Not sure you’ve chosen the right career? It’s all about personality types, writes Angela Tufvesson.
Are you doomed to fail if you’re an introvert in a team of extroverts or a detail-oriented worker in the midst of ‘big picture’ thinkers?
What’s your personality type?
According to Prof Haslam, you’ll typically be drawn to jobs that fit your personality type.
“People are naturally drawn to the sort of work they find rewarding and an introvert isn’t going to find sales work very rewarding – it’s going to be hard for them. You’re not going to be drawn to certain jobs unless they fit your personality to some extent, but those jobs are going to reinforce and extend the characteristics you already have.
“So if you are in a sales position, for example, you’re probably drawn to it as you’re a sociable, gregarious, extroverted person. Through doing that job where you have to meet lots of new people and be very dominant, forceful and gregarious, you will strengthen those habits.”
How to find the right job for you
Finding a tribe can also help by a kind of contagion effect. “Hanging around with people who have the same sort of disposition as you is also going to strengthen and reinforce your existing tendencies.
People are attracted to the sort of positions that suit them best and those positions themselves further extend, reinforce and strengthen those same characteristics.”
If you feel on the outer, think about what attracted you to the role and you may realise that you have more in common with your colleagues than you realise. If you are the fish out of office water, heed our personality tactics or consider an alternative ocean.
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