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Earnings effects of personality, education and IQ
http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2011/04/earnings-effects-of-personality.html
by Steve Hsu

Thanks to a reader for pointing me to this recent paper by Heckman and collaborators, which makes use of data from the Terman study of gifted individuals (minimum IQ of 135 on the Stanford-Binet).

Of the personality factors, Conscientiousness and Extraversion had the largest (positive) effect on lifetime earnings: the most conscientious or extroverted individuals earned, on average, about 50% more than the least (see figures below).

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The paper being discussed is "The Effects of Education, Personality, and IQ on Earnings of High-Ability Men" at http://www.iza.org/conference_files/CoNoCoSk2011/gensowski_m6556.pdf based on a study of "Terman's Termites".

My daughter, who I think might be moderately gifted but she was never tested, is a former cheerleader, is very conscientious and definitely an extrovert. She was told recently that she was one of three employees being considered for an operations manager position at the company where she works. Only three out of 350 people are being considered for this job.

While she was making bad grades for not turning in work in high school because she was socializing too much, she learned enough that she made a higher score on the company's tests than people with marketing degrees. It is looking to me like that higher social ability is more important than the higher IQ at least in some jobs.

Yes, I'd agree. I find my pretty good social skills tend to keep my career moving ok, while dh is kind of all over the place, career-wise, with his comparatively curmudgeonly ways...some people 'get' him, most do not.

Congrats to your DD Lori H - my guess is that you are assuming that folks with Marketing degrees have a higher IQ than your DD. My guess is that your DD is a double threat: High extraversion and High IQ. Unless you have IQ tests to prove it - and can be 100% sure that your DD was accurately measured by them ( you can't) then all we can say based on your DD's example is "Congratulations!"

Love and More Love,
Grinity

I do think personality is extremely important long-term in landing a good job and having success in it. I graduated with honors from harvard Medical School (which was almost impossible to get into- they only take maybe 10% of the applicants). Although obviously everyone was very, very bright, long-term it's been interesting to see how my classmates have done.
Even as a doctor, which I always think of as being like a scientist (ie, personality isn't critical; brains are key), some of the people from my class have done very poorly with their careers, due to their very poor interpersonal skills. Conversely, some people who were smart but nothing special have done extremely well due to being hardworkers and/or good communication and personal skills.

jack's mom said: "I graduated with honors from harvard Medical School (which was almost impossible to get into- they only take maybe 10% of the applicants."

Nice try. But not close. Here is a more recent stats from Harvard medical school website:

"The roughly 165 seats that Harvard Medical School has available for new students each year are the object of intense competition. Almost 5,400 people applied for admission in 2004, putting Harvard Medical School's admission rate at under 3 per cent".

Ok, only 3%. It's obviously very competitive to get in. I graduated in 1993.
My point was that some of the people from class at HMS did not do well long-term. They had unsuccessful careers, although they were obviously very bright. Most of the unsuccessful ones had poor interpersonal skills and poor communication skills.

I got your points. I was just trying to give you a hard time. :-)

My daughter was seeing a middle aged doctor once. The doctor had a little chitchat with her and said "you should apply for Stanford". He went on to say that Stanford's admission rate is very low, around 30%. My daughter's jaw just dropped, 30 percent? which century was that?

Yes, it's crazy. I think when I went to HMS, 1989-1993, they accepted 10%, which was very low. I went to Northwestern U in Chicago, a very good school. However, I was the first person in 20 years from NU to go to HMS! I know Harvard undergrad only accepts, I think, like 6-8% of the applicants.
However, if you are good, you are good, and you will get in and do well somewhere. I feel very sure of that.
And I do think people underestimate how important long-term your personal skills are. At this point in my medical career, nobody cares that I went to HMS. They care that- I'm very nice, friendly, and it's easy to get your pts in to see me quickly.