Do Recruiters Select Workers with Different Personality Traits for Different Tasks? A Discrete Choice Experiment

Abstract

This paper explores whether firms recruit workers with different personality traits for different tasks. We conduct a discrete choice experiment among recruiters of 634 firms in Germany, asking recruiters to choose between job applicants who differ in seven characteristics: professional competence, the Big Five personality traits, and the prospective wage level. We find that all personality traits affect the hiring probability of the job applicant, with conscientiousness and agreeableness having the strongest positive effects. However, for analytical tasks, recruiters have a stronger preference for more open and conscientious applicants, while favoring more open, extraverted, and agreeable workers for interactive tasks.