Whether you’re finishing up school and trying to plan for your future or you’re thinking about switching careers, the focus doesn’t have to be only on how much money you’ll make. In order to have a high quality of life, sometimes it’s better to think more about a career that’s a good fit for your personality or at least make that part of the equation.
Even if you make a high salary, if you go to work and are miserable every day because your job isn’t a good fit for you on a personal level, it may not be worth the money you make.
There are jobs you might not even think about until you start considering your personality. For example, if you’re an introvert who enjoys being alone, maybe you explore trucking jobs. If you’re an extrovert and you thrive when you’re with people, maybe you think about something such as sales.
In general, the following are some things to keep in mind when it comes to finding a career field that’s a good fit for your personality.
Take a Test
It may sound silly, but there are a lot of tests out there that can help you figure out a career that may be best for you.
Some of these career tests can actually be really helpful as you figure out what’s right for you, and sometimes, more importantly, what’s not right for you.
One of many options is taking a Jung Typology Test, which has you answer yes or no to a series of questions to determine more about your personal characteristics.
Understand Yourself
You may want to have certain characteristics or see yourself in a particular way, but that doesn’t necessarily match reality. It’s important to think honestly about your personality characteristics.
There are certain personality types that are usually on tests, and these include:
- Builders: These people are more realistic, and they like to work with their environment and use their hands. However, the building doesn’t just mean construction. For example, a builder might enjoy working as a chef because you are still working with your hands and being realistic.
- Thinkers: Thinkers are those people that like logical tasks and dealing with theoretical situations, such as doctors and psychologists.
- Helpers: For people who like working in teams and enjoy building relationships and also these connections they have with people, there is the helper category. Helpers may work well in roles that require a lot of interaction and cooperation, such as teaching, but things like sales and management can also fall into this category.
Another way personalities are sometimes broken into categories are the driver, the analytical type, the expressive type, and the amiable personality.
A driver is bold and driven by a need and desire for success and accomplishment, but this can come off as rude, so certain situations such as customer service may not be a good fit for you.
These certainly aren’t all of the personality types but are some of the core types to help you better understand where you might fit.
Look Beyond Your Passion
Sometimes career advice follows the adage that you should do what you’re passionate about. That doesn’t always work out well, however. Sometimes your passion simply isn’t going to provide a way for you to make a living. Other times, if you follow your passion for your career, it may destroy the joy it brings to you.
Instead of thinking about your passion, which you might keep for a hobby, think about what interests, engages, and energizes you but is also sustainable. Sustainable means that someone will pay you to do it, and pay you enough that you can support yourself.
You also have to think about what you’re likely to be good at, because what you love and what you’re good at might not be one and the same.
If you think you have an idea of a role that might work well for your personality, try to speak to someone who does it first. Get a feel for the downsides and what happens behind the scenes before you glamorize a job too much.
You should also bear in mind that you need to research to make sure that the career outcomes are suitable for you.
Finding a job for your personality is about deciding on something that you’ll enjoy, and that’s a good fit for you, but also being realistic in doing so. You want to enjoy what you do, but you also want it to achieve what a job should achieve—helping you earn a living.
