Picture it: you just wrapped up your interview, and you’re confident you’ve found your ideal candidate. They’re smart, hardworking, qualified, socially skilled, and you know they’re going to blend well with the team. You’ve even got the personality assessment results to prove it. You send them the job offer, and they accept. Everything is great, right?

Not so fast.

Unless they’re the sole person you brought to the interview stage, chances are that there are a few (maybe even several) other candidates who didn’t quite make the cut. To avoid joining the ranks of companies that leave their applicants with a negative opinion (rejections are one of the biggest factors that lead to this), consider this option: the rejection letter.

To be clear, the purpose of the rejection letter is to deliver bad news, so you shouldn’t expect cheers of joy from the recipient. But that doesn’t mean that the letter can’t serve a constructive purpose.

How to Write a Rejection Letter to a Job Applicant

The key to a good job candidate rejection letter is being honest, kind, and compassionate. Your letter should build the candidate up and let them know that, even though they may not be eligible for this role, they will find more opportunities. Remember that this rejection reflects on you and the organization as a whole. The tone you set will determine if the candidate will consider applying again in the future, and it also impacts your organization’s reputation and employer brand.

Here are the four steps to write a job interview rejection letter that will send the right message.

Step 1: Thank Them

It should be self-explanatory, but thanking the candidate is a good idea. Studies show that saying “thank you” has ripple effects that directly and indirectly benefit the health and happiness of those who experience it. Remember that the applicant has given their time and effort to apply, take personality assessments, and interview for the role. Acknowledging this and showing your gratitude for their candidacy will cast your organization in a more positive light.

Step 2: Break the Bad News

This is it — the hardest part of the entire letter. While it may not be possible to alter the essence of your message, the words you use to let the candidate know that they did not get the position are important. Of these two examples of a rejection, which do you think would be better received?

1. I regret to inform you that we have chosen a different applicant for the position.
2. After careful review and a difficult decision, we’ve decided to move forward with another candidate for the role.

If you chose B, congratulations: you’re correct. The key here is that we’ve let the candidate know that it was a challenging decision and that their application was legitimately considered. Additionally, note the subtle difference between the phrasing, “chosen a different applicant” versus “decided to move forward with another candidate.” The latter gets the point across more gently.

Step 3: Explain Why

Still with us? Good. Now that you’ve broached the subject, it’s time to explain why they didn’t get the job. In most cases, it’s a best practice to be open and honest, but this should be determined by how your interactions with them went.

Good interview – As great as they are as a candidate, it’s possible that some factor meant that they just didn’t make the cut. Was it insufficient experience that made the difference? Let them know gently (follow a similar methodology to Step 2).

Bad interview – If the candidate made a negative impression during the interview, you shouldn’t call them out on it. Instead, say nothing and skip to Step 4.

Step 4: End on a High Note

We’re in the home stretch. After you’ve thanked the candidate, broken the news, and explained your decision, end the message positively. Ideally, you should highlight strengths that stood out in the interview and/or their personality assessment results, point out their valuable qualifications, and express your interest (if you have any) in keeping their application on file for consideration for future roles. Positivity in your closing note will establish a good foundation for any future conversations you have with them.

And that’s it. With those four steps, you will have a thoughtful, constructive rejection letter for a job applicant that may leave them disappointed but thankful for the experience and hopeful for future opportunities.

March brings one of my favorite international holidays, International Women’s Day. March 8 is dedicated to celebrating the incredible accomplishments of women. While International Women’s Day reminds us of all the amazing things women can achieve, we should still remember we have a long way to go to achieve equality in the workforce.

To date, only 8.2% of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and women comprise only 7.3% of the Fortune 1000 CEOs.¹ Disappointing as these statistics may be, we can and should work actively to make a change. To understand how we can improve the situation, we should first look at some of the factors that cause women to have less opportunity for leadership.

Why Aren’t More Women in Leadership?

According to the paper, “Do Women Want to Lead? Gender Differences in Motivation and Values,” complex factors contribute to the lack of women in leadership roles.² Extensive research has been done on the topic, however, and the lack of women leaders can be boiled down to three main reasons.

The first is discrimination. Women who apply for leadership roles are rejected more often than men. This causes women to apply for fewer leadership roles, reinforcing the idea that women do not want to be in positions of leadership.

The second is gender stereotypes. Women who are more assertive, display more agency, and are more directive tend to be viewed as aggressive and in a more negative light when compared to male counterparts. Women are often encouraged to “lean in” (in reference to the Sheryl Sandberg book). But when women do show more self-confidence — such as in negotiating, for example — they are often penalized.³

Third, women often fail to succeed because of the work environment. Working long hours and networking after hours are more difficult for many women. Work-life balance is an increasingly popular concept, but women with families and children still find it more difficult than men to strike a fair balance. Research from the U.S. Federal Reserve Board found that the pandemic disrupted childcare and the ability to perform in-person work for 70% of American families, and 25% of mothers reported having to quit work or work less due to these disruptions.⁴

According to a report from McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.Org, “Women in the Workplace 2021,” senior executive women are now more significantly burnt out than their male counterparts.⁵ On a positive note, the report notes that women are doing more than men at their level for improving diversity, equity, and inclusion, and for providing support to teams. Unfortunately, their work is going unrecognized and unrewarded by their companies.

Closing the Gender Gap

By taking proactive steps to recognize and support women in leadership positions, organizations can start changing the environment to build a pathway to success for future women leaders. Addressing burnout, providing recognition and rewards for women leaders, and fostering inclusion and belonging are all necessary measures for organizations to take.⁵

A diverse pipeline for executive talent is also critical to putting more women in leadership roles.¹ Hogan has often preached using personality assessments to build these pipelines. Research shows that personality assessment scores do not differ in any meaningful way across demographics, making them useful for organizations seeking to make more equitable talent decisions. Not to mention, Hogan was founded with the goal of producing discrimination-free assessments that would predict occupational performance as well as or better than traditional methods (such as IQ testing or interviews).  

Call to Action

Back in 2008, I worked on a high-potential mentoring project for a major oil company based in the Middle East whose headquarters only employed men for leadership roles. The CEO of this Fortune 500 company spoke frankly to the room of 20-plus high potentials, all men. He told them that the biggest weakness their company faced was the lack of diversity. He said that by eliminating 50% of the potential workforce (women), they were automatically less competitive and setting themselves up for failure.

I would propose that we are all not using the full potential of our workforce, as evidenced by women comprising only 7.3% of the Fortune 1000 CEOs even though research tells us that women are just as capable as (if not more than) men in leadership positions. By not supporting, promoting, and affording leadership opportunities to women, our organizations are not reaching peak performance potential.

At Hogan, we encourage companies to raise the bar for everyone. Using objective personality data to select and develop the best possible talent will not only help companies improve performance, but it will also have the additional benefit of supporting their diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. By including everyone, we all win.

This blog post was authored by Hogan Director of Asia-Pacific Business Development Krista Pederson.

References

1. Women CEOs in America: Changing the Face of Business Leadership. (2021). Women Business Collaborative. https://www.wbcollaborative.org/women-ceo-report 

Job-related stress is a major problem faced by people worldwide. As many as 60% of workers in the major global economies reported experiencing stress at work, and in the United States, a staggering 80% of workers say they are stressed because of their jobs.

Aside from the health implications that job-related stress can have for employees, such as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, it poses potential problems for organizations too. While most working adults try to manage the impressions they make on others at work, periods of particularly intense stress or pressure can draw out what we at Hogan call dark-side personality characteristics.

Bright Side Vs. Dark Side

Bright-side personality characteristics are what you see on an everyday basis. These are the elements of employees’ personalities that likely impressed you during the selection process — characteristics such as tactfulness, self-confidence, or detail orientation, for example.

The dark side of personality is what emerges when the pressure is on. These characteristics come out when people stop monitoring their behavior or when they are dealing with insecurities. Another way to think of dark-side personality characteristics is as overused strengths. When facing significant stress, an employee who is typically tactful might become passive aggressive, another’s self-confidence could manifest as arrogance, and a person hired for detail orientation might become prone to micromanaging. We don’t need to tell you how these types of behaviors might create problems for your organization.

So how can you identify employees’ dark-side characteristics before they become problems? The Hogan Development Survey (HDS) is a personality test that was designed specifically to identify the dark side of personality. This personality test measures 11 dark-side personality characteristics that can be categorized into three groups based on how people react to conflict: Moving Away, Moving Against, and Moving Toward.

Moving Away

People in the Moving Away group might intimidate or avoid others when they get stressed. Five of the scales on the HDS characterize this behavior: Excitable, Skeptical, Cautious, Reserved, and Leisurely.

Excitable

Excitable people are likely to show passion, energy, and enthusiasm at work when things are going well. But they’re unlikely to remain calm and level-headed when they become stressed. These employees are prone to emotional swings and volatility when faced with pressure, and they might even quit when frustrated. They can easily become disappointed with projects or other people and can be difficult to soothe. They might get hung up on past mistakes or decisions, seeming as though they lack direction or perseverance.

Skeptical

A little bit of skepticism isn’t a bad thing. At their best, Skeptical people think about and analyze the motives and intentions of others, and they challenge assumptions. At their worst, they might be overly critical or even suspicious of their colleagues, worrying that others are lying, cheating, or stealing. This mistrust of other people and organizations might lead them to obsess over what could possibly go wrong and to avoid taking action when it’s needed.

Cautious

Most occupations require people to use caution — at least to some degree. People who score high on the HDS’s Cautious scale, however, tend to cling too tightly to rules and protocol. These people react to stress by avoiding situations or people that make them uncomfortable and by avoiding decisions for fear of criticism. They might require second or third opinions when additional opinions are unwarranted, or they might allow others to drive decisions or push them around.

Reserved

When work is going well, Reserved people likely seem self-reliant and independent. Under pressure, they appear calm, even while others are emotional and overwrought. But sometimes this can go too far, leading them to seem reclusive, uncommunicative, and aloof. People who score high on this scale often deal with stress by dropping off the radar, acting unsociable and limiting close relationships, or behaving indifferently to others’ feelings.

Leisurely

Leisurely people can smile even when they’re privately angry or annoyed. But you might only learn about their real feelings if you hear about them from someone else. People who are Leisurely often react to stress with passive aggression or by resisting feedback. They might say one thing and do another, and they can become annoyed if other people get in the way of their agendas, which are typically kept private.

Moving Against

People who respond to stress by moving against other people manage self-doubt by manipulating and charming others. This behavior is characterized by four HDS scales: Bold, Mischievous, Colorful, and Imaginative.

Bold

Bold people will let you know who they are. They handle pressure by demanding special treatment, being overconfident, and letting other people know how great they are. Unwilling to give up a fight, people who score high on this scale might not acknowledge their own limitations or take responsibility for their mistakes, or their egos might drive them to try to dominate their colleagues.

Mischievous

Mischievous people will treat their clients and colleagues with respect and support. These are people who enjoy testing the limits and who aren’t afraid to take risks. On the other hand, they believe that rules are boring and unnecessary and often break them, and they tend to take risks without considering the consequences. When this leads to mistakes, they’ll use their charm to finesse the situation.

Colorful

Colorful people are the life of the party. While they can entertain clients and colleagues with their enthusiasm, the workplace isn’t a party, and its pressures can bring out less-than-desirable behavior for people who score high on this scale. With a tendency to become self-absorbed and obnoxious, they might respond to stress by speaking out of turn and expecting others to appreciate their performances. They can lose focus easily and might cause distraction for others, too, when they dramatically demand the spotlight.

Imaginative

Imaginative people are bright, strikingly original, and often full of inventive ideas and insights. Outside-the-box thinking isn’t always necessary, though, and people who score high on this scale can get absorbed in ideas that might seem novel to them but eccentric or offbeat to others. They might assert that they have a unique vision that others don’t share, become easily bored and overconfident in their ability to solve problems creatively, launch initiatives without following up on them, or lose people while trying to explain their ideas.

Moving Toward

The third group of people tend to move toward others when they are stressed, coping by ingratiating others and building alliances. Two HDS scales characterize this group: Diligent and Dutiful.

Diligent

Diligent people are meticulous hard workers. They’re role models for high standards, but they can take this perfectionistic inclination too far when times get stressful. Delegating work to subordinates can be difficult for them. When they do delegate, they might criticize subordinates’ work, micromanage, and be inflexible about schedules, rules, and procedures. Focusing too much on the details, they can overlook the big picture or the obvious, and they might refuse to let go of a task — no matter how small it is — until it’s perfect.

Dutiful

Dutiful people excel at keeping their managers informed about relevant business developments and problems. They’re agreeable and rise easily in organizations, but their eagerness to please their bosses might lead them to throw their subordinates under the bus. Faced with stress, they will likely tell their supervisors what they want to hear, regardless of their personal opinions. This flexibility can make it tricky for others to know where they stand on issues. They might also have trouble making decisions or acting independently, and they can be inclined to avoid dealing with challenging people issues.

What Can You Do About It?

For most people, the biggest step toward improving how they handle stress is simply understanding how they act when they’re bored or under pressure. Objective measures of reputation, such as personality assessment and 360° feedback, can help employees learn to recognize when they’re going off the rails and adjust their behavior accordingly.

Want to learn more about personality tests? Check out The Ultimate Guide to Personality Tests

If you’ve been following our series about refining your talent acquisition process, you likely know that after our last article on how to weed out unqualified candidates, it’s time for the main event: the interview. There are many resources out there on both good and bad interview questions — but there is more to effective interviewing.

A job interview goes both ways. While the employer is gauging the applicant’s qualifications and their potential alignment with the organization’s objectives and culture, the interviewee is trying to get a feel for the type of working environment they might expect and the personality and working style of the hiring manager.

Wondering how to interview someone for a job while making a good first impression? We’ve compiled a list of tips that interviewers can use to win candidates over.

Tips for a Good Job Interview in Person

Choose a Good Location

Location, location, location — its benefit isn’t reserved only for real estate. The location of the interview sets the tone and should be chosen thoughtfully and carefully. A quiet, well-lit space that is free from distractions — without feeling sterile — is the best environment for a constructive interview.

Be Relatable and Relaxed

As serious as an interview’s outcome may be, the language you use and the direction in which you drive the conversation should always be relaxed and conversational. It’s easy to sound too direct as the interviewer, so don’t skip the small talk and informalities. Intimidation isn’t going to win anyone over, so be personable.

Come Prepared

Just as you would expect the candidate to come prepared for the interview, your level of preparedness will speak volumes to your organization’s culture and your level of interest. Here is a short checklist of essentials:

• Your list of questions
• A copy of the candidate’s résumé and (if applicable) cover letter
• A pen and notepad for taking notes
• A copy of the job description to reference

Virtual Job Interview Tips

If you’re interviewing a remote candidate, a couple of considerations can make a big difference.

Be Prepared

Preparedness, as it relates to virtual interviews, is based largely on one thing: making sure your video-call technology is working properly. Whether you’re using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or any other conferencing platform, there’s no faster way to set a bad example than by running into technical difficulties when trying to connect to the call. Take the time to test the process so that you run the smallest risk of incident, while also being considerate of any issues the candidate may run into when connecting.

Don’t Get Distracted

It’s easy to get distracted when working from home. Whether your phone notifications are sounding or a team member is messaging you, the candidate will assume you lack interest and commitment if you allow yourself to be distracted. To be respectful, turn off any secondary monitors and set your phone to Do Not Disturb.

Conclusion

The interview is a vital part of the hiring process, and it’s a chance for both the interviewer and interviewee to distinguish themselves from their respective competition. These are just a few tips to get you started in considering how to prepare for interviews to convince top talent that your organization’s open position is worth their time, investment, and loyalty.

Of course, the questions you ask are important too, and organizations that use personality tests in hiring tend to structure their interviews with better questions. To name just a few benefits, these interviews are a more productive use of everyone’s time, they minimize the potential for unconscious bias, they make a better impression on the candidate, and they lead to more successful hires (and fewer bad hires). Stay tuned for upcoming content on how to conduct a structured interview effectively, as well as Part 6 of our series, which will cover rejection letters!

Hogan is proud to announce the addition of Tharwah as the 45th member of the Hogan International Distributor Network.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Tharwah to bring Hogan’s science-based selection and development solutions to Saudi Arabia,” said Erin Crane, principal consultant at Hogan. “With the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia planning to spend $2 trillion USD on projects over the next 10 years, the demand for assessment solutions to support talent selection and development has never been greater. As our first distributor in Saudi Arabia, Tharwah is poised to expand Hogan’s global presence in the Middle East’s largest market.”

Based in Riyadh, Tharwah is a transformation advisory services firm that was founded in 2012 with the goal of enabling clients to achieve successful business transformation. Tharwah focuses on three pillars — organization, talent, and leadership — providing its services through international expertise and partnerships with deep local market understanding.

“Tharwah is quite unique as one of the fastest growing g-local consulting firms in the region, focusing its services on three robust areas: management consulting, talent assessment, and development,” said Abdullah ALZahrani, managing partner at Tharwah. “It is through this robust portfolio that we can add tremendous value to our clients, enabling their successful business transformations.”

As Hogan’s authorized distributor in Saudi Arabia, Tharwah will focus on the distribution of Hogan’s products, aiming to become the center of expertise in professional advisory services in the region by providing best-in-class solutions delivered with global standards through local talents.

Earlier this month, Hogan shared the first part of a two-part blog series about the Great Resignation. If you recall, part 1 discussed how feelings of empowerment and burnout are the two primary drivers leading to the mass exodus of talent. In part 2 of this blog series, we will discuss the insight we have gained from our research on personality to respond to two important questions: What can organizations do to retain talent? And how can individuals find meaning in their work?

What Can Organizations Do to Retain Talent?

Good leadership can make the difference between those seeking other career opportunities and those who choose to remain engaged and a part of your organization. We know from our extensive research on this topic that good leadership creates engagement, which drives business unit performance, resulting in positive organizational performance. On the contrary, we’ve learned that low levels of engagement produce negative business results, and bad leaders destroy engagement. The truth is that bad leadership may be the reason your employees are leaving your organization!

This truth is evident in survey results where 65% of U.S. workers say the most stressful aspect of their lives is their boss, 70% of the U.S. workforce say they would take a pay cut if their boss were fired, and 20% of the Baltimore workforce say they fantasize daily about killing their boss.

Bad leadership impacts employees by causing undue stress. This stress, if not mitigated, can lead to lower job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover. Findings such as these are not new, yet organizations continue to be faced with the problem of bad leadership. But why? The source of this problem comes from the selection practices organizations rely on to hire leaders.

Integrating Hogan Assessments into the selection process may help you identify those who are most likely to be successful leaders and weed out those who will most likely fail. Specifically, the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), introduced by Drs. Robert and Joyce Hogan in the late 1990s, identifies 11 personality characteristics that cause leaders to fail time and time again. Equipped with this information and knowledge of the job and organizational context in which the leader will be operating, you and your organization can make sound hiring decisions. Once a leader is in a role and leading a team, the insights from the HDS can help the leader develop awareness of performance risks in order to develop strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of any counterproductive tendencies.

Good leadership creates engagement, and engagement is critical in retaining talent. Therefore, the employee-leader relationship is critical especially during the Great Resignation. In short, hire good, effective leaders, and your people may want to stay.

Editor’s note: Want to learn more about using personality tests for selection? Read this blog next.

What Can We Do as Individuals to Find Meaning in Our Work?

Have you heard the adage, “happy cows make more milk”? Apparently, this is true! I recently read an article that shared additional research on this topic and found that cows that have lived a happier life produce more nutritious milk. If we extend these findings to us, as humans, and apply it to our work lives, it suggests that we may be more engaged, satisfied, easy to work with, and productive if we can find meaning and happiness in the work we do. Since the beginning of the global pandemic and through the rise of the Great Resignation, I’ve heard many individuals say, in reference to their work lives and career decisions, “Life is too short to spend it doing something that makes you only marginally happy.” In the quest for happiness, many individuals are choosing to search for meaning outside their current job or organization. Before you jump ship, I would encourage you to reflect on your values — what drives and motivates you — and be intentional about how and where you get your values met. 

The values that drive our behaviors and decisions are a critical part of understanding personality. Values are the lens for our preferences — what we believe to be important, the environment we create for others, and what we find motivating. At Hogan, we measure values with the Motives, Values, and Preferences Inventory (MVPI), which describes 10 values that drive our behavior.

Understanding your values is key to your engagement and success. By identifying and exploring your values, you can better understand why you are likely to behave, react, or engage with others in a certain way. Additionally, you can identify the environment (job or organization context) that you will thrive in.

My belief is that organizations have a big part to play in retaining talent, but as individuals, we also have a responsibility to be intentional about our decisions and ensure they are aligned with what we value. In the first part of this blog series, I shared advice that I received early in my career, and I offer it to you again today: When you begin exploring other job or career opportunities, make certain that you are running toward the new opportunity and not away from your current situation.

If you found this blog series interesting and are curious to learn more, please register to join our webinar, titled “What’s Driving the Big Quit? A Look at Personality in the Workplace,” on April 7!

This blog post was authored by Erin Crane, PhD, international distributors principal consultant.

References

1. Hogan, R., & Sherman, R. (2021). Dark Leadership and the Fate of Organizations.
2. Do Personality Tests Fail at Selection? (2021). Hogan Assessment Systems. https://www.hoganassessments.com/blog/why-do-personality-tests-fail-at-selection/
3. The Dark Side of Leadership: 11 Reasons Leaders Fail. (2019). Hogan Assessment Systems. https://www.hoganassessments.com/blog/the-dark-side-of-leadership-11-reasons-leaders-fail/

Early in my career, a friend and mentor shared sage advice with me. When you begin exploring other job or career opportunities, be certain you are running toward the new opportunity and not away from your current situation. Since then, I’ve always approached career growth and transition with intention, asking myself: Will this new opportunity fulfill me? Will I be challenged? Will it teach me something I want, should, or need to know?

The current working climate, shaped by technology, generational differences, and the global pandemic, has caused staggering numbers of individuals to evaluate their current working conditions. Because it has resulted in so many choosing to leave their jobs and organizations, this phenomenon has been coined the Great Resignation (aka the Big Quit, Great Reprioritization, Extraordinary Exodus, Great Renegotiation … you get the idea!).

So, why are people quitting their jobs? In my experience, individuals make career decisions based on two primary drivers: empowerment and burnout.

Empowerment:

“Now is the time for me to make a bold move. I’ve worked hard, and I deserve this. I’m ready!”

Individuals who feel empowered tend to be running toward a new opportunity. They may be experiencing a heightened sense of self-worth and confidence. Psychological empowerment represents intrinsic task motivation that reflects a sense of self-control and active involvement in one’s work. People who feel empowered feel in control of their career destiny. The feeling of control can lead to intentional action.

I was recently speaking with a senior executive of a Fortune 100 company who made the decision to trade her six-figure salary for a career as an artist. She began painting during the pandemic and realized that life was just too short to spend it doing something that made her only marginally happy.

Burnout:

“I’m overwhelmed. I can no longer do this! There has to be something better out there for me!”

Individuals experiencing burnout are likely feeling exhaustion and frustration, causing them to run from their current situations and seek solace in new jobs or organizations. Running from (versus toward) a job could lead to a poor employment decision. Individuals with the “grass is always greener” mentality may move quickly into new jobs that fulfill some basic needs but may not fit well long-term.

In a recent blog, my Hogan colleagues defined burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. Further, they point out that people who experience burnout are not typically poor performers but instead those who were once highly engaged in the organization.

I’ve had many conversations in the past year with leaders who feel stuck. Burnout is not just an employee problem; it is an organizational problem. Research shows that individuals experiencing burnout are more likely to take a sick day, have lower confidence in their performance, be less productive, and actively seek new job opportunities.

What Can We Learn from Personality?

Psychological empowerment has not been examined extensively with respect to personality, but a few hypotheses can be made. Previous research has demonstrated a link between feelings of empowerment and two of the Big Five dimensions, extraversion and conscientiousness. This means that individuals who are described as confident, engaging, driven, and communicative tend to be optimistic about their work and therefore may feel more empowered. Additionally, individuals who work hard, are dependable and capable, and plan work in advance may be more comfortable seeking out new opportunities.

There has been more research (due to the current climate and interest) on the relationship between personality and burnout. Research using Hogan’s three measures of personality — Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), Hogan Development Survey (HDS), and Motives, Values, and Preferences Inventory (MVPI) — has demonstrated a link between personality and burnout. Most notably, individuals who tend to be stress prone and prefer to follow others (versus desiring leadership roles) may be more susceptible to burnout. Additionally, burnout is more common among individuals who are task oriented, have greater concern for productivity (rather than a concern for people), and are more independent.

In summary, the two primary drivers for the Great Resignation are feelings of empowerment and burnout. Now that we’ve explored what may be driving people to seek other opportunities and how personality may shed light on the drivers, we can better plan for a response. In Part 2, we will explore what organizations can do to retain talent and what individuals can do to find meaning in their work.

This blog post was authored by Erin Crane, PhD, international distributors principal consultant. Click here to register for her upcoming webinar, “What’s Driving the Big Quit? A Look at Personality in the Workplace,” on Thursday, April 7.

References

1. Burn-out an “Occupational Phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases. (2019, May 28). World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022, January 4). Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary – November 2021 [Press release]. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/jolts_01042022.pdf
3. Bersin, J., Enderes, K., Mertens, J., & Nangia, N. (2021, December). HR Predictions for 2022. The Josh Bersin Company. https://joshbersin.com/hr-predictions-for-2022/
4. Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological Empowerment in the Workplace: Dimensions, Measurement, and Validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38(5), 1442-1465. doi.org/10.5465/256865
5. Yazdi, A. M., & Mustamil, N. (2015). Empowerment Potential: Big-Five Personality Traits and Psychological Empowerment. International Business and Management, 11(3), 62-66. doi.org/10.3968/7938

Our series on how to refine your hiring process and how to find qualified candidates continues. In the previous blog, we identified the top five résumé red flags that hiring managers should know. However, résumé red flags are only one layer of the vetting process — after that, it’s time to sort through the candidate pool and identify the top talent. To do this, employers need to be vigilant in having the right criteria to evaluate candidates and ensure they have a positive experience.

How to Get a Pool of Qualified Job Candidates

A good hiring process will lead to a pool of qualified candidates from which you, the employer, can select. While it’s true that the hiring environment is competitive, you can use a few key elements to filter.

The Job Posting

Make no mistake — much of the difficulty finding candidates for a job comes from a poorly written job posting. This introduction of your role to prospective applicants is the face of your company and the first good impression you can make. Beyond this, though, the job posting is key in outlining the exact kind of candidate you want to hire. When writing a job description, be sure to mention specific qualifications, skills, and competencies that the role will require, and avoid vague language that can leave room for misinterpretation. When prospective candidates read your posting, it should be explicitly clear whether their skills align with your criteria.

The Interview

Much like the job posting itself, the interview is an integral step in finding candidates who love their job. Make sure to structure your interview with questions that are specific enough to the nuances of the role while leaving enough room for the interviewee to elaborate on their relevant skills. Be careful — if your questions are too open-ended, you run the risk of either confusing the candidate or receiving answers that won’t illustrate the candidate’s skills.

One way to ensure your interviews will be effective is to incorporate scientifically validated personality tests into the hiring process. This is helpful because interviews, especially when they aren’t structured, are subject to bias and therefore are not very accurate in identifying the best candidates. Using personality tests prior to interviews can help you minimize interviewer bias, target your interview questions to explore candidates’ potential strengths and shortcomings as related to the role, avoid hiring ineffective but charismatic candidates, and even predict which candidates are most likely to be engaged in your organization.

Put in the Work

Although the methods you use to find qualified job candidates may differ based on the industry you’re working in, the fundamental idea is the same: provide the candidate with detailed information about the role and ask pointed, guiding questions to learn more about them. While these may seem obvious, they’re among many common hiring mistakes that run the risk of scaring off top talent and ineffectively weeding out unqualified candidates.

You know the story: The skills gap is cavernous. The Great Resignation is here. Baby boomers are retiring at record pace. The employment climate is changing too quickly, and you have jobs to fill — you need to adapt. But how?

First, know it’s not just you. Organizations across industries and around the globe are confronting these issues and more. As Industry 4.0 technologies change how businesses operate, employers are seeking candidates who have strong digital skills, including the ability to quickly and easily learn to use new technology and aptitude for data and analytics.

Meanwhile, major demographic shifts are occurring within the talent market. Through 2030, 10,000 baby boomers will reach retirement age every day, leaving a plenitude of open positions in their wake.¹ Worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this phenomenon, with more than 2.4 million early retirements as of fall 2021.²

Of course, ability to use technology or learn new skills is not limited by membership to a specific generation. However, this combination of trends has many employers wondering about hiring Gen Z, also known as Generation Z.

Who Is Gen Z?

The most recent generation to join the workforce, Gen Z consists of people who were born from 1997 through 2010.³ Gen Zers grew up knowing the ubiquity of the internet, smartphones, and social media, so expected fluency with technology is one reason many employers consider them to be desirable as candidates.

Another reason organizations are hiring Gen Z? Gen Zers make up a substantial and growing portion of the talent market. In 2021, 24% of the global workforce were members of Gen Z.⁴ By 2030, Gen Zers are expected to account for nearly one-third of all workers.⁴

Although they were expected to come of age with good employment prospects, Gen Zers instead have begun to launch their careers during a global crisis.^5,6 While human resources and talent acquisition professionals have been lamenting the Great Resignation and the retirement boom, the effects the pandemic has had on the employment market have disproportionately affected Gen Z. Between March 2020 and April 2021, Gen Z experienced 79% more layoffs and 73% more furloughs compared to the rest of the workforce.⁶ In other words, they’re open to work.

Building trust will be essential to hiring Gen Z. So, what kind of measures can you take to attract Gen Z job candidates and, more importantly, retain them?

Prioritize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Gen Z is the most racially, ethnically, and gender diverse generation in history, and its members are more likely than any previous generation to expect organizations to have diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DE&I, programs in place.⁵ In fact, 99% of Gen Z workers consider workplace DE&I to be important,⁷ and they won’t necessarily wait for you to hire them before they evaluate your organization’s efforts.

If your DE&I initiatives are insufficient or nonexistent, your leadership team appears homogenous, or your brand doesn’t appear to celebrate diversity, Gen Z job seekers might not even apply in the first place. Concerns about not being accepted due to race, sexual orientation, or gender identity have stopped 37% of Gen Z job seekers from applying for a job, and one in five say they’ve elected not to apply for a job because of concern about the hiring organization’s ability to accommodate neurodivergent individuals.⁷

While no perfect solution exists, a simple starting point does: talent management. If your talent acquisition strategy relies solely on human judgment, you could be missing out on qualified candidates due to unconscious bias. Using scientifically validated personality tests, hiring managers can evaluate candidates objectively to make the hiring process more equitable. Personality can also be used to develop leaders who will promote diversity and inclusion efforts, which is important for creating lasting cultural change.

Look Beyond Hard Skills in Hiring Gen Z

Gen Z workers are just starting out in their careers. Although many already have acquired some experience, don’t limit your consideration of their candidacy to technical skills. The pandemic has been a formative event for this generation, interrupting their education, their transition to the professional world, and more. They’re likely to bring a unique style of emotional intelligence to their work, but they might need and even expect flexibility in finding a role that is both motivating and fulfilling.⁸

Gen Zers understand professional success depends on qualities such as curiosity and willingness to take on new challenges, and 81% believe it’s important to develop relationships with potential employers even when an open position isn’t available — an increase from 22% before the pandemic.^9,10 A 2019 report by Deloitte and the Network of Executive Women concluded that one of the best ways for employers to attract Gen Z is to select smart, talented people, and then figure out how they align with the organization’s objectives.¹¹ Other strategies some businesses are taking include establishing an internal talent marketplace or job rotation program.¹²

Well-validated personality tests can facilitate any of these approaches (and mitigate risk) by giving hiring managers detailed insights about candidates’ so-called soft skills. The Hogan Personality Inventory, for example, can predict how a candidate is likely to behave at work on an everyday basis. Its data offer nuanced information about adaptability, interpersonal style, learning approach, and more. As another example, the Hogan Development Survey can show how candidates are likely to derail if they cease to self-manage during times of stress or pressure. This kind of intel can help you ensure people are matched with roles and projects that suit them.

Offer Professional Development Opportunities

In this competitive hiring market, refining your talent development programs might be the last thing on your mind, with talent acquisition taking precedence for obvious reasons. But don’t underestimate the power of development opportunities when it comes to attracting Gen Z talent. Opportunities for development are a key factor Gen Z candidates consider while job hunting, and they’re critical to provide if hiring Gen Z is an objective for your organization. In fact, 76% of these candidates see learning opportunities as a must-have.¹³

To make your organization more attractive to this population of job seekers, consider investing in talent development initiatives. These might include mentorships with more experienced employees (which could be reciprocal or “reverse” mentorships), coaching, or personalized development plans supported by personality data. It’ll pay off — more than one-third of Gen Zers expect to stay at their first job for at least four years.¹⁰

Define Your Organization’s Values

As you might assume, many Gen Zers care about your business’s social and environmental impact, and they want you to care too. In a 2021 Deloitte survey, 49% said their personal ethics inform the type of work they’re willing to do, and 59% said they believe businesses have no ambition beyond wanting to make money.”¹⁴

Gen Zers fear being stuck doing work that doesn’t feel fulfilling, and they want to work in environments where the organizational culture reflects their personal values.¹⁵ If you’re interested in hiring Gen Z workers, it’s crucial to know what motivates your employees and how those motivations shape your organizational culture. After all, what drives your employees is what drives your business.

At Hogan, for example, every employee has completed our three core personality assessments. This includes the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory, which sheds light on the types of jobs and working environments people will find most satisfying. Although we’re a diverse bunch, our collective personality results show that most of us share one key value: altruism. Given that our business’s core purpose is to help people and organizations succeed using data-driven talent insights, and that our company was founded on social justice principles, our shared desire to help others is fundamental to both our organizational success and our employees’ personal fulfillment. Perhaps we can help you sometime?

References

1. U.S. Census Bureau. (2019, December 10). 2020 Census Will Help Policymakers Prepare for the Incoming Wave of Aging Boomers [Press release]. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/12/by-2030-all-baby-boomers-will-be-age-65-or-older.html
2. Faria e Castro, M. (2021, October 15). The COVID Retirement Boom. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Research. https://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/economic-synopses/2021/10/15/the-covid-retirement-boom
3. Dimock, M. (2019, January 17). Defining Generations: Where Millennials End and Generation Z Begins. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/
4. Fuscaldo, D. (2021, December 1). Managing Gen Z in the Workplace. Business News Daily. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15873-managing-gen-z.html
5. Parker, K., & Igielnik, R. (2020, May 14). On the Cusp of Adulthood and Facing an Uncertain Future: What We Know About Gen Z So Far. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2/  
6. Pardue, L. (2021, April 30). Class of 2021 Job Prospects in the COVID Economy. Gusto. https://gusto.com/company-news/class-of-2021-job-prospects-in-the-covid-economy?utm_source=org_tw&utm_medium=social
7. What Companies Need to Know About Gen Z’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Expectations. (2021, July 12). Tallo.  https://tallo.com/blog/gen-z-workplace-diversity-equity-inclusion/
8. Stiller Rikleen, L. (2020, June 3). What Your Youngest Employees Need Most Right Now. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/06/what-your-youngest-employees-need-most-right-now 
9. EY. (2018, September 28). Failure Drives Innovation, According to EY Survey on Gen Z [Press release]. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/failure-drives-innovation-according-to-ey-survey-on-gen-z-300714436.html 
10. Perna, M. C. (2020, October 14). Recruiting Top Gen Z Talent in a Post-Pandemic World. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcperna/2020/10/14/recruiting-top-gen-z-talent-in-a-post-pandemic-world/?sh=779ff10c7db6
11. Gomez, K., Mawhinney, T., & Betts, K. (2019). Welcome to Generation Z. Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consumer-business/welcome-to-gen-z.pdf
12. Horovitz, B. (2021, January 13). 10 Tips for Hiring — and Retaining Gen Z Employees. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/10-tips-for-hiring-and-retaining-gen-z-employees.aspx
13. Van Nuys, A. (2021). Workplace Learning Report 2021: Skill Building in the New World of Work. LinkedIn Learning. https://learning.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/amp/learning-solutions/images/wlr21/pdf/LinkedIn-Learning_Workplace-Learning-Report-2021-EN-1.pdf
14. A Call for Accountability and Action: The Deloitte Global 2021 Millennial and Gen Z Survey. (2021). Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/2021-deloitte-global-millennial-survey-report.pdf
15. Four Ways to Retain Gen Z at Work. (2021, July 22). McCrindle. https://mccrindle.com.au/insights/blog/four-ways-to-retain-gen-z-at-work/

Continuing our series on using the start to the new year as an opportunity to refresh your hiring process, we’re tackling one of the pillars of a job application: the résumé. In Part 2, we discussed how the cover letter is a somewhat outdated and irrelevant tool in the HR arsenal, which means that the résumé is more important than ever in vetting candidates.

Combing through an applicant’s résumé is key in gathering an understanding of their work history, contributions, and specific skills. In addition to revealing professional assets, résumés can also reveal warning signs. While there are many potential red flags on a résumé, we’ve chosen the top five you should know.

What Are the Top Résumé Red Flags?

1. Grammatical Errors and Spelling Mistakes

As shocking as it may seem, it’s estimated that more than 50% of U.S. adults struggle with spelling even simple words.¹ That means one of the most identifiable red flags that can be found on a résumé is the presence of spelling mistakes or simple grammatical errors. Did the applicant spell the name of a previous employer incorrectly? Has punctuation been misused? Are words capitalized incorrectly?

Mistakes happen, but these kinds of errors can suggest the candidate typed up the résumé hastily and didn’t take time to proofread it to ensure quality.

2. Gaps in Employment History

Another important — and easily spotted — red flag is a gap between jobs on a résumé. A few weeks? It could simply mean they took time off before starting their new role. A few months? It’s worth inquiring about what led to that period away from work. A year-plus? That’s a large amount of time that, unless otherwise explained, should be seen as a legitimate red flag, because it may indicate a detachment from the pulse of the industry.

3. Job-Hopping

Short of contract work, which is becoming more common, employers expect to retain employees for more than a brief stint.² While it’s not unlikely or unacceptable to make changes to your career path and job in order to find a more appropriate fit for your skills, a pattern of job-hopping is a red flag. Has the employee spent less than two years at multiple organizations back-to-back? Depending on the industry, that may indicate a lack of commitment. Considering the cost of onboarding a new hire, it’s in your best interest to choose a candidate who will stay long-term.

4. Inconsistent Information Compared to Other Sources

Résumés are no longer the only source of employment history available to the HR professional. Social media, and more specifically platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook, are popular places to keep up to date on where someone has worked. As a general rule, it’s advisable to cross-reference a résumé with a candidate’s social media to ensure that the dates, contributions, and other important details match up. To put it in perspective, one study found that 75% of HR managers have found a lie on a résumé before.³

5. Embellishment or Résumé Padding

How far back should a résumé go? How many jobs should be on a résumé? What jobs should be included to be industry-relevant? These are subjective questions, to say the least, but they’re important in differentiating a padded résumé from an unpadded résumé. Too few jobs, and an applicant might have a lack of relevant experience. Too many, conversely, may show that the candidate is either making up for a lack of experience with volume or unsure of which roles are most relevant to highlight.

How to Explain Red Flags in a Résumé

To put it plainly, red flags may come up in a résumé for many clear and understandable reasons. Specifically, disruptions related to COVID-19 are extremely common, with hundreds of millions of U.S. adults’ jobs affected over the course of the pandemic.⁴ As a hiring manager or HR specialist, it’s important to factor these nuances in when reviewing someone’s résumé, realizing that life may interrupt career trajectory.

Although certain red flags may point to a need to rule out a candidate, red flags are often just signals that further investigation is needed. Incorporating other evaluation methods into the talent acquisition process can help meet this need. While a résumé can provide an idea of what a candidate has done, well-validated personality tests offer an objective look at who a candidate is — their strengths, weaknesses, values, and unconscious biases. Using personality tests in tandem with a thorough résumé review and a structured interview, it’s even possible to predict how a person is likely to perform in a given role.

References

1. Castle, K. (2009, February 9). Study Shows More Than Half of Americans Are Bad Spellers. TimesNews. https://www.timesnews.net/news/local-news/study-shows-more-than-half-of-americans-are-bad-spellers/article_8022d115-0103-53aa-9673-d9e375ab49b5.html

2. Noguchi, Y. (2018, January 22). Freelanced: The Rise of Contract Work. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/22/578825135/rise-of-the-contract-workers-work-is-different-now

3. Employers Share Their Most Outrageous Resume Mistakes and Dealbreakers in a New CareerBuilder Study [Press release]. (2018, August 24). CareerBuilder. https://press.careerbuilder.com/2018-08-24-Employers-Share-Their-Most-Outrageous-Resume-Mistakes-and-Instant-Deal-Breakers-in-a-New-CareerBuilder-Study

4. Supplemental Data Measuring the Effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on the Labor Market. (2022, January 24). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/cps/effects-of-the-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic.htm#:~:text=Of%20the%2016.9%20million%20people,the%20pandemic%20(78%20percent).