Match Your Career to Your Personality - Here's How!

Are you wondering how to match your career and your personality? Does your job feel like a badly fitting coat that you really have to stop wearing? Are you thinking of a career change and trying to find something that will suit your personal style?

Good idea! Personality matching is an aspect of career choice and career change that is often overlooked and yet a poor match between career and personality is often the source of much frustration on the job.

Here's what you should do.

Take a personality test

First of all you need to have some useful measure of your personality. There are many free personality quizzes out there, some better than others. As a career coach, my long-term favourite is MBTI or the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. The thing I like about this personality quiz is that it helps you to understand how you prefer to behave, but does not pigeon-hole you rigidly into a specific personality type. Indeed, there is a suggestion that your personality will mature as you grow and so what may seem like 'you' at 20 will probably look rather different by the time you are 50!

Take a pinch of salt!

No personality test is perfect. No test is really able to capture exactly who you are, so always take the results with a pinch of salt. Do not let yourself be 'labelled' or adopt a fixed and rigid view of who you are. Be ready to disagree with the results - they can be wrong! A lot depends on how you were feeling when you answered the questions and you could get a different result if you tried the test again in a few weeks time.

But this doesn't mean these tests are a waste of time though. A personality type test gets you thinking in detail about how you tend to habitually respond in a range of situations and puts this information together in a format that helps make your personal style clear to you. You may not agree entirely with what they say, but you will have done some useful thinking about yourself in the process.

Take a look at your job

Now take a look at the work you are currently doing in relation to the personality traits identified in the test you have taken. The key question is - does your job allow you to use your preferred ways of working or is it forcing you into an artificial 'work persona'?

The most obvious example to use here is Extraversion and Introversion. These are personality characteristics that appear in most personality tests. How does this relate to your career? Well clearly if you are a quiet and private person who likes to take time over your work and needs space to reflect before responding to questions and problems, you will find it a challenge if you are in a job where you are constantly interacting with colleagues or clients or where all decisions have to be made collaboratively and quickly.

Conversely, if you are an outgoing people person, you will want to find work where you can get that interaction with others, because that is what gives you a buzz. You will probably prefer to do your problem solving by talking things through with people and would find it hard to work for long periods on your own. So a job that demands quiet concentration would be likely to drive you up the wall pretty quickly!

OK, this is a pretty obvious example, but it makes the point that the personality traits you identify in yourself can be a very useful measure to help you assess whether a new career idea you are considering will be a good match.

Take action

Once you have identified the key aspects of your personality and especially if you have spotted a mismatch with your current career, you need to do something about it.

Assess how big the gap is between you and your job. In some cases you may feel you can stay put because the difficulties are not too severe. The next option, if you are finding your job quite a challenge, is to explore how you might be able to change some of your current duties and responsibilities within your existing role. If you are really at your wits' end with your current role, then use your personality test as a starting point to help you find out what career ideas would be a better match for you.

Don't just sit there in a job you hate - life really is too short.

In the meantime, if you would like to read more about your personality and your career, then I invite you to take a look at the How To Change Careers website http://www.how-to-change-careers.com/career-change-test.html where you can take the free quiz to give you an idea of your personality preferences and read more about what your personality type means for you and your career. And if you are ready for a career change, then you can also download my free Career Change Blueprint http://www.how-to-change-careers.com/career-change-blueprint.html, a step-by-step guide to successful career change.

From Cherry Douglas - Your Career Change Guide

Job Tips - Planning A Career Sabbatical? Factors To Consider Before Taking The Career Break

So, what are the factors to be considered before taking a Career Break or Job Break?

Taking a break from job or career is a big career decision. And one needs to ensure all options are weighed properly before taking the decision.

Well, most people write to me to ask How and When to take the career break? What I hear them ask is:

"How do I know When is the right time to hang the boots temporarily?"

You would agree that its one of the toughest career decisions to take a break whether it is designed or by default. I am going to try to make it easy for you if you are considering a career sabbatical or career break.

Below are the key factors you need to consider before you decide on taking a break from your current job:

1. Deal with the insecurities

If you have worked for a while, suddenly deciding to quit may not be easy. One needs to be prudent about this decision and deal with the insecurities it brings along with it. Whether you admit it or not, your mind somewhere thinks about it and it is better that you deal with this before taking the break rather than deal with it later. The manifestation of this insecurity can be quite detrimental to your overall peace and mindset. Whatever may be the reason ( the career break being designed or by default), you need to think through it objectively considering an aspect of your life will not be the same going forward. Look up for career advice to get guidance.

2. You don't need the money

Most people hold on to their jobs because of the stable income flow at the end of every month. Whether the money is spent to meet personal commitments or to buy the latest gadget or to invest in being the 'fashionista' in office, the money that flows in, increases the independence. It not only makes the wallet but you happy too. That is a big one to let go.

Have you thought about it? You may not need the money but you may still want to protect your purchasing power and independence.

The important think is to ensure that you have made provisions in your mind that month ends will not look and feel the same anymore. A proper career consultant can help you ask and answer the relevant career questions before plunging into a career sabbatical.

3. You have a bigger reason to say NO

The fact that you have decided to call it a day at work (albeit temporarily) would mean you have a bigger reason to say to YES to.

The key is to have that bigger reason spelt out loud and clear

You will have conviction to deal with the change once you are clear about the reason why you want to take a career break. Whether for further studies, learn a new skill, cultivate a full- time hobby or spend days in leisure, the reason for the career sabbatical should be clear. Usually, I advice professionals to discuss with a Career Consultant to help zero in on the reason for taking a career break. While it may seem that you know why you are taking a career break but often the reason is much-deep rooted than you think and manifests very differently once you have taken a career break.

4. Failure in an assignment should not be the reason for taking a break in career

Lot of professionals make this career blunder by deciding to take a break in their career if an assignment or job does not work for them. It is a gross error and a sure career limiting mistake. Not only is it a weak moment to take this important career decision but also professionals are not in a state to deal with this crucial change in their professional and personal lives post the break. The critical timing of a career break can multiply the problem and challenges or an enjoyable and fruitful career break depending on when one takes the break.

Like a career start helps one build a successful career, a well planned career break re-shapes the career. If you are planning a career sabbatical, plan it well.

Whether one gets back to the same career or changes the course of the career, impressing upon the factors to consider before taking the career break will help you make an objective decision about your career.

A Career Sabbatical has help people surge in their careers upon return.

Sudakshina Bhattacharya is a practicing HR professional for over a decade in various organisations in Telecom, Hospitality, Entertainment and Financial Services industry. She is currently leading the HR team for a reputed Financial Services Company. Visit HRCrest.com for more on Career Tips and Career Sabbatical, views, suggestions and contributions.

Effective Career Management is the Key to Finding Success

Considering the times we live in-what with a declining economy and job-related woes proliferating across the globe-these days the topic of career management could not be more important. Career management, of course, is not something only to be recurred to in times of crisis; it's a process (and a skill) which needs to be implemented throughout every stage of our adult lives, both when things are looking up and when they are looking down. At the moment, however, in the midst of the growing unemployment rates that are sweeping the developed and developing worlds, many people are looking with great hope and expectation to the potential benefits which effective career management may have for them.

Considering the widespread sensation of panic or nervousness that has come over the job market, it's important to come to have a clear vision of precisely what career management is, and how to carry it out effectively and comprehensively. Not only is it important to remember to keep career management in mind when the going's good, but furthermore it's important to remember all the pertinent areas of career management-not to overlook crucial aspects, during good times or bad. So, to start, let's take a look at the three fundamental aspects of career management:

Long-term goals and strategies. In career management, it is absolutely fundamental that you have a goal in mind for the long haul and that you have a notion of how you intend to get there. There's really not much to "manage" if these two elements are lacking, after all! As far as setting a long-term goal is concerned, you will need to first of all consider where you stand in the course of your career at the moment, on the one hand, and what the probabilities of your service/product still being marketable in the long-term look like, on the other hand. With regards to the former point, remember that the earlier on in your career the more difficult it will be to think for the long-term and to set goals for the long-term that feel realistic or achievable. With regards to the latter point, remember to try to factor in advances in technology and possible issues of redundancy when determining how marketable your particular service or product will be way down the line. This is a hard bet, and doubtlessly several unknown variables will come into the mix at one point or another; nonetheless, in pursuing a career, it's a bet that either has to be made, or the person in question needs to seriously consider switching to another line of work.
Networking. Managing a career is all about having personal and professional contacts-without (a lot of) them, you will not have the sources of support necessary to help you advance professionally. Working adults with a career in the works need to remember that it is wise to work on or elaborate absolutely every potential contact (if only to have the person on a list of names you'll never end up calling), and furthermore that burning bridges will never help you get anywhere. Many contacts may not yield anything all that significant in terms of your career advancement, yet every once in a while there is that one-and you need to be able to open a dialogue there at the right moment, which is why networking is so important in the first place. Within the realm of networking, there are three areas of interest that need to be pursues separately yet with equal energy: the place where you currently work (both among colleagues and superiors); the professional associations which represent your activity; and the major recruiters and/or companies where you hope to perhaps work in the future. Lavish these three areas with loads of networking, and you will do your career an enormous solid.
Résumé polishing and updating. How marketable can you possibly be when your résumé is representative of your professional standing from over a year ago?! Maintaining an updated résumé on at least a yearly basis shows people (recruiters in particular) that you take the process of career management seriously and that you're not just counting on luck and/or a good first impression. Remember that when you reach crucial turns in the road during your professional career, you may have to reinterpret the importance of previous work experiences and present them in a new light to justify your current direction. In this sense, remember to update your personal statement when appropriate to reflect any developments in terms of goals and principal strengths. Keep in mind that an updated résumé is a brilliant tool no matter what career path you are pursuing, as it enables you to seize opportunities as they arise without the need to stall (in order to bring your image up to speed). If you feel that your résumé is a little stale, you should think about enlisting the help of a career coach as this is just one of the specialist services that they offer.

These three branches or areas within career management combine-when properly fulfilled-to drastically improve the readiness of a working professional to take on bold new opportunities and to make the kinds of leaps forward that will afford them the stability they are looking for.

Finally, it is important for professionals to put together a contingency plan in case their original plan doesn't work out just the way they wanted to: after all, successful career management isn't so much about accomplishing exactly what you set out for yourself, but rather it's about making the best of the opportunities which present themselves and overcoming the setbacks that inevitably arise. As mentioned at the beginning, there are unknown variables that may surface and alter the marketability of a given product or service in the mid- or long-term. In such cases, working professionals need to know how to harness their experience, skills and network and apply them to a new path (whether a slight change in direction within the same field or a complete jumping of ships has taken place).

In the end, success in the long run cannot be had without all of these factors being brought together under one master plan, diligently implemented from the very beginning of a professional career.

Sam D Goddard writes articles on a variety of topics, including business, careers and credit control services, among others.