Looking for an employee who’s ambitious, self-reliant and thinks outside the box? You might be fishing for a narcissist.
A study by behavioral researchers looked at the corporate speak used in job postings and found that certain turns of phrase are catnip for those with, as a researcher puts it, “a grand view of self”.
After noticing how often executives seemed to show narcissistic tendencies – associated with a sense of superiority, an extreme drive “to be admired and succeed” and a willingness to “do what it takes to achieve that” – Jonathan Gay, an assistant professor at the Patterson School of Accountancy at the University of Mississippi, decided to investigate. “We were thinking about it as: what’s the earliest stage in which these people with more narcissistic traits get lined up with these companies?” he says.
In the study, Gay and his colleagues Scott Jackson and Nick Seybert divided language used in job ads into two categories: phrases that might attract “rule-followers” and phrases that might appeal to “rule-benders”. Postings seeking an applicant who is “grounded and collaborative”, “thinks methodically” and “communicates in a straightforward and accurate manner” went in the “rule-follower” category. Phrases like “ambitious and self-reliant”, “thinks outside the box” and “communicates in a tactical and persuasive manner” were filed under “rule-bender”.
The team then gave study subjects fake job ads with either “rule-bender” or “rule-follower” language, and asked the subjects to evaluate how well-suited they’d be to the fictional roles – both of which were written to be appealing. Separately, the researchers assessed narcissistic traits by asking subjects to choose between statements such as “I always know what I am doing” versus “sometimes I am not sure of what I am doing”, or “people always like my stories” versus “people sometimes like my stories”. (You can probably guess which options raised a red flag.)
The researchers found that “rule-bending” language drew in those with higher levels of narcissism, who often fancy themselves persuasive and creative, as Gay recently wrote in the Conversation of the study, which was published in September in the journal Management Science.
The takeaway for companies: use phrases like “results-oriented”, “creative and innovative”, or “flexible and strategic” at your peril. Who wants to work with a narcissist? Beyond the annoyance factor, studies also suggest they may be more likely to engage in unethical or illegal behavior. (Cue biting political joke about current US president.)
“Even before a single job seeker has clicked ‘apply’, language contained in a job posting may be too seductive for narcissists to ignore, increasing the chances of attracting unethical applicants to the position,” Seybert, associate professor of accounting at the University of Maryland’s Robert H Smith School of Business, told university media.
On the other hand, as the researchers point out, there are some jobs in which this mindset can be helpful – narcissistic people, they say, can be great at sales. You just might not want them as accountants balancing your books, bending the rules to hit earnings targets. To advertise those jobs, it might be better to seek a person who “relies on time-tested solutions” and has a “concrete and practical mindset”.
Indeed, while narcissists are often manipulative, Gay says, they’re not necessarily always “bad people”. “They feel like they should succeed because they feel like they’re more creative and capable than everybody,” he says, but “they’re not always domineering or remorseless”. Those traits are more associated with machiavellianism, which can overlap in a “dark triad” with narcissism and psychopathy.
Another caveat: just because you find “rule-bending language” appealing, or consider yourself creative and ambitious, it does not mean you are a narcissist, Gay says. Some who have commented on the study online have worried about this – but the researchers simply found that those with higher scores on narcissistic traits also preferred such language.
So what does all this mean for those of us who don’t write job ads? Well, it may offer some insight into why we see narcissists in positions of executive power – as well as some guidance to anyone involved anywhere in the hiring process: if you’re looking for a more down-to-earth type, choose your language carefully.
Perhaps it also goes some way to explaining why the “move fast and break things” crowd is so insufferable. Narcissist-friendly language is common “in job postings for more innovative and higher-growth companies”, Seybert wrote.
Outside the workplace, it might also have powerful implications for dating profiles: swipe left on anyone who thinks outside the box. Stay away from flexible and strategic types who develop creative and innovative solutions to problems. Grounded and collaborative is the new hot.
