We all remember from Greek myths about the guy Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection, how unpleasant and hard such people are to deal with, especially at work – they believe they are the center of the universe, and actually, manage to convince others in this. However, one new piece of research suggests that narcissists are much better at job interviews.<\/p>\n
A new study from the University of British Columbia in Canada shows narcissists to be the best performers in job interviews \u2013 and more successful “than equally qualified candidates who act more modestly,” The Telegraph reports.
\n“A job interview is one of the few social situations where narcissistic behaviors such as boasting actually create a positive impression,” said Del Paulhus, Psychology Professor at the University of British Columbia and the study’s lead author. “Normally, people are put off by such behavior, especially over repeated exposure.” While people hate such behavior in real life, this works in an interview when one has to promote oneself and boast around in a confident manner – “narcissists tended to talk about themselves, make eye contact, joke around and ask the interviewers more questions. As a result, the study found that people rated narcissists as more attractive candidates for the position,” said the study published in Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
\n“They are very comfortable with self-promoting, and the job application situation is one where you really do have to self-promote. People who are natural self-promoters are going to have an advantage and modest people will be at a disadvantage,” Paulhus told CBC.
\nThe study involved videotaping 72 applicants, half of them of Asian heritage (to have various cross-cultural backgrounds) simulating a job interview. After this, a team of expert and non-expert HRs, were asked to rate their performance and say which of the applicants they were most likely to hire.
\nBefore participants were placed in the job interview scenarios, researchers measured their levels of narcissism using a standard questionnaire called the narcissistic personality inventory questionnaire.
\nThe experts observed that narcissists tended to talk about themselves, make eye contact, joke around and ask the interviewers more questions.
\nInterestingly, the findings also showed that job seekers of Japanese, Chinese and Korean heritage, cultures with traditional modesty, exhibited lower levels of narcissism and were less likely to be “definitely hired.”
\nPeople of European descent were most likely to be hired and most likely to demonstrate bragging or other narcissistic traits – no matter if they were men or women.
\n“People from Western cultures seem to be more predisposed to telling how good they are, while people from more modest cultures like East Asia seem to be very uncomfortable. They were raised to feel uncomfortable by bragging,” Paulhus said.
\nWhen narcissists were interviewed by someone who knew more than they did, they become even bigger braggarts.
\n“Narcissists actually increased their self-promotion in the face of an expert interviewer,” Paulhus said.
\nThus, the study has substantive implications for human resources and managers, as well as for job candidates
\nPaulhus said that employers must learn to look beyond self-presentation in evaluating job candidates, as well as selecting interviewers who can focus on what they want from an employee, rather than exterior qualities, Forbes reported. For job applicants, the message is different \u2014 a little self-promotion is the number one must-learn skill.
\n“If you’re a naturally modest person, you might want to try to be a narcissist for the day and maybe practice self-promoting. Even though you feel uncomfortable with it, you’ve got to do it for this one situation,” he said.<\/p>\n
Source: Voice of Russia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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