Developing Skills for Business Handout 11.

2
Monday 9th November 2015

PERSONALITY
We explored the application of personality profiling earlier in the module.
Personality plays an important part in our career development, and the more
you understand about yourself, the better your decisions are likely to be and
the more effectively you will be able to implement those decisions.
Your personality preferences can help you decide what you want to do and
how to improve your chances of getting what you want. But how do decide
what you want to do? Hammer (2000) suggested that it may be helpful to
break down this fundamental question into more manageable questions, and
he suggests the following:

What do I want to do on a day-to-day basis?

Where do I want to be in one year? Five years? Ten years?

What would I like to have accomplished in one year? Five years? Ten
years?

What kind of people do I want to work with?

What kind of working environment do I find most comfortable?

What kind of working environment allows me to be most productive?

What motivates me to do my best?

Your answers to these questions are most likely related to your personality
preferences and your MBTI type that you identified.
When evaluating a job or career, it is important to consider not only the job
title or description, but also the possibility that you may be able to mould or
change the job to better suit you and your preferences.
We will look at this in relation to the MBTI type analysis. If you take the role of
an accountant in a large organisation, this role is likely to involve responsibility
for reviewing financial ledger and records, and auditing accounts. This role will
tend to attract an individual who prefers to work alone or in one-to-one
consultation with a client (the Introversion preference) and the tasks are
likely to require significant attention to details and facts (the Sensing
preference). Decisions are likely to be required to be made in an objective and
analytical manner (the Thinking preference) and there will most likely be the
need for an organised and structured approach to achieve the work
requirements by the deadlines (the Judging preference). We can therefore
conclude that this role could be characterised as being more attractive to
individuals with the ISTJ preferences.
However, these preferences may not be appropriate for all accounting roles.
Some roles may require consultation with clients or a large team
(Extroverted), and system-wide problem solving and innovative financial

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Developing Skills for Business Handout 11.2

Monday 9th November 2015

opportunities and alternatives (Intuition), so may be more suited to an

individual with ENTJ preferences.
It is important to note that we are not referring to abilities when looking at our
MBTI types, but preferences. It is not to say that an individual without these
type preferences would be unsuccessful in the role, but rather that levels of
interest, motivation, satisfaction and levels of stress might be affected.

STOP AND THINK

Task 1: Consider the following statements in relation to your previous or
current job role (if applicable) and the job role or career that you are
considering for the future.
Task 2: Tick the boxes for each phrase that describes the activities required
for that job role.

Current /
Previous Job

Future Job/
Career

Activity
Work as part of a group or team (E)
Work alone or one-to-one (I)
Use concrete facts and hard data (S)
Develop new possibilities (N)
Use logical, objective analysis (T)
Use subjective, person-centred values (F)
Create organisation and structure (J)
Be spontaneous and adaptable (P)

My MBTI type is

ENTP

My current / previous job / education is

ENTJ

The job role / career I am considering is

ENTP
(Hamer, 2000: 7)

Task 3: Take some time to reflect on the responses you have given and how
your personality preferences have impacted on your career or education
choices so far, and how they may impact on your future.

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