Conscientiousness is usually a good trait, but sometimes it can be tough to be a highly conscientious person. In this case, we’re discussing the impact of conscientiousness on unemployment and the job search.
There is a lot of job search advice floating around out there. Check out Career Alltop to find some of it. This blog does not normally talk about the job search, but I’m diverging for a moment. In the last post, I made some suggestions for “mixing it up” during a job search to try and get out of a rut.
Anita Bruzzese at On The Job presents an interesting perspective in her post “Could being conscientious make unemployment worse?”. She discusses how people with strong conscientiousness may have a harder time with unemployment. They feel more guilt and shame about their circumstances and are more likely to attribute it to a personal failing. Usually conscientiousness is a good trait. It helps people get things done and be responsible. In this case, it might be detrimental.
In today’s economy a lot of good and talented people are out of work due to no fault of their own. Conscientiousness might make some folks suffer more than needed due to circumstances out of their control.
If you are one of those people, keep your head up, your spirits high and do some things to change your approach to finding a new job.