A job can be fulfilling if it nourishes the most important aspects of your personality. Using your innate strengths, versus the qualities that don’t come naturally to you, can make all the difference in your job satisfaction. The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (aka MBTI) can help you identify your strengths and related job families to help you get started in your career search. While this assessment cannot tell you what career or major discipline you should choose, it is designed to help you learn more about yourself so that you can make an informed decision.
UCS offers MBTI, which measures your preferences in four areas – the kind of information you naturally notice, how you make decisions, where you direct your energy, and how you prefer to live your daily life — all important factors in career decision making. Your inclinations not only affect your working life, but your love life, family life, and leisure time too. If you’re in the right job, you should:
- Look forward to going to work
- Feel energized (most of the time) by what you do
- Feel your contribution is respected and appreciated
Here are some big clues about where to look (or not) for fulfilling work:
Are you energized by being with other people or by spending time alone?
If it’s the latter and your job requires constant verbal communication with others, then you may get on a fast track to burnout.
Do you value realism and common sense over imagination and innovation?
Then your best workplace contribution may be in developing logistics and step by step action plans for achieving team goals. Your coworker, the “idea person”, may create the vision but depend on someone like you for implementing it.
Do you pay more attention to details than the big picture?
If so, explore jobs that allow you to work with data, facts and figures or perform hands-on tasks.
Are you happiest when your life is organized and planned?
It follows that a job requiring you to meet hard deadlines (such as journalistic reporting) should come easily for you. On the other hand, if you love having lots of flexibility, then a reporting position could be your worst nightmare.
Your MBTI results will reflect the kinds of tasks and work environments most comfortable for you. Then you can compare the jobs you’re considering against that information, finding those that match most closely. Interested? Schedule a 30 minute appointment with a UCS counselor to see if the MBTI is the right tool for you. Once you’ve completed the assessment, schedule a results interpretation appointment with your UCS counselor.
By Carolyn Couch, UCS Online Career Counselor