In order to please prospective employers, you have to know what they actually want. But there seems to be a major communications gap between hiring officers and those seeking jobs.
When job seekers and managers answer the same questions about what traits are most desired by employers, a recent survey shows the two are not on the same page.
According to the study of 4,000 hourly workers and 15 managers by SnagAJobs.com, a Web site for part-time and full-time jobs, 51 percent of those currently seeking an hourly job reported that “dependability is the most important characteristic.”
More Top Picks Air Fryer
But employers did not stress dependability. Instead, about 50 percent of the hiring managers–representing restaurant, retail and service industries–cited as their No. 1 choice “a positive attitude.”
Attitude “far surpassed dependability, intelligence, common sense, past work experience or punctuality,” according to the report. And 23 percent of the job seekers did acknowledge that a positive attitude is “the most important characteristic.”
Positively.
Fighting fires: Fire protection is a “fast-growing” occupation, according to the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, an international organization based in Bethesda, Md.
“Year after year, the demand for qualified fire protection engineers outpaces the supply,” according to the society.
While many youngsters dream about becoming fire fighters when they grow up, fire fighters aren’t the only folks who battle blazes: Engineers do, too–but in a different way.
Instead, they “use physics, math and chemistry to protect people and buildings from destruction,” according to the association. Starting salaries average a healthy $47,000.
To describe the many opportunities in the field, the society has issued a free publication, “Guide to Careers in Fire Protection Engineering.” It’s available by calling Chris Jelenewicz at 301-718-2910.
Teammates: “If you were faced with the need to accomplish a task at work, what sort of person would you pick to help you?” That’s a question asked by Tiziana Casciaro and Miguel Sousa Lobo, writing in the Harvard Business Review. Casciaro is an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Harvard Business School and Lobo is an assistant professor of decision sciences at Duke University’s School of Business.
The professors wanted to learn if you would want to work with “someone able to get the job done or someone enjoyable to be around.” The choices were based on competence and likability–traits not always found in the same person.
Colleagues were divided into four categories: “competent jerk,” “lovable star,” “incompetent jerk” and “lovable fool.”
The incompetent jerk was “desperately avoided”; the competent jerk, “mostly avoided.” The lovable fool was “mildly wanted”; the lovable star “desperately wanted.”
According to the authors, even though managers protest that “competence trumps likability,” the reverse often was true. “Personal feelings played a more important role in forming work relationships than is commonly acknowledged. … we found if someone is strongly disliked, it’s almost irrelevant whether or not she or he is competent.”
Especially if she or he is a “jerk.”
———-
Carol Kleiman’s columns also appear in Monday’s and Tuesday’s Business sections. Watch her “Career Coach” segments on CLTV.