Can help you in your quest for great candidates. Choose those more relevant to your business and add your own. Jump to section: Program coordinator duties range from administrative support to program development and regulatory compliance. They title is found commonly in higher education institutions as well as in health and public services. In other industries, duties may differ although the skillset largely remains the same. When screening resumes, you can look for a bachelor’s in a field relevant to the role. It’s a good idea to ask for a couple of years of experience in this role or a similar position, depending on whether you expect them to work independently or under guidance. A great approach at an interview would be to ask situational questions inspired from the particular programs you expect the incumbent to work on. The best candidates will be able to explain how their skills match the responsibilities of the position and talk about their past experience to reinforce their statements. Technology plays an important part in program management so ask questions specifically about it. You should be looking for phenomenal organizational and multi-tasking skills as well as the ability to build rapport with multiple parties. Your ideal candidate should be a self-starter able to think critically and take initiative. Operational and Situational questions Imagine you have to schedule and plan a conference from start to finish. What things would you consider and what steps would you follow? What would you do if an internal client were bothering you with insignificant questions while you had an important task to finish? Role-specific questions How has your background prepared you for this role? How do you think you can contribute to this position? What’s your experience with budgeting/bookkeeping? What kind of technology tools/software should a program coordinator be familiar with? How proficient are you in using them? Do you have experience in dealing with diversity? How do you increase diversity awareness? What’s your experience with fundraising? Rate your skills in creating proposals/presentations on a scale of 1 to 10 Behavioral questions This role involves managing multiple objectives simultaneously. How do you manage your time and prioritize tasks? Recall a time you made a significant contribution to a program Tell me about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker. How did you handle it?

Are you judging a book by its cover letter? Organizations turn to pre employment personality tests for help with recruitment because they’re trying to improve upon one or more of the following problems: high turnover, hiring people that don’t fit the company culture, hiring average or poor performers and increasing the information they have on a candidate. Many organizations place too high an emphasis on a candidate’s education, experience and skills. Rarely is a person let go because the organization did not do a good enough job of discovering this about a candidate. Most terminations, or the reason a person leaves a company, is based on attitude, behavioural or personality misalignments. Just because someone has the knowledge to do a job does not mean they have the motivation to do it on a regular basis. The first step to improving the above problems is to discover what you need in a role by completing a Pro.file Organization job assessment test. The second is to have your applicants complete the Pro.file People pre-employment screening test so you can gather objective, scientific information on their motivation and understand what really drives them as compared to what they’ve sold you on in the interview. See how the Pro.file Organization and Pro.file People tools can be used in recruitment assessment to make a difference in your organization, for any position and in any company – from entry level to management roles and executive/leadership roles.

Behavioral-based questions are the key to hiring right the first time. Anyone can look at the resume and obtain a background check to assess whether a candidate has the basic knowledge, skills, and education for the position. But when you use behavioral-based interview questions, you are truly tapping into the candidate’s application of knowledge, skill, critical thinking capabilities, conflict resolution, and/or management abilities and leadership skills. This will help you assess whether the candidate meets the department expectations and fits into the organizational culture. The following are some examples of behavioral-based questions that you could ask a candidate for a charge nurse position: Describe a situation in which you had to handle a difficult and demanding patient. Give me an example of when you were involved in a conflict with another colleague and describe how you handled the situation. Tell me about a challenging problem that you faced in your previous job. How did you handle it? How do you handle stressful situations? Give me an example and describe how you coped with that situation. Describe a situation that you have encountered in the past that required you go above and beyond your regular duties. Tell me about a situation when you demonstrated initiative and took the lead on a project. Tell me about a time when you had to make an unpopular decision in the best interest of the safe delivery of patient care. Howe have you recognized another employee for a job well done? Provide an example. Provide an example of a time when you had to approach a colleague regarding a regulatory issue. What is the difference between a leader and a manager? Or are they the same?

Numerical aptitude tests are used to measure job seekers at different organisational levels (such as graduate, professional and manager) and occupations/industries. To ensure that the numerical aptitude test is accurately measuring job seekers’ abilities and potential, companies administering psychometric testing typically have a broad range of numerical aptitude tests with different levels of difficulty and benchmarks. The level of difficulty of the numerical aptitude test you will receive is determined by the following factors: The type of role you are applying for – are you applying for a graduate or managerial role? Are you applying for a professional (non-managerial) or managerial role? Are you applying for a mid-level or senior managerial role? When you are applying for a graduate role, employers expect you to demonstrate stronger numerical reasoning skills than a non-graduate. Similarly, if you are applying for a managerial role, you are expected to show stronger numerical reasoning skills than a graduate. The type of occupation/industry you are applying for – are you applying for a HR, marketing or engineering role? For example, if you apply as a graduate for an engineering role, you will be expected to show higher numerical reasoning skills than if you applied for a marketing role. What is a more difficult numerical aptitude test? Each numerical aptitude test has a certain level of difficulty that is fairly consistent across all its test questions. However, you can expect the questions at the beginning of the numerical test to be simpler than those towards the end. The level of difficulty of your numerical aptitude test is typically defined by three factors: complexity of numerical data, amount of numerical data and distractors and, time constraints. As the complexity of numerical data increases, the numerical aptitude test becomes more difficult. Complexity of data is typically related to the number of transformations or calculations you need to do to find the answer. The amount of data relates to the wealth of data offered in a test question. Some questions only offer the numerical data you need to get to the answer, but others have much more data that is used to distract your attention and consume precious time. Typically, a numerical aptitude test with a higher level of difficulty would have more distracting data. The third component is the time limitation. A simple rule of thumb for time constraints is that a numerical test question should take you around 45 to 60 seconds to complete. Therefore, a test at a higher level of difficulty will allow you less time for each test question. The levels of difficulty of numerical aptitude tests mean that even if you have a good background in maths and you are good in solving numerical questions, you are still likely to hit some hurdles when you are taking your numerical aptitude test. Therefore, we recommend that you practise as much as you can before taking the real numerical test. Online, practice numerical aptitude tests You can practise by taking our practice numerical aptitude tests, which are designed to match the level of difficulty of the real numerical aptitude test that you are likely to receive. Upon completing each practice numerical test, you will receive an immediate full test report including: your total score compared against others applying for a similar role a list of your correct and wrong answers detailed answer explanations for each test question so you can learn how to avoid making a similar mistake in your real numerical aptitude test. Online, numerical aptitude test course You can take our online numerical aptitude test course to learn about the strategies and tactics for efficiently solving numerical test questions, brush-up on formulas to calculate percentages, work efficiencies, distances, exchange rate, time travelled etc. The numerical aptitude course also includes the do’s and don’t’s of the numerical aptitude test and numrical aptitude test questions examples.

The IT industry continues to both shape the world and be transformed by it. From cloud computing and mobile applications to social media and infrastructure, few industries change what they do and how they do it more rapidly, and few have to adapt to these changes just as quickly in order to succeed. In information technology recruiting, perhaps more than in any other industry, time is of the essence. Whether you need top talent for an internal IT organization or are a technology provider looking for the industry’s best, our information technology recruiters understand how quickly the competitive parameters can shift, and we effectively and efficiently drive business results. Technology leaders face considerable technical, operational, and managerial challenges. Among them are intense competition, the pace of product innovation, globalization, and changing platforms and business models. As the complexity of these challenges escalates, perhaps the greatest challenge in the industry is finding a continuous supply of innovative talent that can literally transform a company…and the world. That talent can emerge from anywhere and moves rapidly through the technology recruiting arena. Armed with an in-depth understanding of staffing needs and our exceptional network of connections across the industry, our Information Technology recruiting experts can expeditiously deliver technology professionals who have both superior interpersonal skills and strong technical capabilities. Like many in technology, we are innovators. Through market data, analytics, and consistent and candid communication, our information technology recruiting drives lasting results for our clients. With offices around the country, Lucas Group is an information technology recruiting firm that understands both regional nuances and global trends. That geographic reach and industry depth provides our clients with the experience and breadth necessary to excel in a hyper-competitive global environment. Our expert technical recruiters work with mid-tier to Fortune 500 clients to find transcendent IT and software services talent in all major technology areas, including: Application Services Consulting Infrastructure Services Mobility Cloud Computing Electronic Medical Records Business Intelligence Software Lucas Group technical recruiters have deep industry knowledge, in both executive and information technology recruiting. Consider the experience of one of our clients, a leading Healthcare IT company. Recently a VP at the company turned to our technology and software division to help them establish a new, critically-important Electronic Medical Records (EMR) team. The key to this new unit’s success would be finding the best person possible to lead the team and serve as Director. The new Director would be charged with establishing the strategic framework of the unit and aggressively managing the hiring of the entire team. Lucas Group information technology recruiters immediately began by researching both the company and the highly competitive Healthcare IT market. After understanding the strategic context for both and the complete details of the entire group, we quickly and efficiently located the ideal candidate within a few weeks. She, in turn, worked in partnership with us to recruit and hire the founding members of the team. Within the span of ten weeks, Lucas Group technical recruiters had helped this company launch an entirely new EMR unit to help drive future company growth.

The previous answerers have answered as though you were interviewing for a full-time position. When employers search for interns, they don't do their search the same way they search for full-time employees. Interns aren't expected to have the same level of competence as full-time employees. The interview will not focus as much on how competent you are, especially as they don't expect you to have a full complement of knowledge behind you. When they ask technical questions, what they are looking for is not so much being a pro at answering their questions, but rather they are looking to see how you think. One question I was asked had absolutely nothing to do with anything related to the field of work. It was a fairly common riddle: You have a set of 12 identical looking balls. All but one are identical, and the last is slightly heavier than the others, but the difference is small enough that you wouldn't be able to feel it with your hand. All you have available to measure them is a balance scale. What is the minimum number of measurements you have to take on the balance scale to find out which ball is the heaviest, and how do you take the measurements? (I went overboard when I answered. I hadn't seen the problem before, but I solved it almost immediately, then went one step forward and generalized it to N balls). I have also been asked to write a short program that counts the number of 1's in a binary integer. While this is incredibly simple coding, it makes you have to think about what is going on under the hood. If you don't already know the answer, then it's okay, you can ask questions. If you're interviewing for an internship, you're expected to show your thought process and ask questions anywhere you have to think about it for longer than you feel comfortable. The main two things that employers are looking for are someone who can work well with them, and someone who they can work with. The two criteria are pretty broad, but keep that in mind no matter what you do to prepare for interviews. Do they like working with a hot shot? Are you willing to go to more senior members of the group if you're struggling with something, or will you just waste time bashing your head against the figurative wall until the problem goes away? Can you do things on your own without having to go to someone else every two seconds to ask them how something works? Are you going to have to ask them again? A few things I learned from experience based on how I changed my behavior from interview to interview: These are in no particular order. 1) Don't try to come across as smarter than you are. During one interview one of the interview team members was the CTO, and after he grilled me on a device I designed I found out how little I really knew. You may be smart, but there are people you will work with who are some of the highest caliber technical minds out there. You're not one of them yet, hence you're not already working for the company. 2) Don't come across as ignorant either. Do your research, learn what the company does and figure out what you have done that might be relevant. If something is mentioned in the job description, learn something about what it is before you go to the interview. While it's given that it's not rehearsed and you will stumble, don't fill in the time with 'uh, ' 'oh, shoot, what was the name of that...' or other such things. If you need a moment to think, ask for that moment and contemplate it in silence until it either comes or you don't feel comfortable waiting anymore, at which point you admit it's not coming to mind. 3) Be honest about everything except what you think will make it seem like you don't fit, in which case just don't reveal it. Most of my interviews were blown by me saying I wanted to end up in R&D and that I planned on pursuing a Ph.D. in interviews for test engineering jobs, even after extremely favorable evaluations of my skills, backgrounds and personality (I found out later through friends in the companies). The job that I got, I didn't mention R&D or Ph.D, just that graduate school was something I wanted to eventually do. Even so, shortly after I was hired I mentioned I had put in applications to graduate school and discussed it with my managers immediately (and a good thing I did - if I had done as my wife suggested and just put in a 2 weeks notice before taking off, I might have burned a bridge back to private sector employment). 4) Did I mention be honest? Don't exaggerate your claims when you describe something you did. If you didn't do it as well as you claim, then there will be small holes in how you explain it. The people interviewing you have been doing this for 40+ hours per week on many different projects for years; they can tell when your tales are in territory you haven't walked on. 5) Do use personal examples when they ask you questions like "what does teamwork mean to you?" or "how willing are you to make personal sacrifices in order to meet a commitment?" You can talk all you want about how you think you are, but it means nothing to them. If you can tell a story about something you did that demonstrates "teamwork" or "personal sacrifice, " then that means something. But remember: Be Honest. I don't know if I can stress that enough. 6) Ask good questions. Do your research and find out the basics of what they do. Normally in the careers section of the website there will be a list of company values. Come up with good questions for those. For example, one of Intel's is "great place to work." You might ask the pair of questions "What keeps you coming to work every day besides the paycheck?" followed by "what, in your opinion, is your least favorite thing about working here?" But whatever you ask, make sure you at least ask something - asking nothing implies that you're either not curious, not really interested, or that you think you know everything. You don't really know everything, and you don't want to come across as uninterested or not curious.

© Veer Anna-Mari West Everyone's different, but you still need standard measures. Measuring attributes like height, weight, and strength is reasonably simple. These are all physical and observable traits that you can assess objectively. But what about factors that aren't so easy to measure? Traits such as personality, intelligence, attitude, and beliefs are important characteristics to measure and assess. Whether you're hiring people, helping team members understand themselves and their relationships with others, or trying to figure out what you want to do with your life, it's useful to assess these types of "hidden, " less obvious attributes. One way to gather this information is through psychometric tests. The article looks at what psychometric tests are, what they measure, and how they can help you in both recruiting staff and developing you career. What Are Psychometric Tests? Psychometric tests include personality profiles, reasoning tests, motivation questionnaires, and ability assessments. These tests try to provide objective data for otherwise subjective measurements. For example, if you want to determine someone's attitude, you can ask the person directly, observe the person in action, or even gather observations about the person from other people. However, all of these methods can be affected by personal bias and perspective. By using a psychometric test, you make a more objective and impartial judgment. Since objectivity is key to using these assessments, a good psychometric test provides fair and accurate results each time it's given. To ensure this, the test must meet these three key criteria: Standardization – The test must be based on results from a sample population that's truly representative of the people who'll be taking the test. You can't realistically test every working person in a country. But you can test a representative sample of that group, and then apply the results to the specific people whom you test. Also, a standardized test is administered the same way every time to help reduce any test bias. By using a standardized test, you can compare the results with anyone whose characteristics are similar to those of the sample group. Reliability – The test must produce consistent results, and not be significantly influenced by outside factors. For instance, if you're feeling stressed when you take the test, the test results shouldn't be overly different from times when you were excited or relaxed. Validity – This is perhaps the most important quality of a test. A valid test has to measure what it's intended to measure. If a test is supposed to measure a person's interests, then it must clearly demonstrate that it does actually measure interests, and not something else that's just related to interests. Note: Psychometrics is the study of educational and psychological measurements. The adjective "psychometric" is used to describe psychological tests (typically those used in educational and occupational settings) that are standardized as well as proven to be reliable and valid measures of areas like personality, ability, aptitude, and interest. Beyond these criteria, effective psychometric tests must be relevant to the modern workplace. Before using one of these tests, make sure the test has been validated and updated recently. What Do Psychometric Tests Measure? Psychometric tests can measure interests, personality, and aptitude. Interest tests measure how people differ in their motivation, values, and opinions in relation to their interests. Personality tests measure how people differ in their style or manner of doing things, and in the way they interact with their environment and other people. Aptitude tests measure how people differ in their ability to perform or carry out different tasks. Advantages of Psychometric Tests Psychometric tests can help to make personnel and career-related assessments more objective. These tests also save a great deal of time. They're typically very easy to administer, and they can be given to a group of people easily. (Some other types of assessments must be given individually.) Psychometric tests are also easily scored, so results come back quickly and reliably. Many of these tests are completed using software programs, and some can even be completed online. This, again, provides a time advantage, and it can reduce costs significantly compared to other methods. People can take the tests from anywhere, and the results are accurately scored each time. There are costs involved in purchasing tests as well as in hiring or training someone to administer and evaluate them. It's important to consider these costs against the advantages that the tests may bring. Using Psychometric Tests Psychometric tests can be used for a variety of purposes. Some of the most common uses are as follows: Selection of personnel – Here, tests can help recruiters and hiring managers determine candidates who best fit a position. Personality, aptitude, and knowledge tests are all very common in this type of testing situation. For a detailed discussion of these types of tests and how to use them for hiring, see our article on Using Recruitment Tests. Individual development and training – Psychometric tests can help you determine how best to improve current skills and performance. For example, if your department is going to introduce a new type of technology, it might be helpful to assess people on their interests and motivations related to new technology. The Business Attitude Inventory and the California Measure of Mental Motivation are psychometric tests available for training and development purposes. You could also use aptitude and skills tests to determine a person's ability to perform certain tasks. Team building and development – This area can provide many uses for psychometric tests. The better people understand themselves and others, the better they can build and maintain positive workplace relationships. Tests like FIRO-B®, DiSC®, and the Hogan Development Survey are designed specifically to uncover potential sources of relationship tension. General personality assessments, including the Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator® (MBTI) and the California Psychological Inventory™ (CPI), are also very helpful for team building and strengthening. Values in Action can help you gain insights into group behaviors and dynamics that relate to people's values. Career development and progression – Psychometric tests can help you uncover values and interests that are fundamental to overall career satisfaction. For those starting out in their careers and those who are looking for the right career path, interest surveys like Holland's Codes and Schein's Career Anchors are also useful psychometric tests to consider.

Which retail job interview questions can you expect in your interview? Know the commonly asked retail interview questions and use the sample answers to prepare for success in your retail sales job interview. Communication skills are key to a retail position. Be well prepared and answer typical job interview questions fluently and with confidence. Impress as the right candidate for the retail job opportunity. Retail interview questions and answers include: What makes you suitable for this retail job? Focus on specific experience and training in your career history. Identify things you have done that match the job you are interviewing for. Emphasize what qualifies you for this particular job and how you can add value to the job and company. What transferable skills have you gained in your previous jobs? Look at the job tasks such as buying merchandise, customer care, and highlight your experience in performing these. If there are areas of the job function that you do not yet have experience in then highlight what skills you have that will facilitate learning and succeeding in these tasks. For example your ability to remain calm under pressure and listen carefully will help you in a customer complaints function. What qualities do you consider most important in this retail job? Generally good communication skills, flexibility, a strong customer service orientation and a high energy level are key to success in a retail position. Go into more detail by expanding on these qualities. For example, good communication includes excellent and active listening skills, the ability to ask the right questions to get clarity on what the customer is asking and to be able to respond to the customer in a concise and easily understood manner. What interests you about selling to customers? Try to be specific in your interview answer to these type of retail job interview questions. Avoid generalizations such as "I enjoy people", rather say something along the lines of: "I enjoy talking to the customer and finding out exactly what they are looking for. I like the challenge of meeting the customer's needs, making useful suggestions and making sure the customer leaves satisfied." How do you go about familiarizing yourself with the products you sell? Product knowledge is key to providing good customer service. There are a number of ways that product knowledge can be learned such as informational material, on-line information, other employees and training. Focus on your proactive attempts to learn about the products including asking questions and reading up about the products. Why are you interested in a position at this company? Detail why you want a job with this specific company. Base your answer to this retail job interview question on what you have learned about the company from your pre-interview research. Find out the information you need before your interview at preparing for a job interview. How does this company differ from the competition? What about the way it operates attracts you? What interesting innovations have the company introduced such as customer loyalty programs and on-line services. The company will expect you to have done your homework. Know their main competitors and be aware of current industry trends. The internet is a useful source of information. You can find good online resources to help you with this. Trade magazines, such as "The Grocer" or "Marketing Week" also carry a great deal of useful information. Describe a time when you had to handle a difficult customer. The interviewer wants you to provide an example of how you dealt with a demanding customer in the past. You need to give a clear description of a specific situation when you did this. Describe the circumstances, the actions you took and the outcome. Similar behavioral questions that often come up in a retail job interview include: Give me an example of when you went the extra mile for a customer. Tell me about an improvement that you made to the customer service process. Describe a situation in which you had to remain calm under great provocation from a customer. How have you dealt with angry customers previously? Tell me about a time you received positive feedback from a customer. Find out how to answer the frequently asked retail interview question: You can also expect retail job interview questions that explore your true work schedule flexibility. Describe your working hours in your previous position? Most retail positions require flexibility with regard to working hours. It is important to assure the interviewer that you are able to accommodate different schedules. Give examples of how you have been able to meet the demands of a typical retail schedule in the past. If this is your first job in retail sales make sure your answer emphasizes that you do not have schedule restrictions.

Software engineers are responsible for developing, testing, deploying, and revamping computer programs. If you're interviewing for a position as a software engineer, it helps to know what types of questions to expect. Typically, interviewers are eager to find out about your tech skills (i.e., what programs and languages do you know) as well as general problem-solving skills. There will also be questions that explore your logic and analytical thinking. The interview is also an opportunity to determine how you work with others and if you would be a good fit for the company culture. As well, since most software projects happen on tight schedules, interviewers will be eager to find out how you perform under deadlines, manage your time, and communicate about setbacks and delays to project managers and team members. If you are interviewing for a position as a software engineer, review this list of commonly asked interview questions. Practice your answers so that you will feel confident the day of your interview. Which tools do you like to use for keeping track of requirements? What do you care about most when reviewing somebody else's code? What books have you read on software engineering that you would recommend to someone in the business? Describe the process you use for writing a piece of code, from requirements to delivery. Estimate how long it would take to sort 1 trillion numbers. How would you store 1 million phone numbers? How do you make sure that your code can handle different kinds of error situations? How can you reduce the user's perception of waiting when some functions take a lot of time? What is the difference between a mutex and a semaphore? Which would you use to protect access to an increment operation? What is the difference between re-engineering and reverse engineering? How do you ensure that your code meets the requirements laid out? What is the difference between a mock and a stub? What is the difference between local and global variables? What is the agile software philosophy? What is the role of interfaces in design? Name one or two examples of how an application can anticipate user behavior.

If you ask an extremely successful salesperson, “What makes you different from the average sales rep?” you will most likely get a less-than-accurate answer, if any answer at all. Frankly, the person may not even know the real answer because most successful salespeople are simply doing what comes naturally. Over the past decade, I have had the privilege of interviewing thousands of top business-to-business salespeople who sell for some of the world’s leading companies. I’ve also administered personality tests to 1, 000 of them. My goal was to measure their five main personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and negative emotionality) to better understand the characteristics that separate them their peers. The personality tests were given to high technology and business services salespeople as part of sales strategy workshops I was conducting. In addition, tests were administered at Presidents Club meetings (the incentive trip that top salespeople are awarded by their company for their outstanding performance). The responses were then categorized by percentage of annual quota attainment and classified into top performers, average performers, and below average performers categories. The test results from top performers were then compared against average and below average performers. The findings indicate that key personality traits directly influence top performers’ selling style and ultimately their success. Below, you will find the main key personality attributes of top salespeople and the impact of the trait on their selling style. 1. Modesty. Contrary to conventional stereotypes that successful salespeople are pushy and egotistical, 91 percent of top salespeople had medium to high scores of modesty and humility. Furthermore, the results suggest that ostentatious salespeople who are full of bravado alienate far more customers than they win over. Selling Style Impact: Team Orientation. As opposed to establishing themselves as the focal point of the purchase decision, top salespeople position the team (presales technical engineers, consulting, and management) that will help them win the account as the centerpiece. 2. Conscientiousness. Eighty-five percent of top salespeople had high levels of conscientiousness, whereby they could be described as having a strong sense of duty and being responsible and reliable. These salespeople take their jobs very seriously and feel deeply responsible for the results. Selling Style Impact: Account Control. The worst position for salespeople to be in is to have relinquished account control and to be operating at the direction of the customer, or worse yet, a competitor. Conversely, top salespeople take command of the sales cycle process in order to control their own destiny. 3. Achievement Orientation. Eighty-four percent of the top performers tested scored very high in achievement orientation. They are fixated on achieving goals and continuously measure their performance in comparison to their goals. Selling Style Impact: Political Orientation. During sales cycles, top sales, performers seek to understand the politics of customer decision-making. Their goal orientation instinctively drives them to meet with key decision-makers. Therefore, they strategize about the people they are selling to and how the products they’re selling fit into the organization instead of focusing on the functionality of the products themselves. 4. Curiosity. Curiosity can be described as a person’s hunger for knowledge and information. Eighty-two percent of top salespeople scored extremely high curiosity levels. Top salespeople are naturally more curious than their lesser performing counterparts. Selling Style Impact: Inquisitiveness. A high level of inquisitiveness correlates to an active presence during sales calls. An active presence drives the salesperson to ask customers difficult and uncomfortable questions in order to close gaps in information. Top salespeople want to know if they can win the business, and they want to know the truth as soon as possible. 5. Lack of Gregariousness. One of the most surprising differences between top salespeople and those ranking in the bottom one-third of performance is their level of gregariousness (preference for being with people and friendliness). Overall, top performers averaged 30 percent lower gregariousness than below average performers.