Free Perfect Personality Profiles by Helen Baron

make the candidate more memorable to the interviewer. However, the dull, repetitive side of searching for a job, reading through hundreds of job adverts or filling in yet another similar application form might not appeal to this sort of person, and some interviewers might find unusual responses wacky and unrealistic rather than creative.
    Low openness
    People who are low on this trait, closed to experience or conformist, take a more straightforward view of things. They prefer the familiar to innovations. They will tend to take things at face value rather than engaging in a lot of analysis or considering alternative possibilities. They may not have a great interest in art or science and will be more concerned with what is happening in the here and now. They tend to be conservative in their approach and may find dealing with change quite difficult. They are often practical and ready to get on with things rather than engaging in a great deal of analysis or searching for alternative approaches.
    This behavioural style is suited to coping well with jobs with little in the way of novelty, where the day-to-day tasks may be quite repetitive or where there is little change or variety in the situation or the way things are done. On the other hand, people who are low on openness to experience may be less suited to work requiring the generation of new ideas, where there is a great deal of change and reorganization and where there are no familiar patterns to return to. As a job seeker, someone like this would be less likely to be put off by the dullness of searching through situations vacant listings or filling in yet another similar application form. The lack of curiosity typical of someone low on openness may mean that they neglect to research the company’s background because they do not see it as an interesting activity. Answers to the interviewer’s questions are likely to be practical and matter of fact rather than creative and original, and people who are low on openness to experience may struggle to analyse their own behaviour for the interviewer.
    Moderate openness
    People who are intermediate on openness to experience may have a moderate, rather than all-consuming liking for intellectual or creative pursuits, and they may be able to cope with and even welcome some change and variety but find too much change difficult to deal with. They will have a reasonable tolerance of repetition and sameness in aspects of a job and like a balance between the new and the familiar. They may have a degree of imagination and creativity and be able to come up with some new ideas and approaches to problems, but they find it difficult to be creative all the time. They may be better at adapting existing ideas than developing new ones. This balance can mean that they cope well with work that has some elements that do suit those who are open to experience but some elements that suit those with low openness to experience. For instance, copywriters may need to be creative in some parts of their role but may also have to spend much of their time rewriting and checking copy, which can be quite dull.
    However, some people who are intermediate on openness to experience may have some of the traits associated with openness but some related to a more closed approach. For example, a person may be very imaginative and creative in their thinking but prefer working in familiar surroundings and dislike dealing with change.
    Assess yourself on openness to experience
    Circle your answers to the questions below. Are they mostly in the High or Low column? If it is a mixture of both or you find it difficult to decide between the answers you are likely to be moderately open to experience.
   HIGH
   LOW
Do you prefer to do something new or something familiar?
New
Familiar
Are you good at coming up with ideas to solve a problem?
Usually
Rarely
Do you prefer the practical or the abstract?
Abstract
Practical
If you don’t understand something are you curious to know