More problems getting hired recently: They changed not you

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This is from a Newsday article aimed at small business but provides real evidence of what we have been saying antidotly. I bolded the material that is spectrum unfriendly


While finding employees with the right skill set is still important to employers, personality is playing a greater role in their hiring decisions.

A survey by Stockholm-based Universum found 88 percent of employers placed more weight on finding a good cultural fit for their organization than on specific skills. Among the top personality traits identified by employers polled were professionalism, high energy and confidence.

"When someone joins an organization they are joining a team," says Joao Araujo, global marketing director for Universum, an employer branding firm. "In today's collaborative world it is more important to ensure that teams are balanced when it comes to their personalities than to guarantee that they have the ultimate best skills."

Still, skills were a high priority for 82 percent of the 2,641 survey respondents.

Personality can't be taught: You can train people when it comes to skills, says Araujo. It's more difficult to change someone's personality. So how do you know the right personality fit for your organization?

"It depends on the job," says Dr. Herb Greenberg, founder and CEO of Caliper Corp., a Princeton, N.J., human resource development company.

If you're looking for a sales person, you want someone with "ego drive," he says, who "likes him or herself if someone says yes to them." That quality's not so important in an accounting position, Greenberg notes.

Caliper offers personality assessments, in which job candidates answer about 150 questions to see if they're the right fit.

To decide which personality traits work best for your company, start by understanding the traits needed to succeed in the specific job you're trying to fill, Greenberg says.

When interviewing, don't just ask candidates what they did in their last job, he adds. Ask questions to delve deeper, such as what they loved most about it and what they couldn't stand.

If you need someone who displays confidence on the job, ask, "What are the top two accomplishments you had in your previous job?" and listen to what they say and how they say it, says Linda Berke, president of Farmingdale-based Taylor Performance Solutions, which provides career coaching for employees and helps managers conduct effective interviews.

If you're looking for someone who's empathetic and likes working with people, offer a scenario of a complaint from an angry customer and ask how the interviewee would respond, she says.

To the personality traits identified in the Universum study, Berke would add listening, noting "it's required for every job."

For Angelo Garcia, principal industrial hygienist at Future Environment Designs in Syosset, being outgoing and personable are key traits for new hires. The company is an indoor air quality and industrial hygiene consulting and training firm, so it works with customers very closely.

Skills still matter: "It's important they have a friendly greeting and manner," says Garcia. With some applicants, he says, it's like "pulling teeth" to get them to talk -- an immediate sign it's not a good fit.

Finding a good communicator is also key for Richard Pfadenhauer, president of Paylogix LLC in Westbury, a financial services and technology provider for health and welfare programs. He can size up an applicant in an initial phone interview by seeing if the person plays an active role in the dialogue. Being self-motivated and detail-oriented are also key, but he doesn't discount the need for good skills: "Personality does play a role, but if you don't have the skills, personality is only going to get you so far."


The line about balance is an interesting one. Yes it would be nice if people hired quiet analytical types to balance the super salesmen types. I worked for two companies where the two CEO's were exact opposite personalities but respected each other. Those business boomed. The companies I worked for that had one bright owner closed on me.

The whole "having the right personality to fit into the company culture" thing pisses me off. Being civil and getting along with people for the purpose of getting a job done, even when I don't like them or they have a different personality than me, was a skill I learned at around age 6.
It's childish to expect all your workmates to be Insta-BFFs. Real adults act like adults and work around differences, or just ignore them if they aren't relevant to the work that needs to get done.

If you really believe that you don't need to adapt to fit the culture of the company, then you are NEVER going to go very far in any company.

You have to adapt to fit the company -- the company does not have to adapt to fit you and they will not do so.

If you can't fit the company, then why should they hire you instead of someone who will fit in?

That's my whole point: I WILL adapt to fit into the company culture, and I take it as a given that I should have to do so.
The whole "right-personality" requirement that companies have is the opposite stance: they assume that people can't/won't adapt, so they look for people with an exact personality fit rather than assuming that people will act like adults and make the effort to fit in so that everyone can do their job.

(Really, though, "Can do the job properly " should be more important than "Is a bubbly people person who everyone loves".)

Then why do most companies trample all over people that do the job properly? I was always taught the following:

Follow the Musician's Union Rule--Even if you're on time for your job, YER LATE!! !! !
Stay the hell out of office politics. The results of a revolt will come back to bite you in the arse eventually.
Do your work and don't b***h about it in the office.
Avoid Office Romances at all costs.
If you are working on a task for a customer, you keep at it until you think the task is done properly. Nine times out of ten, if you are satisfied the work is done to your satisfaction, the customer will be satisfied. I'd rather not do the job at all if I can't meet my own high standards.
I work at my own pace. When a customer starts pressuring me to hurry up, I usually get quite blunt and sarcastic and ask, "Do you want it done fast, or do you want it done right? You can't have it both ways! I can't do five different tasks at once! I also can't be in 2 different places at the same time!"

These has been my experiences

Follow the Musician's Union Rule--Even if you're on time for your job, YER LATE!! !! !
Depends on the company. I have worked some where even a few lateness's will get you fired. While other employers only cared about result no how it was accomplished.

Stay the hell out of office politics. The results of a revolt will come back to bite you in the arse eventually.
If you are on the spectrum you are probably going to stink at it. But if you stay out of it expect those much less deserving then you to get promoted while you don't. It is a real catch 22. I chose not to play that game . Despite 5+years at various companies despite all the compliments to my hard work when the budget trimming happened I was the one laid off

Do your work and don't b***h about it in the office.
Good advice not b***h not only about work but anything

Avoid Office Romances at all costs.
Depends on the company. For some its a no no , some don't care as long as it does not go public and hurt the company brand

If you are working on a task for a customer, you keep at it until you think the task is done properly. Nine times out of ten, if you are satisfied the work is done to your satisfaction, the customer will be satisfied. I'd rather not do the job at all if I can't meet my own high standards.
I work at my own pace. When a customer starts pressuring me to hurry up, I usually get quite blunt and sarcastic and ask, "Do you want it done fast, or do you want it done right? You can't have it both ways! I can't do five different tasks at once! I also can't be in 2 different places at the same time!"

The last two I put together because it is the same concept.
You have to be good enough to satisfy the customer and meet the deadline otherwise you are fired.
I have been advised MANY times to NEVER tell an interviewer that you will work as long as it takes to complete a project. They interpret that as not being skilled enough to do the job.

The attitudes expressed by the companies in this thread are different from the past. Those attitudes are why you are we are seeing America in a free fall.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 04 Oct 2013, 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Then why doesn't a project manager build some slop into his Visio charts? You can't predict what's going to throw a project off, no matter how hard you try. Everybody and his brother knows about Murphy's Law. Even then, Murphy was an optimist!

Of course, I should had listened to a former supervisor I had when I worked for Follett Software: Stop making sense of the business world."

Just more proof that most "work" is a load of crap.

"On Time is Late": People need anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes (maybe more) to settle in and get started. Arriving on time means that they're spending the company's time in unproductive activities. Arriving early means being able to visit the loo, wash their hands, make some coffee, check their (personal) messages, and still be able to start work on time!

"Stay Out of Office Politics": Being on the wrong side of an argument when the pink slips are handed out is a proven method to make sure that one of those pink slips is yours.

"Do Your Own Work": When co-workers start piling their work on you, may sure that you get the work that the boss assigned to you done first. Co-workers may just be pushing their work off on you to make themselves look efficient ("Look, boss; I'm done!"), and you look like a floundering fool ("Poor little Aspie ... so lost ...").

"Avoid Office Romances": Besides being a focus of blackmail, they're just another form of Office Politics. Even worse is when you've just broken up, and your ex is still your co-worker.

"Work Like You Are the Customer": If the final result is not good enough for you, then it is likely not going to be good enough for the customer, or the boss!

"Work is a Load of Crap": So, how's that job going? Lots of raises and promotions? Your own office and parking space? 20+ days of paid leave each year? A lifestyle that doesn't rely on thrift stores and midnight runs to Wal-Mart? Yeah ... right ...

Yeah, tell that to salespeople. I can't even begin to count the number of times I gotten screwed by a few individuals on the sales force who raised hell because they dropped the ball on a due date for deliverables. When I would tell them that I can't drop a project I am currently assigned to, the next phone I would get would be from the company president, demanding to know why I can't drop what I'm doing RIGHT NOW and do the complaining salesperson's job. First off, I only have a limited number of resources. Second, That salesperson's job is already in the queue. I'll get to it when the job number comes up in the queue. That still was never good enough. That's why I started taking work home with me, and began to burn out. If I were a non-exempt employee, I could get overtime, which would have caused management to hire additional help. But I was hired as salaried, and thus exempt from overtime, thereby being pissed on by everybody in management, as well as sales. Any wonder I became such a control freak?

Even when I worked technical support, I was still expected to field pre-sales calls.Some of those calls were a welcome relief from the incessant bitching from customers who think your a FSCKING idiot to begin with. It helps when you have the same background as the customer. I could talk the talk to librarians and school media specialist, since I was one of them. A lot of calls the customer asked how I knew about professional practice, considering I was working technical support, and geeks normally don't know diddly squat about libraries and how they operate. Once they found out I was one of them, my stock went up in their eyes.

The biggest gripe I have with working a call center? You get absolutely 0 time to regroup and recompose yourself, ESPECIALLY after dealing with a customer that was hell-bent on making your life so miserable that suicide would be better than dealing with that customer. As the lyrics from the theme from M*A*S*H goes:

Suicide is Painless,
It brings on many changes,
And I can take or leave it as I please!

The corporate personality is dull and pretentious. I can pretend in an interview but not on the job. People have to take me or leave me.

My opinion is that the organization is insecure about itself to demand a particular personality from applicants. What they are saying is that they are so fragile they will not cope with a character who might rock the boat even just a little.

I agree with this. To emphasize, on-time does not mean walking in the door at the start of your shift it means working the exact time of your shift.



How would one avoid office politics if the very nature of social interactions involve politics? How does one keep others from pulling you in? Let's say one stayed in his own corner and did top-notch work and focused on his job what will happen? Will this person be considered valuable or will they say he is not social enough? Is he going to last long? Can you elaborate further as to what the correct behavior in the workplace is?



How does one stick to doing one's own work and take initiative like employers want today? Can you elaborate further?




Agree 100% with this. I would avoid this like the plague.



How does one do this if every person is different from each other? Some people are going to have different desires and some will have similar?

What if I thought my final result was good enough for me and good enough for the boss but not the customer?

What if I thought my final result was not good enough for me but it was good enough for the boss and customer? For all I know, I could be too perfectionist.



You're making faulty assumptions about those around you especially on here. All a lot of the people want to do is be able to make ends. It isn't about wanting one's own office or any of these other perks. It is about survival. It is about knowing how to get any job with any employer and being able to keep it.

A lot of people including you use one line slogans that lack substance.

These double standards will be the death of me yet. Dilbert the cartoon strip shows the absurdities to all of this.

Normally I can't stand the one lined slogans but I like the one your former supervisor gave. I do love Murphy's law as well. They're both very profound.

Exactly, Whatever proper behaviors they want me to display I will do my best to display. Today, it isn't even about social skills anymore. They do take the opposite stance. They make the assumption that one can't change his personality and they can't change it A personality is part of our core identity and who we are. One can't be something he is not. There is no adapting at all. It is either you have it or you don't.