One of my favorite personality scales to administer is Openness to New Experiences. It is one of the “Big 5” personality constructs and is supported by a great deal of research. People who score high on this scale seek new experiences and to engage in self-examination. They draw connections between seemingly unconnected ideas. People who score low are more comfortable with things that they find familiar.
I bring this up this week because I have heard from a few clients who want to hire people who are “curious.” Also, I came across this interview where the CEO was talking about looking for curious people. Note that he’s dead wrong in thinking that Openness is not related to intelligence. Why is it that people go out of their way to denigrate cognitive ability testing when it is THE most accurate predictor for most jobs? OK, that’s for another post on another day.
Part of this trend may come from gaming. Being successful in gaming requires searching in any place available for that clue, weapon, whatever that allows you to get to the next level. It is also a welcoming environment for failure. But, those who show curiosity, problem solving ability (at least learning the logic of the programmer), and the desire to keep learning will be successful.
Measuring curiosity as an outcome is an entirely different story. However, it should include spending time on research, a willingness to fail, and using unique sources of information when developing a solution.
I am intrigued (curious?) about this interest in Openness/Curiosity and I plan to follow-up on it. Is Openness/Curiosity important to your firm or practice? If so, what are you doing to measure it in your candidates?