The Impact of Personal Characteristics in Job Advertisements on Introverts

With the rise of the “Quiet Revolution” in the past years, introversion has gained significant importance on an international scale. Especially in individualistic cultures being an introvert does not fit the “Extrovert Ideal” and can lead to unpleasant situations in daily life. Introversion is a personality trait that can mainly be defined by the way a person gains its energy. While introverts gain energy in more quiet environments, the opposite is the case for extraverts. This bachelor thesis intends not only to capture the perception of introversion in the German speaking world, but the main focus is on the impact of introversion in the application process, specifically the reaction of introverts to certain personal characteristics mentioned in job advertisements. As the collected data of an online survey shows, introverts react differently to job advertisements that require characteristics involving a high degree of social interaction. While many introverts know that characteristics like the ability to communicate or work in a team appear in a high number of job advertisements for a variety of different jobs, they would apply to these positions, but given other options, they would rather choose less socially engaging positions. When communication skills are required, slightly more than half of the participants would not apply to the position. Lastly, the perception of introversion from an introvert’s view is mixed. While roughly 75% of the participants feel like introverts are more likely to be disadvantaged in the application process and slightly more than 50% replied that they would prefer to be extraverted, the other half responded that they prefer to stay the way they are, some people mentioning that they wish their skills would be appreciated more