The Personality of the British Human Resources Professional

The use of personality questionnaires among HR professionals to select and develop staff is well established, but these same instruments have rarely been turned on the profession itself ñ until now. In what is believed to be the biggest study of its kind ever conducted, HR directors, managers and assistants were compared with other managers and professionals to find what made them unique and indeed how different levels of professional within HR compared.



215 HR professionals were compared with a control group of 609 other professionals, everyone having completed The Quest Profiler from ERAS Ltd, believed to be Britainís fastest-growing personality questionnaire. As Chartered Psychologists Alex Pearce and Dr George Sik confirm, the results are very telling:

Those in HR were genuinely more supportive than those outside the profession, despite all the changes that have occurred since the days of ëpersonnel and welfareí (this concern for others dropped off a little at the more senior end ñ but not significantly so). However, this may put them under a certain amount of stress: they were less at ease in company, less likely to bounce back from a crisis and more sensitive to criticism than other professionals. Despite all this, they remained more optimistic, ever convinced that things would be all right in the end, however bad they were at present! They also described themselves as less creative, less strategic and less willing to take charge of others, though when they did take charge, their style was a more empowering one than most managers and professionals. Sven-Goran Eriksson spoke about the need to empower staff a couple of years ago at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development annual conference, and the message seems to have struck home.

Comparing HR directors with HR managers and HR assistants, the directors were certainly more creative, radical and strategic in their approach, but that didnít mean driven by data ñ in fact, they were more likely to go with their instincts than be constrained by the facts! Alas, empowerment, teamwork and precision were all casualties of greater responsibility with directors coming lower in these areas. One of the starkest findings was that directors were more willing to take a risk than managers who, in turn, trumped the overcautious assistants in this area.

All in all, the picture is one of a profession trying hard to help but being put under a lot of stress and where a certain warmth and ënicenessí of character tends to be sacrificed the higher up the career ladder you go.