101 Best Character Traits For Professional Growth And Development

Character traits play a major role in your success at work. This is because someone with strong character is more likely to be trusted with additional responsibility. Whether you’re just starting out or are already established in your career, developing your character is an important part of your professional and personal growth.

To help you put your best foot forward and impress your employer with your personal and professional attributes, we’ve rounded up the top 101 character traits you should aim to showcase at work to achieve professional growth and develop as a hard-working and dedicated professional.

Key Takeaways:

• The top three character traits for professional growth are capable, confident, and cooperative.

• Personality traits are analyzed at every step of the employment process, from job interview questions and personal reference letters to on-the-job skills and annual employee evaluations.

• Character traits are an important aspect of employment because hiring managers and employers almost always evaluate a job seeker’s personality before offering them a professional position.

What are character traits?

Character traits are the specific components of your personality, behavior, attitude, and ethics. To put it simply, character traits are what make you, you.

From portraying who you are as a person to depicting your core values and morals, character traits do it all. These aspects of our personality are unique to each individual and are most readily expressed using descriptive adjectives.

One common way of figuring out your strongest character traits is by asking yourself how your friends would describe you. Uncovering your true character traits is the first step in using your personal and professional qualities to achieve success at work.

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15 top character traits to help you find success at work

To help you become a more successful professional, we’ve rounded up the top 15 character traits for workplace advancement and specific ways you can portray each of these personal and professional characteristics on the job.

Here are some of the best personality traits for career achievement:

1. Capable. Being able to perform projects efficiently and having a certain eagerness to get things done in the workplace is a surefire way to help you reach your professional goals and find success in your career, no matter the field or industry.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Being capable is all about showing your ability to efficiently and effectively complete tasks and go above and beyond what’s asked of you at work.

   Accomplishing daily tasks, reaching corporate goals, bringing on new clients, or generating new ideas to expand your company’s profitability and overall success rates are all great ways of portraying your professional capabilities.

2. Confident. Being confident and having confidence can be an especially essential character trait in both your personal and professional life. Being confident at work is a key component of career growth as it depicts your confidence in your abilities and, in doing so, allows others to trust and rely on you more easily.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Confidence encompasses everything from what you wear and how you carry yourself at work to your professional relationships with employees and how you go about presenting new ideas or projects in your role.

   If you’re looking to launch your career or even change career paths, job interviews are great opportunities for you to portray your confidence. Dressing professionally, standing tall, keeping eye contact, and clearly articulating your interview answers will ensure you come across as a confident and poised applicant.

   Alternatively, if you’re already established in your career and looking for ways to improve your confidence levels at work, try focusing on your professional strengths and set goals for yourself to go outside your comfort zone and learn new skills.

   Making sure you’re prepared for meetings, clear on your views, and comfortable discussing complex ideas with colleagues will help you emulate confidence.

3. Cooperative. No matter what role or industry you’re looking to work in, employers and hiring managers almost always lean towards cooperative job applicants, and the same is true for seasoned employees. Being collaborative and cooperative is often the key to getting hired and staying employed.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Nowadays, most jobs require some form of teamwork and cooperation. On that coin, showcasing your cooperative character traits can be essential to your career and professional growth.

   Some of the best ways of showcasing your cooperative personality at work include offering to mentor or assist employees, planning team meetings to discuss common goals, or, if on a job interview, recounting a specific instance in which you collaborated or coordinated with another employee to reach a specific result or objective.

4. Creative. Even if you work in a field that requires more technical skills than creative or artistic ones, being creative at work can help showcase your originality, productivity, innovation, and unique way of doing things.

   This, in turn, will make you stand out from the crowd and be more likely to get promotions and quickly advance in your chosen career.

   How to portray this character trait:

   When it comes to portraying your creativity at work, try to focus on things that make you unique from your peers. Creativity is all about originality and thinking outside the box, so there’s no one right or wrong way to display it.

   For example, if you’re a graphic designer, being creative at work might mean experimenting with different color pallets or using new cutting-edge tools and computer programs to create interesting and eye-catching visuals.

   However, if you’re on the opposite end of the artistic occupation spectrum, say an accountant, being creative at work might translate to creating simplified graphs to explain complex ideas to your clients or using unique formulas to calculate financial risk.

5. Dependable. As far as employers and human resource representatives are concerned, dependable employees are the best employees. Being dependable can take you far in your career.

   If your employer can count on you to complete projects on time and consistently turn out good work, you’ll be more likely to get promoted and quickly advance in your career.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Arriving to work on time and staying until your shift ends, completing tasks and projects quickly and accurately, being accountable, organized, and responsible, going the extra mile to get your work done, and being consistent are all great ways of illustrating your dependability in the workplace.

6. Diligent. Studies show that diligent and hard-working employees receive more promotions and have higher average salaries than their peers, who may take a more casual approach to their job. In this sense, being diligent can help you continue on the path toward professional success and achievement.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Being diligent and hardworking can look different for different people depending on their specific work style and job.

   Generally speaking, some of the best ways to portray your diligence are staying organized, prioritizing tasks, using your time effectively, meeting deadlines, staying focused, completing projects, and reaching specific goals.

7. Eager. Having a can-do attitude and being excited to complete the tasks expected of you at work is a great way of advancing within your field. Generally speaking, eager employees are more successful.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Staying enthusiastic, open to trying new things, and expanding your skillset are great ways of portraying your eagerness to get the job done.

8. Flexible. Flexibility is important in any job. Whether you’re just starting the interview and new employee onboarding process or are established in your career, being flexible, adaptable, and accommodating when plans change is essential to continue professional success.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Being open-minded, staying calm when things don’t go as they were initially intended to, adapting to new ideas, and taking steps to accommodate coworkers and customers are all great ways of illustrating your flexible personality.

9. Friendly. Even if you have all the technical skills and work qualifications in the world, if you’re not friendly, you probably won’t get very far. Of all the personality traits that can help you advance at work, being friendly is probably the easiest one to implement, and it can take you far in your career and life.

   How to portray this character trait:

   Being friendly at work is as simple as being nice, kind, and considerate towards coworkers, clients, and customers.

   To portray your friendly personality, you could smile and greet your colleagues as they pass you in the hall, offer to take a new coworker out to lunch or coffee, or ask a customer how their day is going.

10. Honest. If your aim is career growth and development, then honesty is especially important. No matter what you do, it’s essential to be true to yourself and your employer to ensure that work is completed accurately and efficiently.

    How to portray this character trait:

    With honesty, you must practice it every day and in every situation. Even a little white lie has no place at the office because even the smallest breach of trust can be detrimental to your career. Being honest is all about establishing a positive and trustworthy reputation.

    Some of the best ways of portraying your honest personality are keeping your commitments, maintaining respectful relationships with your coworkers, staying focused on your work, taking responsibility, and immediately discussing any mistakes you make with your supervisor.

11. Independent. While being independent is essential for mid and senior-level employees, even entry-level employees can use this character trait to their advantage. Illustrating your high level of individualism and self-sufficiency can help you climb the corporate ladder much faster than normal.

    How to portray this character trait:

    Completing tasks with little direction, taking the initiative, suggesting new ideas to improve company practices, and becoming self-aware of your work are all great ways of portraying independence on the job.

12. Logical. Being logical, having common sense, and practicing sound reason and rationality can be a deciding factor in the rate at which you grow and develop as an established professional.

    How to portray this character trait:

    Expanding your skillset, questioning new ideas, clearly understanding complex ideas within your field of expertise, and being capable of making important decisions based on logic and analytical reasoning are great ways of illustrating your logical personality.

13. Organized. In most jobs, being organized translates to better client relationships, increased revenue streams, and higher-than-average company efficiency rates. On a day-to-day basis, staying organized will help you prioritize and complete tasks in the long run. However, it can help you advance as a professional and land your dream job.

    How to portray this character trait:

    Perhaps the easiest way of portraying your organized and systematic personality is by keeping a clean desk and a tidy workstation. Being organized is especially important for professionals employed in office settings.

    If you work as an administrative assistant, for example, you could showcase your organization by keeping detailed notes of any phone messages you receive, creating a mail distribution system, scanning any checks or financial documents, and carefully filing paperwork both in the office and electronically.

14. Skillful. To be successful in any career, whether it’s a white-collar career or a blue-collar job, you need to be skillful. Having the skills and abilities necessary to achieve in your chosen field and mastering them is a surefire way to grow within your career.

    How to portray this character trait:

    Depending on what industry you work in, being skillful can look like several different things. Generally speaking, completing your specific roles and responsibilities to the best of your ability while actively working to improve when necessary is a great way of depicting your skillful personal traits.

    For a baker, being skillful might look like decorating wedding cakes using various icings or chocolates. At the same time, a painter might be considered skillful if they have a collection of positive references applauding them for their trim work and attention to detail.

15. Conscientious. When you’re conscientious, you think through your actions to make sure that they’re ethical and helpful. Companies value employees with this professional trait because they can trust them to do excellent work that will benefit the organization, its employees, and its customers.

    How to portray this character trait:

    You can display conscientiousness in every area of your personal and professional life by honoring rules and boundaries, respecting others, and consistently doing the right thing, even if it’s to your own disadvantage.

    Self-discipline is also an important aspect of conscientiousness, so do the little things such as checking your work for errors before submitting it, maintaining a clean workspace so you don’t bother your coworkers, and keeping your commitments.

16. Determined. Determination is a necessary character trait if you want to get far at all in your career. Determined people don’t give up when there’s an obstacle in front of them — instead, they push harder or find a creative way to overcome it.

    How to portray this character trait:

    You can display your determination by working to find solutions rather than passing the buck or giving up on an issue. This doesn’t mean you don’t ask for help, but it does mean that you don’t make excuses just to avoid some extra work.

    You can also show determination by showing up to work on time every day, using creativity to solve problems, and consistently meeting your goals.

Additional character traits for career advancement

To help you put your best foot forward at work, here’s a complete list of other leading personality traits to reach career success and advancement:

• Able

• Alert

• Ambitious

• Artistic

• Assertive

• Attentive

• Balanced

• Bold

• Bright

• Calm

• Careful

• Caring

• Cautious

• Charitable

• Cheerful

• Clever

• Compassionate

• Considerate

• Curious

• Detail-oriented

• Disciplined

• Driven

• Encouraging

• Energetic

• Excited

• Expert

• Fair

• Fierce

• Generous

• Giving

• Graceful

• Grateful

• Happy

• Hard-working

• Harmonious

• Healthy

• Helpful

• Hopeful

• Imaginative

• Initiative

• Intelligent

• Kind

• Knowledgeable

• Leader

• Lively

• Loyal

• Methodical

• Mindful

• Neat

• Open-minded

• Orderly

• Outgoing

• Patient

• Persistent

• Pleasant

• Polite

• Positive

• Practical

• Pragmatic

• Precise

• Proud

• Punctual

• Purposeful

• Quick

• Rational

• Realistic

• Respectful

• Responsible

• Self-disciplined

• Sharp

• Sincere

• Smart

• Stable

• Steadfast

• Strong

• Successful

• Talented

• Temperate

• Thoughtful

• Thrifty

• Tidy

• Trustworthy

• Unselfish

• Useful

• Wise

Why are character traits important in the workplace?

Character traits are important in the workplace because they play a significant role in finding success in the workplace and realizing your biggest professional goals.

Time and time again, research proves that personality, specifically character traits, is vital in determining how fast an individual achieves professional growth, how much money a professional earns, and at what point they’ll reach the pinnacle of their career.

Professionals who are conscientious, emotionally stable, and optimistic, for example, have been proven to have higher rates of career success than those who are pessimistic, frustrated, fearful, worrisome, anxious, or moody.

• Character traits help you get hired. Because character traits have become such an important aspect of employment, hiring managers and employers almost always evaluate a job seeker’s personality before offering them a professional position.

  This is why recruiters and prospective employers often ask applicants to submit a list of business or personal references, provide a character reference letter, or answer a series of personality-related interview questions.

• Character traits help you further your career. Even after you’re hired, your employer or superior will continue to analyze your personality and character traits. They’ll observe your behavior, skills, and dedication to the job. Some employers even require workers to complete periodic personality tests to assess their character and ability to perform the job.

  Then, when it comes time to consider you for a promotion, they’ll use this information to help them make their decision. This is especially true when they’re deciding between two candidates with similar work experience.

No matter where you are in your career, personality traits matter more than you might think.

Character traits FAQ

1. What are three examples of character traits?

   Three examples of character traits are:

   • Capable

   • Confident

   • Cooperative

2. Whhat makes you stand out from other coworkers?

   Your character traits make you stand out from other coworkers. From diligence to creativity to honesty, taking the time to develop your character will help you stand out from the crowd and make you a more valuable employee.

References

1. Yale University – Character in the Workplace Has Powerfully Positive Ripple Effects

2. National Library of Medicine – Big Five Personality Traits in the Workplace

Author

Elsie Boskamp

Elsie is an experienced writer, reporter, and content creator. As a leader in her field, Elsie is best known for her work as a Reporter for The Southampton Press, but she can also be credited with contributions to Long Island Pulse Magazine and Hamptons Online. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Stony Brook University and currently resides in Franklin, Tennessee.