Choose A Career That Fits
I’ve spent a great deal of time lately trying to figure out what to do for the next stage of my working life. As a serial career changer, I’ve been through the process before, and each time I re-evaluate the possibilities, I become more convinced that the key to success lies in understanding myself. Finding a career that fits your aptitudes and temperament is every bit as important as finding shoes that fit your feet. All too often, we settle for a poor fit, only to end up being miserable a few miles down the road.
Until I began to contemplate my first major career change in 2001, I regarded any sort of personality testing with the same disdain that I hold for self-help gurus, life coaches, and feng-shui consultants. My opinion changed almost overnight when the company I worked for began to administer personality assessments for certain new hires. Being the true skeptic, I decided to take several of the tests myself to gauge their accuracy. I was astonished by the results, which ultimately contributed to my decision to abandon a career path that I had pursued for nearly 20 years.
Not everyone who takes a personality assessment is going to find it a life altering experience, but in my case the testing provided answers to many questions that had puzzled me since childhood. Why was I able to ace certain classes in school with virtually no effort, and struggled to stay awake in others? Why was I able to focus with incredible intensity on a project, only to lose interest the moment it was completed? Why was I so easily bored with the day-to-day administration of systems that I had designed and built from scratch?
The answers to these questions, and many more, were found in the results of a battery of personality assessments, the most revealing of which was the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Of the 16 personality types identified by Myers & Briggs, mine is among the rarest. Estimates vary wildly, but by most accounts, the INTP type comprises between one and three percent of the total population. The specifics of the INTP profile are too detailed to spell out here, but in a nutshell, I learned that I am best suited to endeavors that allow me to focus my creative energies on the widest possible variety of tasks.
If you’ve ever had the nagging feeling that your career isn’t a perfect fit, there are a number of resources available to help you. One of my favorites is a book titled Do What You Are by Barbara Barron and Paul Tieger. In addition to helping you determine your own personality type, the book provides detailed profiles for each of the different types, along with advice on careers that fit and don’t fit for each. It’s a great starting point if you’re thinking of a career change.