Most interviewers would know by now that skills, qualifications, background and potential are insufficient to determine a candidate’s suitability. A person’s personality is equally if not more important.

However, in an interview setting that is usually brief, it’s not easy to decipher a person’s personality type. Although there are many psychological instruments that divide people into various personality types, most require careful thought and analysis. There is one strategy, however that requires very little time to learn and is based on the work of Dr. David McClelland, and Deanne Rosenberg called it people reading.

During the 1940’s, McClelland and a group of experts revolutionized the field of organizational behavior studies through their experimentation with the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). McClelland’s innovative conclusions from the Tat Studies indicated that people acquired different needs over time as a result of life experiences. He identified three needs that affect motivation of organizational behavior both of individuals and organizations:

1.Need for Achievement - The desire to do something better or more efficiently to solve problems, or to master complex tasks.

2.Need for Affiliation - The desire to establish and maintain friendly and warm relations with others.

3.Need for Power - The desire to control others, to influence their behavior, or to be responsible for others

Although every individual possesses some combination of all there motivational drives, there are times when one stands out more clearly. The need most clearly seen when a person is under stress is the need that drives most of that person’s behavior.

An employment interview is a stressful situation for most candidates. Ask a few simple open-ended questions and listen to how candidates frame their responses.

• Task-oriented candidates are certain to tell you about their dedication to quality work – that they know how to do a job and get it done right, and that they are not afraid of a little hard work.

• Affiliation-oriented candidates will describe how they like people – that they have great human relations and get long well with everyone.

• Power-oriented candidates are certain to inform you about their leadership aspirations, as well as their potential to move up in the organization.

Armed with this knowledge, any recruiter who interviews can develop an accuracy rate of 98% in his or her assessment of personality fit regarding any candidate.

For example, task-oriented candidates are famous for marrying the job and want jobs that demand a lot of them. In answer to the question, “Why have you decided to leave your present employment?” it is typical to hear responses such as:-

• I could do so much more.

• They just aren’t working me hard enough over there.

• The work isn’t demanding enough.

For the affiliated-oriented candidates, it is common to hear explanations such as these:

• A new management took over, and things just didn’t feel the same any more.

• My job kept changing all the time.

• The company fell on hard times, and a lot of my friends left.

For the power-oriented candidates, they will express a preference for being in charge of things and people. Status symbols are important to them and they usually are hard bargainers on the issue of salary and job title. In answer to the question, “What would you like to know about this position?” power-oriented candidates will ask about the organization structure of the department and the reporting relationships. These are very astute political animals who want to know how the power flows in every situation.

But before you interview any candidate, you should try to grasp on the personality-fit conditions of the vacancy. For this, you want to examine three specific areas:-

1.The management style of your boss or the immediate superior of the position.

2.The nature of the work team already in place.

3.The requirements of the job itself.

This is important as unenlightened interviewers tend to hire in their own image. An affiliation-oriented manager will most likely hire an affiliation-oriented candidate; a task-oriented manager will gravitate toward task-oriented candidates, and so on. People are more comfortable around others who think and perceive in a manner similar to themselves. But the astute interviewers will look at the requirements of the position, independent of any personal preferences, and hire according to the specific needs of the job.

Last but not least, please remember that people reading is only about personality fit. It is not useful for determining professional qualifications, experience, probable longevity, skill set, learning ability, or effective management potential.

Source

Rosenberg, Deanne A Manager’s Guide To Hiring The Best Person For Every Job, 180-216. Wiley, 2000

www.mcclellandmedia.com/psych.html