Jun 25, 2009, 9:00 GMT
Sydney - It's a question that children are asked the world over: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Answers are seldom taken seriously. Adults assume aspiration is not what matters but qualifications, aptitude and luck.
Australian researchers reckon there is another element in the mix that determines a person's career: personality.
The University of Western Sydney (UWS) team found that people cut out to be managers do tend to become managers and that those with traits that would keep them on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder actually do tend to stay there.
They looked at five personality traits - openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and emotional stability - and found the effects of these personality traits on employment outcomes were 'significant, relatively large and persistent across occupations.'
Robert Wells, Roger Ham and Raja Junankar found that nice people - those with the agreeableness trait - were likely to be passed over for promotion to management positions. Yes, in the corporate world, the nice guy usually finishes last.
Down at the bottom of the pile are the unskilled. Not surprisingly, the UWS researchers found a dearth of openness to experience and conscientiousness among those holding down the lowest level jobs.
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