Nine in 10 Canadian hiring managers say personality matters as much as skills: survey

HR professionals and employers are treating personality as a formal, weighted factor in hiring and promotion decisions, not an informal afterthought, new survey data suggests. 

Overall, 91% of Canadian hiring managers say personality matters as much as skills, and 84% say it can outweigh a candidate's skills gap entirely, according to a survey from Express Employment Professionals.

Employers often rely on moments outside prepared interview questions to gauge culture fit, the survey found. Informal interactions — small talk before or after an interview, email tone, and how candidates treat administrative staff — are common evaluation methods, cited by 51% of hiring managers.

Among hiring managers, 85% say they can tell from the first conversation whether a candidate will succeed at their company, the survey found. Among job seekers, 59% worry about how their personality comes across in an interview, according to the report.

Among job seekers, 94% say companies have evaluated their personality during hiring, most often through situational questions, behavioural questions and reference checks, each cited by roughly half of respondents.

Making a bad hire can be costly to employers, according to a previous report.

What are the most important core traits?

Hiring managers and job seekers broadly agree on which traits employers value most, according to the Express report based on a survey of 508 Canadian hiring decision-makers and 508 Canadian adults conducted in May and June. 

Reliability topped the list, cited by 71% of hiring managers and 70% of job seekers, followed by honesty (67% and 56%) and adaptability (57% and 60%).

Job seekers report possessing these traits at similar rates, led by reliability at 73%, honesty at 69% and adaptability at 66%, Express Employment Professionals reported. Perceptions vary by generation, with Gen X and baby boomers more likely than Gen Z and millennials to see these traits in themselves.

More than half of hiring managers consider dependability essential, while roughly 49% say the same of work ethic and 46% of willingness to learn.

Personality's influence on career advancement

Among hiring managers, 94% say personality shapes how performance is perceived on the job, a view shared by 91% of job seekers, the Express survey found. Among hiring managers, 98% believe a positive or approachable personality can directly accelerate advancement, a view shared by 92% of job seekers, according to Express Employment Professionals.

"Every employee has an effect on the workplace beyond the responsibilities listed in a job description," said Bob Funk Jr., CEO, president and chairman of Express Employment International, in comments released with the survey. "The right personality can build trust, make change easier to navigate and raise the standard for how a team works together. That is why employers see personality as more than a hiring advantage. It is representative of the business culture."

Nearly all (97%) of employed workers rely on human judgment before turning to AI when making workplace decisions, according to a previous report.

How can HR eliminate the guesswork?

Assessing personality fit, however, is not the same as trusting a gut feeling about whether a candidate seems likeable. Decades of industrial-organizational psychology research point to specific, evidence-based methods that predict job performance far more reliably than the informal impressions — small talk, tone, the "beer test" — that many hiring managers still rely on.

Here’s how HR can do that effectively, according to different sources: