Dr. Diane Hamilton's Blog
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For more see the full article at Northcentral University Higher Degrees Fall 2013
Hiring Graduates Based on Personality Skills
HR professionals within organizations have given personality assessments to potential employees for many years. I was asked to take a personality assessment for a pharmaceutical sales job in 1987. The changes I have noticed since that time include the type and frequency of personality tests given. What also may be trending is the fact that leaders of schools have become more interested in personality assessments. In the Wall Street Journal article Business Schools Know How You Think, but How Do You Feel, author Melissa Korn explained, “Prospective MBA students need to shine by showing emotional traits like empathy, motivation, resilience, and dozens of others.” Schools may be interested in these traits because organizations value these traits. Korn also explained, “Measuring EQ-or emotional intelligence quotient-is the latest attempt by business schools to identify future stars.”
I find this trend to be particularly interesting because I teach business, I am a qualified Myers Briggs instructor, a certified EQ-i instructor, and I wrote my dissertation on the relationship between emotional intelligence and sales performance. I have also witnessed that online schools have placed more importance on personality assessments. Many of my first-year students must take a Jung-like personality test. Many of my undergraduate and graduate business students have to assess their EQ.
I think it is important for these personality preference and emotional intelligence issues to be addressed in online courses. Some of the things that may hurt a graduate’s chance of obtaining is job include having poor self-assessment skills, poor interpersonal skills, and a lack of concern for how they are perceived by others.
When I was in pharmaceutical sales, they rated us each year on our concern for impact. It was such an important part of what they believed made us successful in the field, that there were consequences to poor judgment and rude behavior. In the book, It’s Not You It’s Your Personality, there is a chapter regarding concern for impact, as well as one for Myers Briggs MBTI, Emotional Intelligence, DISC, and many other personality assessments that may help young adults in the workplace. One of the universities for which I teach requires students to read this book in a foresight course.
It is important for online students to learn about these assessments because employers use them. Some personality traits stay with us throughout our lives. The MBTI is an example of an assessment that determines preferences that may not change. This assessment may be helpful to students who are not sure about career paths. Other assessments like the EQ-i determine emotional intelligence levels. The good news about emotional intelligence is that it may be improved. Marcia Hughes has written several books about how to improve EQ in the workplace. The savvy online students will work on developing their EQ and understanding personality preferences before they graduate. By being proactive, students may have a better chance of being successful in a career that matches their personality preferences.
Related Articles:
- Jobs and Education Choices Based on Myers Briggs
- The Emotionally Intelligent Online Student
- Schools Focusing on Career Path
- MBTI and VARK Importance to Learning
- More Education Required for Employment
- Degree Programs Based on MBTI
- It’s Not You It’s Your Personality
- How to Get a Job Based on Understanding Introverts and Extraverts
Famous Entrepreneurs Provide Inspiration
There are plenty of examples of entrepreneurs who failed before they became successful. Some of them even explain that failure has taught them their most valuable lessons. While this may be true, many prospective entrepreneurs fear failure. One way to avoid problems is to learn from those who have experienced negative issues and still managed to succeed.
Entrepreneur.com recently published the article 10 Inspirational Leaders Who Turned Around Their Companies. In this article, author Stephanie Vozza explained, “From Apple’s Steve Jobs’ demanding personality to Marvel’s Isaac Perlmutter’s frugal methods, these sometimes-controversial CEOs weren’t always popular with employees, but they earned the respect of shareholders.”
For some unusual entrepreneurial examples, check out the VentureVillage article The Top Ten Startup Founder Blogs Every Entrepreneur Should Follow. These entrepreneurs offer a different perspective and update their blogs on a regular basis.
For more information for how to be a successful entrepreneur check out:
- The Top 30 Links for the Successful Entrepreneur
- Famous Entrepreneurs Who Hit It Big With Humble Beginnings
- Top 7 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Obtain Funding
- Could Augmented Reality Technology Inspire the Next Steve Jobs?
- Crowdfunding Options
- Top 10 Companies’ Financial Statements
- How to Conduct a Feasibility Study
- How to Create a Business Plan
- Business Plan Outline
- Feasibility Plan Outline
- Problems with Crowdfunding
- Improve Your Karma with Microlending
- 50 Famous People Who Failed Before Becoming Successful
- Top Entrepreneurial Topics and Value of SBA
Linkedin Endorsements Poorly Utilized
Linkedin has provided an opportunity for networkers to endorse the skills of people with whom they are connected. This was meant to be a time saver for people who normally wrote full recommendations. The idea had promise. However, it is not being utilized well. When users sign onto their Linkedin profile, they are given a list of people in their network and asked if they want to endorse them for a particular skill. There is the option of being able to endorse all of the people that pop up as choices. The problem is, many people are doing that. People may receive many endorsements from people who have not witnessed some of the skills they have endorsed. At that point, the Linkedin endorsements become meaningless.
It is far too easy to choose the option of endorsing people as it is currently configured. If the point was to make recommendations easier, it is understandable that there should be some way to do that. However, if everyone is endorsing everyone for everything, there is no value to the endorsement.
To find out more about Linkedin’s Endorsements check out the following articles
- Work it: Linkedin Endorsements Explained
- Tips for Using Linkedin Endorsements
- What is a Linkedin Endorsement
- Linkedin Endorsements: Half a Billion Served
- Everything You Need to Know About Linkedin Endorsements
Related Articles:
- Ten Most Important Steps to Obtain a Dream Job
- How to Use QR Codes on Your Resume and Business Cards
- Does Your Job Pay a Fair Salary
- How to Use Google Docs and Linkedin to get a Job
- Using QR Codes for Business Promotion
- QR Codes: Why You Should Be Using Them
- Millennials Using Linkedin
- 5 Top Networking Tips for Small Businesses
- How to Get a Job Marketing You as the Product
- How Your Job Satisfaction May Be Based on Your Personality Type
- 5 Ways to get a Job Through YouTube
- Using Video on YouTube to Promote Yourself
- 6 Steps to Using Linkedin to Get That Job
- Get a Job and Get Noticed By Taking Full Advantage of LinkedIn’s Capabilities
Top Links for Employee Onboarding
New employees go through a process that is referred to onboarding. This is the time that the company can make employees feel welcome. It is also a time when they can begin to work on things like creating open communication, sharing a corporate vision, and defining goals. In the article Employee Onboarding, the following list contains high-level objectives of onboarding:
- Helping the employee to identify with their new employer.
- Allowing the employee to understand some of the company’s values and priorities.
- Building an optimistic attitude towards the company.
- Avoiding misunderstandings.
- Helping the employee feel valued.
- Encouraging socialization and creating a sense of belonging.
- Reducing new employee anxiety.
- Setting of performance expectations.
- Decreasing the learning curve.
For more information about how employers and employees can have a successful onboarding process, check out the following articles:
- Top 10 Commandment of Employee Onboarding
- Onboarding Done Better
- How to Upgrade Your Employee Onboarding
- Onboarding New Employees from SHRM
- Best Practices for Employee Onboarding
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