the most important personality type among all the enlisted ones is ego drive. He believes that those who posses this trait are those who how have a psychological need to convince others. This means that they are always comfortable with the role of selling an idea, product or service to another party. Extroverts have very high ego drive while introverts do not. Consequently, introverts are less likely to ask a person to buy a certain idea, product or service at the end of their negotiation. This severely undermines their performance and it therefore means that they are not well suited for the job. (Schneider, 2004)
Service mindedness refers to the ability to listen to others and to pay attention to them. On top of that, service mindedness also refers to those type of people who like helping others. Perhaps this is one of the few traits that introverts posses for high contact jobs. Many introverts tend to have a high tendency to help others thus qualifying them for such jobs. (Judge et al, 1998)
Bodine (2006) further explains that people who are exposed to significant levels of public contact need to have high resilience. Where the latter term refers to a persons’ ability to cope with rejection. Introverts do no posses this trait as most of them avoid social interactions in order to avoid rejection. This denotes that most of them would be out of their elements when placed in such situations. Lastly, the latter author explains that jobs with significant amounts of contact with the public require conscientiousness. Here, persons should posses the ability to plan for a certain business aspect well, follow it up and execute it well. The latter trait may not necessarily be common among extroverts and is likely to be present in introverts. (Gellatly, 1996) Therefore, this is also another trait that would render such personalities successful in such an environment. Most individuals may master this skill whether they are introverts or extrovert. As it can be seen from Bodine’s (2006) explanations, three out of the five personality traits are synonymous with extroverts. Consequently, public contact jobs are better done by people with outgoing personalities, a high geo drive and the need to understand others. Extroverts would be better suited for such jobs because even those personality traits they lack can be modified. For instance, a sales man can enter into an introvert mode of thinking in order to produce better outcomes.
Conclusion
It is necessary to understand d one’s personality type ion order to know how one relates to different situations. It is possible to test one’s personality using the Cliper or Meyers test. According to such tests, certain traits are right for certain jobs. Consequently, hiring the right traits prevents one from trying to change one of their professionals.
For jobs which require significant level of public contact, extrovert personalities are better suited than introvert personalities because the challenges that come with the job complement the needs and wants of the extrovert rather than the introvert. (Megginson, 1972) Successful professionals are those who leverage their strengths to their careers rather than try to fix all their weaknesses to fit their jobs. This means that introverts are likely to perform well in jobs that bring out their strengths rather that their weakness. Given these facts, introverts would not be successful in a job that requires significant public contact.
Reference:
Bodine, L. (2006): Why 25% of lawyers don’t sell, retrieved from http://www.lawmarekting.com/ accessed on 26th July 2008
Young, A. (2008): Choosing a career that matches your personality http://www.doityourself.com/ accessed on 26th July 2008
Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K., & Judge, T. A. (2001): Personality and performance at the beginning of the new millennium, International Journal of Selection and Assessment, vol.9, pp. 9–30
Gellatly, I. R. (1996): Conscientiousness and task performance: Test of a cognitive process model’, Applied Psychology Journal, vol.81, 474–82
Carnevale, D., & Isen, M. (1986): The influence of positive affect and visual access on the discovery of integrative solutions in bilateral negotiation; Journal of Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, vol.37, pp. 1–13.
Schneider, B. (2004): Personality and Organizations, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.
Robbins S.P. & Judge, T.A. (2007): Self-assessment library, Version 3.3, Pearson Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Megginson, L. (1972): Personnel: A Behavioural Approach to Administration, Homewood, IL Richard D. Irwin..
Judge, T. A., Higgins, , C. J., Barrick, M. R. & C. A., Thoresen (1999): The Big Five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span; Journal of Personnel Psychology, vol.52, pp. 621–52
Keirsey, D. and Marilyn, B. (1984): Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types; Prometheus Nemesis Book Company, Del Mar, Ca.
Judge, T. A., Erez, A., & Bono, J. E. (1998): The power of being positive: The relation between positive self-concept and job performance; Journal of Human Performance, vol.11, pp. 167–87
Hogan, R. (2007): Personality and the fate of organizations; Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers
Barry, B., & Stewart, G. L. (1997): Composition, process, and performance in self-managed groups: The role of personality; Applied Psychology Journal, vol.82, pp. 62–78
Luthans, F. (2005): Organizational Behaviour, McGraw-Hill Publishers
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