This Big 5 Personality Trait is the Best Predictor of a High Salary

Which one is it? Who benefits the most?

(Image credit: WBIR.com)

The latest psychological framework has narrowed down the personality categories to just five, easily remembered by the acronym O.C.E.A.N. (definitions are from Psychology Today).

• Openness to experience (includes aspects such as intellectual curiosity and creative imagination)
• Conscientiousness (organization, productiveness, responsibility)
• Extroversion (sociability, assertiveness; its opposite is Introversion)
• Agreeableness (compassion, respectfulness, trust in others)
• Neuroticism (tendencies toward anxiety and depression)

There is a lot to unpack here, our focus is on which personality trait impacts your salary the most, and how exactly benefits from it.

Be the Squeaky Wheel

We’ve all heard the aphorism of, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil,” most likely originating from the following poem from c. 1870.

I hate to be a kicker,

I always long for peace,

But the wheel that squeaks the loudest,

Is the one that gets the grease.