Bad hires are bad for business

Newswise — Every year before the holiday season, huge numbers of extra retail workers are hired across the nation to staff stores for the holiday season. Hiring the right type of people is critical - bad hires are bad for business. Ph.D. psychologist Robert Hogan knows the profile of the best employees for this kind of work, and that of the best bosses to oversee those employees.

Hogan, who has developed several personality assessment tests to help companies select employees, said the jobs in the sales and customer relations sector require social interaction while establishing credible relationships.

Hogan said some of the characteristics associated with the best retail sales employees are, "Pleasant, friendly, flexible, but respectful and willing to engage a supervisor when it is appropriate. Able to come to work on time reliable and dependable."

Important assessment scores would be for traits such as sociability, prudence, interpersonal sensitivity and adjustment -- "so that they can handle stress and pressure."

And the managers of these employees are also important, he noted. There are desirable personality traits associated with them as well, including resilient and stable under pressure, competitive, achievement-oriented and diplomatic. This person will also be rule-abiding, but not inflexible about rules and procedures.

Hogan was a psychology professor for more than 30 years at The University of Tulsa and at Johns Hopkins University. Hogan, whose company is Hogan Assessment Systems, is the author of the 2006 book, "Personality and the Fate of Organizations," which links personality characteristics to people's behavior, including their successes and failures in the workplace.