When it comes to performing well in a job interview, your personality is the most unique quality you bring to the table.
Although hard skills and experience are strong influencers during the hiring process, many employers hire for personality. In fact, 45 percent of hiring managers believe “cultural fit” is one of the most important qualities to look for in candidates.
As you prepare for your next job interview, think about different ways you can market your personality to employers. Are you someone who takes initiative? Do you enjoy working in a team? Whatever your personality trait may be, here are some ways you can market it during an interview:
1. The creative personality type
Creativity is valued by employers because it’s what pushes companies to experiment with different strategies and implement new ideas.
You can illustrate your creativity during your interview by explaining how you took time to learn new skills, volunteered for a new project, or discovered creative ways to be more productive. These are simple examples that show employers your ability think of new ideas and follow through with them.
2. The proactive personality type.
Proactive people are individuals who don’t wait to react to a situation after it occurred. If you’re someone who doesn’t wait around to be told what to do, then you should definitely market this trait to employers.
During an interview, provide examples of situations when you had to be proactive. For example, let’s say you planned a sponsorship even for a nonprofit you worked for. In preparation for the event, you made sure your sponsorship team had photos and bios of important business people who’d be in attendance. This example illustrates how you planned ahead in order to make the event more effective.
3. The risk-taker personality type.
Risk-takers are people who aren’t afraid of pushing the envelope in their jobs and careers.
If you identify as a risk-taker, think of examples from your career when one of your new ideas resulted in success or a positive learning experience. For example, talk about a time when you had to save a failing project. This shows the interviewer your initiative and willingness to improve a negative situation.
4. The people-orientated personality type.
Are you the type of person that people love to work with? Great! But now you need to think of some ideas to illustrate how your personality fits in the workplace.
Job seekers who consider themselves to be people-orientated should share accomplishment stories about times they had to work in a team or work with customers. This shows the employer how you reached success while working effectively with other people.
5. The task-orientated personality type.
To illustrate to employers your tendencies to be more task-orientated, talk about times when you had strict deadlines to meet and the results you achieved.
You can also provide examples of times when you had to juggle different projects and had to prioritize your tasks. This will show employers you have the ability to be flexible, yet create deadlines for yourself.
Knowing how to market your personality to employers is a great way to set yourself apart during job interviews. By knowing your strongest qualities and having examples to share, you’ll be an impressive candidate for any job.
