Do star signs actually affect personality type?

By MARY WARD

I was going to be a Virgo.

I was going to be an an anal, hypercritical, Beyonce-esque mid-September birthday.

To be fair, I am still anal, hypercritical and oh so Beyonce-esque. It’s just that I was born two weeks late, so my very Virgo personality traits (confirmed by many a peer-reviewed Buzzfeed quiz) have been glossed over as non-astrological personality flaws, while every time I can’t choose between ham or chicken on my sandwich I am met with cries of: “She’s a Libra! Definitely such a Libra!”

I am Virgo-identifying. But, alas, not a Virgo.

However, it turns out that I am lucky my oversized baby head had to be yanked out from its uterine overstay by a pair of salad tongs. Because, had I been born a few days earlier, I might not be able to get a job.*

In an article for New Republic, Christopher Beam explores the Chinese fascination with star signs in the recruitment process. Beam reports that a recent study found 16 per cent of Chinese people thought Virgos had the most trouble finding work. He writes:

Yeah. Yeah we (and by ‘we’, I do mean the people born during the star sign before mine, who I identify with on a spiritual level but definitely not in a concrete, ‘we are born in the same randomly allotted – oh, I’m sorry, I mean astrologically based – period of time’ level) are excellent workers.

Some Chinese Virgos have set out to prove that fact with a social media campaign that roughly translates to #RectifyTheNameOfTheVirgo. Taking to Chinese social network Weibo (think Twitter, but with more censorship and – unbelievably – more Kevin Rudd) to share why being crazy perfectionists actually makes them ideal employees.

And, as a Virgo ally/sympathiser/wannabe, I absolutely concur.

*In China. But that’s where all the cool, tertiary-educated kids are getting their entry-level professional jobs, am I right?

Do you think that star signs influence personality type?