by Connie Blaine, Research Analyst
I wish I knew then what I know now...Have you ever wished for something and realized it wasn’t what you thought it would be? Don’t let that happen to you with a career. A little story will show you what your personality type has to do with choosing a career:
In school, Hannah was a good student who enjoyed learning. She even read stuff on her own time just for fun! When she got into college, she decided to major in psychology, because finding out what makes people tick was fascinating to her. She did well and loved studying psychology, although it didn’t give her all the answers she was looking for.
When her senior year of college rolled around, Hannah decided she didn’t want to continue into graduate school—she wanted to find a job and start making money. But without an advanced degree, she couldn’t do any real counseling, so after graduating she took a job working with “welfare” applicants and recipients. She hated it. The pay was not that great and she really disliked helping the clients solve their problems.
After a couple of years Hannah decided to go back to college to get a teaching certificate. She was really fond of southern Utah and thought that, as a teacher, she could live just about anywhere in Utah. So she took out a student loan and went back to school. She got a job as a teacher in a small town, and thought she had it made. But it turned out that teaching was really stressful for her. She felt frustrated but didn’t know what she really wanted to do.
After seven years of teaching, Hannah was burnt out and took a series of other jobs just to survive. Eventually she stumbled into a job as a research analyst for a state agency where she finally had a job she really liked. Why? Because she didn’t work with people, she worked with data. Sitting at her computer, researching and compiling statistics, she found satisfaction. She realized she never was a “people person”—she was an investigative type, that is, a person who likes to research and learn. She had loved studying psychology and education because she liked learning and thinking. By this time she was in her forties and saying to herself, I wish I knew then what I know now—about myself.
We all fall into some personality type. No one type is better than another—they all have their good and not-so-good points. It makes sense to find out early what your personality type is, add in your interests, and then focus your career planning and job seeking on the kind of jobs that suit the type you are.
What type are you? Find out at :
•http://www.utahmentor.org/career/careercenter/career_holland.asp
•http://www.careerkey.org/asp/your_personality/hollands_theory_of_career_choice.asp
