Should I Hire the Quiet Neurotic or Loud Extrovert?

 Now this is an interesting question. Have you ever found yourself in the position as a recruiter of having to choose between two good candidates of similar technical/professional stature, where one is quiet, introverted, a little apprehensive and reserved, but the other is a more extroverted, bubbly, talkative, engaging, and confident character?

So, which one should you choose? Of course some of you might suggest that if it is an outgoing, dynamic role, such as a sales person, you should choose the extrovert. I mean, it’s sort of the generally accepted wisdom that the best sales people are extroverts, isn’t it?

Well, it may be accepted wisdom but science begs to differ with this wisdom. For example, take a recent study from Adam Grant, associate professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. They conducted personality tests on 340 sales people and compared their extroversion scores to their yearly revenue. Going against accepted wisdom, they found that the sales people scoring exactly in the middle of introversion and extroversion (known as ambiverts) generated 24 percent more revenues than introverts, and 32 percent more than extroverts. Surprisingly, extroverts were the least successful personality type for sales, less successful than introverts and much less successful than ambiverts.

Therefore, when you are choosing between two similarly qualified extrovert and introverts for sales roles (where the introversion-extroversion debate is most commonly tabled) the smart money will be on the introverted type turning into the highest performer of the two.

But, the introversion-extroversion job suitability question extends outside the realm of sales and is being examined by academics in all areas of business. For example, a study by Corrine Bendersky, an associate professor at UCLA Andersen Schools of Management has shown that in the case of team working, extroverts may promise a lot, but it is neurotics who actually deliver as effective team players.

In her jointly developed research paper titled, The Downfall of Extroverts and the Rise of Neurotics,they conducted personality tests of 300 MBA students to assess whether they are more extrovert or neurotic. A week or two later, the students were asked to evaluate the status of each team member (including themselves) and to predict how much of a contribution each would ultimately make to the group’s effort. As you may have guessed, those who were extroverted had higher perceived status and were expected to contribute more to the team effort, and inversely, Neurotics had lower status and there were low expectations relating to their expected contribution.

But, 10 weeks later when the group was asked the same question again after working together on a variety of projects, there was a surprising turnaround. They found that the extroverts were thought to have contributed less than expected and had lost status while the introverts contributed more than expected and gained status.

Now, I am in no way suggesting that we should ditch extroverts and exclusively embrace introverts or vice versa, (and the study was not advocating that). However, what’s important is to strike a balance between the more cautious and risk-averse introverts and risk seeking extroverts in any team (even sales teams). And having a balance of these two types of traits in a team may contribute to more effective decision making.