"In matching job candidates with job openings, managers must consider not only such variables as previous work experience and educational background but also personality traits and work habits, which are more difficult to judge."

The issue of matching job candidates to job openings is of great interest to both companies and potential employees. It is commonly believed that educational background and previous work experience are the key variables to consider when managers evaluate the application of a candidate. The reason for this preference is obvious as it is the best and quicker process to evaluate and compare tangible qualifications. However, after carefully evaluating the following facts, it becomes clear that other characteristics should also be taken into consideration, such as personality and working habits, although they are hard to trace.

First of all, personality traits and work habits are quality factors that can directly affect the extent to which a person's abilities and qualifications can be utilized. For instance, good communication with colleagues, suppliers and customers, which is of crucial importance, cannot be certified by educational background or previous work experience. The ability to communicate and co-operate harmonically constitutes a vital asset of any potential employee since it establishes good working conditions and guarantees maximum efficiency. To give a specific example, a well known Information Technology professional was employed by Pepsi Co. few years ago and he was considered a genius in his field. Although he managed to design and build a database program, which the corporation has been using ever since, his arrogance and his inability to communicate with his colleagues led to his dismissal about one year after his employment.

Next, small habits that a person acquires during his employment can be proven of great importance. For instance, if someone is very untidy or sloppy with his work, this could be not only time consuming but also very annoying for his colleagues who spend a lot of time with him/her. Habit is believed to be our second nature and cannot be disregarded during the evaluation process of an applicant. For example, if the employer needs a professional to be on the front line and personally interact with customers, it would not be judicious to hire an introvert person as it could seriously damage the company's reputation. However, this does not mean that being an introvert is a disadvantage, as compared to an extrovert person, but it is just a classification of what type of jobs could better fit for each type of person.

Finally, on the other side of the opinion camp, many would suggest that it is neither feasible nor practical for managers to actually correctly estimate the personality traits and working habits of every potential employee. Although this claim could have a strong base, if we were living more than a decade ago, today there are many precise personality and habit-estimation tests with a surprisingly high accuracy. These test can reveal the real personality typology and increase knowledge and understanding of individuals, as opposed to diminishing knowledge and understanding as occurs in the case of stereotyping. With the utilization of modern platforms and technologies, managers have a good weapon in their arsenal to increase their acumen when selecting and matching job candidates with job openings.

To sum up, since an employee's personality and work habits can affect not only his/her performance but also the performance of his/her co-workers and even the reputation of the whole company, it becomes evident that companies must focus their efforts on finding ways to detect traits like the ones mentioned above so as to make sure that the harmony will not be disrupted.