What does your job say about you? Scientists say stereotypes are true

Estate agents are disagreeable, actors are neurotic, accountants lack creative flair, and lorry drivers dislike liberal politicians. A study has found that, at least in some cases, stereotypes are true.

Researchers from Scotland, Estonia and Australia have created “personality profiles” for 263 different occupations by examining the traits exhibited by 68,540 people who work in a range of industries.

The scientists said that people tended to choose — or be chosen for — jobs that suited their personality type, but said that “jobs may change people” or could accentuate the traits that got them the job in the first place.

Members of the Estonian Biobank were asked to complete comprehensive personality questionnaires while some were also asked to get friends or acquaintances to fill in forms answering questions about their character.

The participants were rated on the so-called “big five” personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, neuroticism and extraversion. Within these traits, they measured other traits such as curiosity, creativity and adventurousness, while recording factors such as whether they had a rich vocabulary, whether they liked liberal politicians, whether they liked to stand out in a crowd and how competitive they were.

Among those who ranked lowest for agreeableness were estate agents, property managers, sales and marketing managers and entrepreneurs.

Actors ranked highest for neuroticism with visual artists, graphic designers and musicians close behind. These groups unsurprisingly ranked highest among those who “need a creative outlet”, with accountants and bookkeeping clerks scoring lowest.

In a Monty Python sketch, Michael Palin played Herbert Anchovy, an accountant who was bored of his job and wanted to switch careers to become a lion tamer. John Cleese, playing a careers adviser, was doubtful, asking: “You don’t think it might be better if you worked your way [from accountancy] towards lion taming, say, via banking?”

Among those who supported liberal political candidates, the lowest-ranking professions were religious professionals and lorry drivers. At the other end of the scale, authors, film and theatre directors and producers and IT managers were most likely to support liberal politicians.

The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Tartu in Estonia and the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences. They created a tool allowing people to check where their own profession ranked by various measures.

“People often have stereotypes about the personality traits typical of different jobs, and it turns out that many of these intuitions are quite accurate,” says Dr René Mõttus from the University of Edinburgh. “But this is the first time a scientific study with such a large sample and such detailed assessments has confirmed these patterns.”

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