“Chameleon” techie persona
Does your company want to hire someone who will fit seamlessly into an existing team? If so, you cuodl be looking to hire a 'chameleon'. Discover more about this persona.
How to identify “chameleons”
The best way to sum up those who fit this persona is ‘moderate’. Chameleons are likely to come across as engaged, interested and adventurous. They are not likely, however, to be over-enthusiastic, or highly self-assured – they are aware of their own weaknesses. To identify a chameleon, ask questions about their hobbies and try to gauge whether they seem keen to experience new things, learn and be challenged. In addition to that, appraise how aggressively competitive they are by asking questions about working collaboratively to achieve their targets; chameleons are likely to be ambitious yet collaborative, avoiding aggressive competition.
Interested in:
- New challenges
- Good salary and benefits
- Career progression
Industries of interest:
- Arts and culture
Preferred specialities:
- General IT
- Cloud
- Coding
View our report on the different temperaments of a techie here
Hiring and retention for this group
If a company is looking for a new tech hire who won’t disrupt an existing team too much, a chameleon could be what is needed. The area to promote in order to attract this type of candidate is the chance to take on a new challenge through the role—not forgetting about salary, benefits and a healthy work-life balance, which are valued by all tech employees and are important for retention.
Chameleons are most likely to stay for between 2 years to 5 or more years in a role. As long as you meet their needs outlined above, you shouldn’t have too much trouble keeping them in the company.
Techies from this group report being especially drawn to roles in Arts and Culture. They appear to be most interested in General IT roles, which seems quite fitting for their personality. However, some are interested in specialising in Cloud, and this group are actually the least likely to have no preference of specialty at all (even if that preference is not specialising). Perhaps having a personality that is not characterised by extremes allows them to be level-headed and have a clear idea of what they want.
Looking at individuals in Good&Co’s database who closely match the chameleon persona, they are currently quite prominent in roles in infrastructure (e.g. Systems Analyst) and in testing roles (e.g. Test Technician). Therefore, if you are looking for this type of candidate, it is worth considering individuals from these backgrounds.
Techie personas series
To delve deeper into the high-flyers and the other personas, view our report here.