A long -term study by the University of Mannheim from 2025 provides new knowledge about the interaction between work and character – with far -reaching consequences for career counseling and personnel development.
Profession and personality
The research team around Dr. Claudia Rossetti, Dr. Katja Dlouhy and Prof. Dr. Torsten Biemann from the University of Mannheim examined “based on long-term data from the socio-economic panel” the professional career of around 11,000 people in Germany, with the longest analyzes for up to 12 years. The focus was on the so-called Big Five personality traits that represent a “formative classification in personality psychology”, according to Dr. Klaus Watzka, professor of general business administration and personnel management at the Jena University of Applied Sciences. They describe personality traits based on five central dimensions: openness, conscientiousness, extra version, tolerance and neuroticism.
The results of the study show a clear pattern: People with similar personality profiles are more likely to choose similar professions. It is particularly exciting that not only interest or qualifications are decisive – the fit between the individual personality profile and the typical requirements of a profession also play a central role.
“Our results show that professions are not only chosen for skills or interests, but also according to whether your own personality structure fits the typical profile of the profession,” explains Dr. Claudia Rossetti, first author of the study. “These results improve our understanding of how the complex interplay between the personality of a person and their profession works,” Rossetti also describes.
Adaptation through everyday work
But the connection is not a one -way street. The researchers found that the personality of a person often adapts to the professional conditions over the course of the professional years. So if you work in an environment that requires high conscientiousness, you often develop corresponding properties over time – consciously or unconsciously. This effect is so strong that personality profiles within a professional field have adapted to each other over the years. So the work not only shapes our everyday life, but also our being – a phenomenon that has so far not been empirically examined in this clarity.
Professional advice and HR
The study not only provides academically interesting insights, but also has tangible consequences for practice. A deeper understanding of how personality and professional fit can help to advise people more specifically and to rely more on positions. Especially in the professional orientation of young people, recruiting or long -term personnel development, these findings offer new starting points to avoid incorrectly and strengthen professional satisfaction and employee loyalty.
The right fit counts
The long -term study makes it clear how much personality and work are due to each other. If you want to bloom professionally, you should not only wonder what you can do, but also who he is. Conversely, it is worthwhile for companies not only to look at CVs, but also to personality profiles. Ideally, job and personality influence each other.
Editor finance.net