Professional Adjectives to Describe Personality

Whether you're describing yourself during an interview, writing a resume/CV, or talking about
the personality of a subordinate or colleague being considered for promotion, you'll find it useful
to familiarize yourself with the 20 common adjectives below. All these adjectives describe
specific aspects of someone's personality, specifically the areas of someone's personality that
determines their suitability for a particular job or type of work.

Some of the adjectives below have similar meanings. It's important, therefore, that you learn the
minor differences in meaning if you are to use them accurately. If you are unclear about the
differences, consult a good monolingual advanced learner's dictionary.

Determined wanting to do something very much, and not letting anyone stop you

Hard-working doing a job seriously and with a lot of effort

Diligent working hard with care and effort

Trustworthy describes someone who is good and honest and won't harm you

Motivated enthusiastic about doing something

Reliable able to be trusted or believed

Loyal always liking and supporting someone or something, sometimes when

other people do not

Attentive listening or watching carefully and showing that you are interested

Conscientious always doing your work with a lot of care

Persistent describes someone who keeps pushing for something and does not give
up easily
 Dynamic having a lot of ideas and enthusiasm; energetic and forceful

Energetic having or involving a lot of energy

Enterprising good at thinking of and doing new and difficult things, especially things
that will make money

Enthusiastic showing a great deal of interest in something and a willingness to get

involved

Aggressive determined to win or succeed and using forceful action to achieve victory
or success

Consistent always behaving or happening in a similar, especially positive, way

Organized describes someone who is able to plan things carefully and keep things
tidy:

Proactive describes someone who takes action by causing change and not only
reacting to change when it happens

Methodical describes people who do things in a very ordered, careful way

Passionate having very strong feelings or emotions

Note: When attending a job interview or writing a resume/CV, make sure you choose the
adjectives that best suit your potential position. "Aggressive" might catch the eye of a law firm,
but would likely scare an employer in the customer service field.

Useful Phrases:

Below are some useful phrases in which the above adjectives could be used:

Do you consider yourself to be .......? 

How can you become more .......?
How is being ........... useful in your job?   
Who is the most ........... person that you know?
Would you describe yourself as being .........?
In your CV you describe yourself as being ........... Give me an example of how you showed
this.
I would describe myself as being .........
I believe this position requires someone who is ..........
We are looking for someone who is .........
If you are not .........., please don't apply.
Paul has shown himself to be .............