New study examines personality profiles across 263 occupations

In a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers found that occupational roles explain a significant portion of variance in personality traits, revealing distinct personality profiles across 263 different occupations.

Understanding how personality traits align with specific occupations is crucial for career counseling, coaching, and organizational hiring practices. Although previous studies have explored personality across various human categories like gender and age, relatively few have comprehensively examined differences across occupations.

Building on the Big Five personality model, Kätlin Anni and colleagues sought to improve upon existing occupational trait research, which has often lacked methodological depth and cross-cultural comparisons. While prior studies had focused primarily on self-reported data, this research incorporated both self-reports and informant ratings, providing a more holistic view of personality traits within various professions. This dual approach acknowledges that perceptions of personality traits may vary based on who assesses them—self or others—and that a single method might miss important details relevant to job performance and career fit.

This study utilized data from the Estonian Biobank, involving 68,540 adult participants who completed a comprehensive personality assessment which included 198 questions designed to capture both broad and specific personality traits. These questions assessed not only the Big Five domains (extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) but also finer “nuances” within these traits, such as curiosity, sociability, precision, and emotional resilience.

Each participant provided information about their primary occupation, which was then systematically coded using the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08). The study also incorporated informant ratings from close contacts (spouses, friends, family members) for 19,989 participants, offering an additional perspective on each individual’s personality traits.

Occupations with fewer than 25 respondents were excluded to prevent unreliable results from small sample sizes. In cases where specific occupations exceeded 1,000 participants, a random subset of 1,000 was selected to maintain balance across groups. Additionally, since participants could answer in either Estonian or Russian, only responses completed in Estonian were retained to avoid confounding potential linguistic differences with personality or occupational group differences.

The findings revealed that occupations explained 2%–7% of the variance in the Big Five personality domains. In general, occupational groups with specific personality demands showed clear differences in personality traits. For instance, those in social professions like sales and customer service scored higher on extraversion, suggesting that outgoing personalities might thrive in such roles.

On the other hand, individuals working in research, technology, and other analytical fields demonstrated elevated scores in openness, reflecting traits associated with curiosity, creativity, and adaptability. Health professionals and managers had higher conscientiousness levels, consistent with roles that typically demand organization, reliability, and attention to detail.

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The study also identified meaningful differences across specific “personality nuances” within the Big Five framework, such as traits related to curiosity, social engagement, or meticulousness. For example, while broad traits like extraversion captured general sociability, narrower nuances within this domain differentiated individuals who thrived in highly interactive roles (like sales) versus those better suited for focused, solitary work (like research). Some of these nuanced traits varied even more across occupations than the Big Five domains themselves, explaining up to 12% of the variance in occupational personality profiles.

Occupations linked with higher job performance tended to show greater homogeneity in specific traits, particularly those associated with emotional stability and conscientiousness. This suggests that selective roles tend to attract or retain individuals with similar personality profiles, leading to more consistent traits within these professions.

The authors note that the study relied on a single cultural context (Estonia), which may limit the generalizability of the findings across diverse sociocultural settings. Differences in occupational selection and work expectations in other regions may lead to varied trait profiles.

Overall, these findings highlight that occupational personality profiles are not only consistent across rating methods but also track with theoretical expectations. They emphasize that detailed personality assessments may significantly improve person-job fit.

The research, “Personality Profiles of 263 Occupations”, was authored by Kätlin Anni, Uku Vainik, and René Mõttus.