Your Occupations Shape Your Personality, and Vice Versa

A new study by researchers at the University of Mannheim shows that people with similar personality traits often work in similar jobs. Those who stand out from their colleagues, on the other hand, often change jobs.

Anyone wondering why “the same type of person” often works in certain professions now has a sound scientific answer: a new study by a research team led by Dr. Claudia Rossetti, Dr. Katja Dlouhy and Prof. Dr. Torsten Biemann, holder of the Chair of Human Resource Management and Leadership, has used long-term data from the Socio-Economic Panel to investigate how personality traits and career choices influence each other.

One of the ke findings of the study is that people with similar characteristics of the so-called Big Five personality traits often choose similar professions. People whose personality traits vary greatly from their own tend to be more prone to changing their career paths. The results provide important information for companies and career counselors: The match between personality and occupation is crucial for career satisfaction and job retention and could be promoted through the use of personality profiles.

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