89 Applied H.R.M. Research, 2005, Volume 10, Number 2, pages 89-98 Using Personality to Predict Outbound Call Center Job Performance Pamela Skyrme Skyrme & Associates, Inc. Lisa Wilkinson University of South Florida Joseph D. Abraham & John D. Morrison, Jr. A&M Psychometrics, LLC This study investigates the usefulness of the Big Five personality variables, as measured by the Performance Perspectives Inventory (Abraham & Morrison, 2002), in predicting objective measures of employee productivity and subjective measures of training performance in an outbound call center. We found that Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Agreeableness correlated significantly with productivity of incumbent outbound call center representatives. Additionally, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience correlated with new hire training performance. Reviewers of the technique’s history have referred to the period leading up to the 1980’s as the “…Dark Days of Personality Testing in Industry” (Lodato, Zickar, & Fuller, 2004). In particular, prevailing skepticism concerning the use of personality measures in selection marked the 1960’s and 1970’s. Doubts largely stemmed from inconsistent validity evidence, as well as lack of consensus regarding the underlying structure of personality or appropriate performance criteria (Ghiselli, 1973; Guion & Gottier, 1965; Schmidt, Gooding, Noe, & Kinch, 1984). The Five Factor Model’s (i.e., Big Five) emergence as a widely accepted taxonomy of normal personality in the ensuing decades has helped address many of the skeptics’ concerns. By serving as a guide for organizing research findings and framing hypotheses, the model has enabled researchers using meta-analysis to shed new light on the relationships between personality characteristics and job performance (e.g., Barrick & Mount, 1991; Mount & Barrick, 1995; Hogan & Holland, 2003). The validity of the Big Five personality factors has been evaluated for a number of job groups, including managerial, sales, customer service, skilled, and semi-skilled roles (e.g., Barrick & Mount, 1991; Hurtz & Donovan, 2000). Nevertheless, a search of the relevant literature indicates that little published research has investigated the validity of the Big Five in predicting performance for the specific role of outbound call center representative. The present study is a criterion-related validation study of the Big Five factors of personality on an outbound call center job using two criteria, employee productivity and training performance, in two independent samples. The Big Five taxonomy of personality proposes five factors to encompass personality: extraversion (outgoing, motivated, adventure-seeking, and optimistic),