Career Change Test

Exploring How Who You Are Defines What You Do

What kind of person are you? How does this affect your career motivation? Taking a career change test will help you understand more about your personal style and find the work that will be right for you.

Understanding yourself is a vital piece of the jigsaw when exploring your career change.

You may already have looked at the skills you have developed, your core values, your interests and passions and your achievements in and out of work.

Personality is another important element in the career self assessment process and it is often overlooked.

In particular, I recommend that you take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®assessment. This is a personality assessment tool which I have used many times with clients and the majority have found the results invaluable in reviewing their career direction.

The MBTI Indicator® is a well established personality assessment that suggests we all have differing underlying   preferences in the way we take in information and make decisions and in how and where we focus our attention. No one preference is 'better' than another – they are just different.

The preferences fall into 4 categories with two broad options in each. Although we can all adopt any of these approaches in different circumstances, we have a natural preference for one or the other and will feel more at ease using that way of behaving. This also means you will feel more at ease in some jobs than in others according to what the job requires you to do.

Know your type already? Click here to move on to a description of each type.

Take A Personality Test

Below I have created a simple career change test that looks at your personality preferences.

This career change test will only take a few minutes.

Look at the tables below and consider which side of each pair seems more 'right' to you. Think about how you would prefer to be or behave when you are relaxed and able to just be yourself. Choose one of each pair, and you will end up with a 4 letter code such as ENFJ or ISTP.

Pair One – Where do you direct your energy?

Extrovert (E)	Introvert (I)
Outgoing	Like quiet time to yourself
Talkative	Reserved and contained
Have a wide range of interests	Have a few in depth interests
Learn best through doing or talking	Learn best if you have time to think and reflect
Act first, think second	Think first, act second
Prefer a public role	Prefer a behind the scenes role
People usually energise you	People can drain you
Energetic	Calm
Move and think at a fast pace	Move and think in a measured way

Which feels more like you - E or I?
Pair Two – How do you focus on and handle information?

Sensing (S)	Intuition (N)
Practical	Enjoy exploring possibilities
Prefer to take things step by step	Prefer to just jump in anywhere
Focus on the present	Focus on the future
Like things to be concrete and factual	Like creative, big picture thinking
Trust experience	Trust intuition
Like to use established skills	Like to learn new skills
Concrete ideas	Abstract ideas
Specific evidence	Broad issues
Feet on the ground	Head in the clouds

Which feels more like you - S or N?
Pair Three – How do you make decisions?

Thinking (T)	Feeling (F)
Head rules heart	Heart rules head
Logical and analytical	Empathic
Focus on doing what is right	Focus on maintaining harmony
Tough minded	Tender hearted
Concerned with truth and justice	Concerned with people and relationships
Honest and direct	Tactful and diplomatic
Brief and to the point	Sociable and inclusive
Objectively critical	Warmly appreciative
Driven by principles	Driven by values

Which feels more like you - T or F?
Pair Four – How do you like to live your life?

Judging (J)	Perceiving (P)
Planful	Spontaneous
Likes decisions and closure	Likes to keep options open
Finds structure helpful	Find structure inhibiting
Systematic	Casual
Dislikes last minute rush	Is energised by a last minute rush
Work first, play later	Play first, work later
Like to know what is happening	Enjoys changes and surprises
Defines goals and works to them	Defines goals and then adapts them
Enjoys completing projects	Enjoys starting projects

Which feels more like you - J or P?

Completing the career change test should give you a set of four letters, one from each pair, such as ENFP or ISFJ. Make a note of the set of 4 letters that seem to best apply to you.

What do the individual preferences mean?

It is helpful to start by looking at what the individual letters of your preferences mean.

Take a look at the individual preferences (or letters) you have identified. This will give you a flavour of what these preferences indicate in terms of your personal style and can suggest the kind of work situations that are likely to feel more comfortable for you and others with these preferences.

Do you think you are:

E or I?

S or N?

T or F?

J or P?

Your whole type

Then you should move on to explore your complete personality type. The four preferences you have identified all work together to create a particular mix of strengths, behaviours and challenges.

Click on the personality type you have identified in the grid below to read more about your type and career.

ISTJ	ISFJ	INFJ	INTJ
ISTP	ISFP	INFP	INTP
ESTP	ESFP	ENFP	ENTP
ESTJ	ESFJ	ENFJ	ENTJ

If you are uncertain about your type - for example, you may be unsure if you are ISFJ or ISFP - then look at both and see which feels more like you. If you are still unsure, just observe yourself over the next few weeks and months and a pattern will probably begin to emerge

Be aware that this is just a simple personality test and is in no way the same as taking a properly researched and validated personality assessment. But even a simple career change test like the one here can give you new insights into what kind of work may suit you.

Make a note in your Career Change Project File of the ideas and insights you get from this career change test and from reading about MBTI Indicator®.

MBTI, Myers-Briggs and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
are trademarks or registered trademarks of the MBTI Trust, Inc.

Linking your personality and your career

Want to know more about how your personality type can help you to choose the right career?

Are You Wearing The Right Suit To Work?

When you have done the career change test, why not continue exploring
what makes you tick to help you with your Career Change Project? You
can take a look at...

Your Values - Your Interests - Your Skills - Your Achievements

If you are looking for a career change, then you will probably have tried some online career aptitude tests. You'll find many of them on the web, but not all of them will work for you. Here are some tips on taking online career aptitude tests.