Many studies of job seekers have found that conscientiousness and extraversion predicted success. Conscientiousness is such a powerful predictor that in one study of 4,000 British adolescents, the less conscientious of them were twice as likely to be unemployed than those with higher conscientiousness levels. Research in Finland suggests that time structure is also important for enabling the unemployed to cope effectively with unemployment. Conscientiousness strongly predicts the creation of time structure.

Overall, one review suggests that conscientiousness and extraversion are the two strongest predictors of job search behavior, although self-esteem and self-efficacy (parts of CSE) are also important. Additional work on unemployed university students suggests that positive affectivity is also important in getting interviews, job offers, and becoming employed. The positive affect enables the students to have a clearer and more open perspective toward the job search process, engage in more self-monitoring of their motivation, and reduce procrastination.

It appears that extraversion, conscientiousness, and positive affectivity tend to have a substantial effect on becoming employed and coping with unemployment (with negative affectivity and hostility having equivalent negative effects). The experience of unemployment is not the same for everyone across the board—it can be different for new entrants to the labor market, those who have just lost their jobs, and those who are employed and seeking jobs. Can we expect the effect of personality to differ in each of these contexts?