.authored by something.of.substance.
Some people get lucky and know what they want to do when they “grow-up”. Some people get lucky and stumble upon something they love doing. Some people don’t care what they do as long as they make enough money to afford their after-hours escape habits. Then, there are those of us (note, I said “us”) who have no clue what we want to do. Actually, that phrase isn’t entirely accurate. I haven’t been able to narrow my focus; I currently have too many ideas about what I want to do. I enjoy so many different fields and find myself drawn to various occupations and hesitate to even want to commit myself to one for any length of time.
.one of these colors could hold the key to your career.
What I’m looking for is an occupation that both fits my skill set and interests, but is also compatible with my strengths and personality. I want something I can really invest myself in and something that demands more than a surface application of my attention. In short, I want to figure out my life calling, not simply phone in a job.
I’m not alone in this desire. The career counseling market makes millions of dollars off of assisting people in finding themselves, occupationally. The only problem is that most personality tests are un-scientific and relatively pointless. For example, the widely-utilized Myers-Briggs Assessment results can change depending on time of day or hormone level. So, I’ve learned not to take much stock in what career assesments based upon “personality” indicate. I mean, after all, yesterday one test told me I was a severe introvert and this morning I’m, apparently, the extroverted life of the party.
I stumbled upon the Color Career Counselor test at Careerpath.com. The “Careerpath” website really boasts only four career “tests”, but the Color Career Counselor test is by far the biggest draw. The concept is simple: you are presented with different swatches of color and asked to pick your most favorite and least favorite per set. You choose based on initial, instinctual reaction. Then, you get a listing of careers suited to your specific personality. It sounds basic and uninspired. It’s not.
Here were my results:
BEST OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY
You’re a CREATOR
Key Words: Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional
These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.
CREATOR OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.
CREATOR WORKPLACES
Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.
Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.
2nd BEST OCCUPATIONAL CATEGORY
You’re a PERSUADER
Key Words: Witty, Competitive, Sociable, Talkative, Ambitious, Argumentative, and Aggressive
These enterprising types sell, persuade, and lead others. Positions of leadership, power, and status are usually their ultimate goal. Persuasive people like to take financial and interpersonal risks and to participate in competitive activities. They enjoy working with others inside organizations to accomplish goals and achieve economic success.
I’d say these were spot-on descriptors of my personality. To ensure this test wasn’t a complete joke, I took it several times and even changed some of my responses if I was on the fence the first time. I got the same response. Excellent. Of course, they wish you’d purchase the “full report” for $19.99, but this free wrap-up was a succinct enough place for me to resume my journey into defining myself by my occupation.
The only problem with results such as these is that all of the occupations listed are ones that I have considered and not been able to entirely rule-out. In the future, I’m hoping there’s a test so precise that it shares only the ideal career for you on the first try. Until then, I think that choosing a career by color may not be such a bad idea.
Just a heads-up: the accuracy of the assessment might spring from the fact that, when you provide your contact information, you also state what your current line of work is and how much you enjoy it.
Yup, I thought of that. So, I built in something of a control by taking the test multiple times and registering it to multiple e-mail addresses. Each time, I changed my career information and how I felt about it. I listed: 1) a career I used to be involved in, but was no longer and said I felt neutrally about it 2) a career I have no interest in nor have ever done and said I felt passionately pro and 3) the same no-interest career and said I felt passionately against. It’s not the most scientific of controlled studies (I’m aware), but the results came out the same for all three.
And, besides, it’s mostly for fun. Obviously, no test is going to decide someone’s future for them.
“The only problem is that most personality tests are un-scientific and relatively pointless. For example, the widely-utilized Myers-Briggs Assessment results can change depending on time of day or hormone level.”
Actually most personality indicators (not tests – you can’t fail) *are* scientific. Additionally, you’re expecting something from them that they aren’t designed to do. The results of the MBTI do *not* change depending on the time of day or hormone level (the chance of you switching from one side of the four dichotomies to the other is less than 10%). Lastly, the MBTI offers you a *working hypothesis* of your preferences, not a dictatorial answer – only you can decide what your best fit Type is.
I recommend reading “The Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves” by Annie Murphy Paul.
Personality is alterable, ask any psychologist. The crime in utilizing these “exams” as often as we do is because we place so much weight on their responses versus our own. For example, I once worked for a company where, as a new hire, I had to take a personality assessment and was compared to my co-workers. When my results did not fit in with the bulk of personality types (as determined by this exam), I was ostracized and forced to take more assessments to figure out why I was not a good “fit”. So, I changed some answers and achieved the necessary “mold”.
The Myers-Briggs assessment, also, was written by a housewife and her daughter in the 1950’s. The wife was intrigued by the fact that her daughter had a different personality and so penned some questions based on her layman’s readings of one or two European psychologists and off it took!
The results of these should be taken with a grain of salt and not held up as ultimate fact. To discriminate based on personality is something this country does almost as well as discriminate based on looks. All I’m pointing out is that they can be fun, slightly serious and mostly nonsensical. To think that color swatches hold the key to my future is silly. However, as egotistical animals, we always want to know more about ourselves even if it has very little to do with “us”, in actuality.
http://books.google.com/books?id=PTePIXyOJ54C
As usual, the MBTI detractors use inaccurate information, hyperbole, questionable sources, and poisoning the well to make their point.
As with all psychological theories, there should remain some amount of healthy skepticism, but don’t use any of the above comments as the basis.
The Cult of Personality has been detracted as a good source of journalistic criticism. The author has admitted to not knowing much about the MBTI and relied on questionable sources for the basis of her criticism.
The abuses the above critic cites are examples of what *not* to do with the MBTI and don’t apply to the basic question about the MBTI has a valid instrument for indicating personality preferences. The mbti is *not* an exam. Molding people into group think or leader think is exactly the *opposite* intent of the MBTI.
Poisoning the well by calling Briggs and Myers “housewives” is both sexist and a call to authority that is not valid. The MBTI has gone through decades of validation since its first incarnation (which was only used experimentally), and their backgrounds are completely irrelevant.
It seems the above criticism must also be taken with a very large grain of salt.
House wife wasn’t intentionally sexist, but meant more as an occupational description indicating women who worked in the home. Perhaps I should have used the term “Home Maker”. Either way, they were lay-men and not trained psychologists, psychiatrists, or sociologists.