By Hunter Krupka
After completing the IPIP-NEO test, I reviewed my scores and found the following. In Extraversion, my trait levels were higher than 30 to 60 percent of people with my similar age and gender. In particular, my scores for friendliness, cheerfulness, gregariousness, and excitement seeking stood out as these were my highest categories within extraversion. This does explain a lot about me, as I have always leaned towards adventure and making new and strengthening current relationships. I consider myself to be a happy individual, and I always look on the bright side of things in life. Overall, I scored a little lower in the category of agreeableness. My two highest scores were in altruism and trust, which I again feel describe me well. I value helping others, and because relationships are so important to me, I place a high importance on honesty and fairness. Taking a look at conscientiousness, I found that I only scored above average in three sections: dutifulness, orderliness, and self discipline. When I make a promise or have an agreement, I place a high importance on that obligation that I have made. I also like to follow a somewhat strict schedule for myself, as I have found that doing so makes me more productive and successful in all facets of life. In terms of neuroticism, I actually scored extremely low in all categories. I believe this is because I am happy and confident in myself and who I am, and don’t feel the need to give in to negative feelings even when I do experience them. Maintaining a positive mindset has always helped me in the past, and I don’t plan on changing this at all going forward. Finally, when looking at openness to experience, I discovered that I am relatively low in all facets of this characteristic. This surprised me a bit, but it makes sense as I am fairly grounded and prefer straight and forward thinking rather than abstract concepts.
If an employer were to look at my results and make some conclusions about who I am as a potential employee, they would likely be happy with what they see. I am an outgoing individual who maintains a positive mindset, which can be extremely helpful when working in teams, especially on difficult tasks that can sometimes cause people to get frustrated. Having an individual with extraversion traits such as myself on such a job would help everyone maintain a more positive outlook on their tasks, and would likely lead to a better work environment in general. The importance of trust that this test has determined that I have also is a positive for an employer, as they understand that if I make a promise, I feel personally obligated to fulfill it. They won’t have to worry about me failing to live up to my word, and I hold others responsible for their own promises and obligations. I am a duty driven individual who follows a strict mindset of discipline and hard work, and I maintain a high importance in orderliness. These characteristics are helpful in almost any workplace environment, and will help produce the best levels of productivity possible. I am not a neurotic person by any means, and have a positive attitude no matter the situation. Finally, an employer would look at how I placed in openness. This specific characteristic may be problematic for me because generally, openness to experience is a good thing to have in an employee. However, the benefits that I have from scoring average in this category is that I am grounded and place importance in straightforward problem solving and thinking, which could help me complete tasks faster than those looking for alternative methods. I do as I am told and taught, which many employers likely find better than someone who always looks for a different approach to their tasks. My strengths make me versatile and useful in a number of environments, and my weaknesses are easy to overcome. While I am sure that others place differently in all of these categories, and some may be better suited for different positions/jobs, I feel as if my characteristics make me a good choice for employers looking for an employee.
Leave a Reply