There are many personality theories.  Basically, though, personality makes the person.  Or it defines the person.  Your personality is the sum of your patterns of thought, behaviors, and feelings.  This is what makes you unique.

There are several personality development theories that intend to determine just where your personality comes from.  The study of personality is at least 25 centuries old . In 450 B.C., Hippocrates described four temperaments.  Galen, in 100 A.D. also described four temperaments.  Both scholars differed in their ideas and descriptions.

Personality Theory Differences

Personality Type theories put everyone into one of several “types” of personalities.  This could be as simple as Type A and Type B, or one of 16 4-letter personality types such as “INFP” which stands for “Introverted, iNtuative, Feeling, Perceptive”.

Personality Trait theories say personality is genetically based, that your specific collection of internal characteristics comprises your personality.

Psychodynamic personality theories say the unconscious mind influences who we are.  Psychologists Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson have contributed greatly to this personality theory.

And then…

In 1911 Carl Jung recognized that personality was “normal, healthy and biological”.  In 1937 Gordon Allport identified personality traits are: more than a nominal existence, are more than habits, can be measured.

Gordon Allport (1897-1967) was one of the first psychologists to study personality, human attitudes, prejudices and religious beliefs.  His theory of personality, which rejected both Freudian psychology and behaviorism, emphasized the uniqueness of the individual and the need to treat problems in terms of present conditions as opposed to childhood experiences.

The Meyers-Briggs and the Golden Personality Type Profiler are widely used today.  Both are complex and founded on years of research.  It would be impossible to say one is better than the other.  The military has used both and compared them to each other, since the early 2000’s they have been using the Golden Personality Type Profiler.

Where Personality and Careers Collide

The list of different personality characteristics is extensive, but the bottom line when it comes to careers is that your personality makes you better suited for some career choices and ill-fitted for other careers.

For example, an introverted, shy person will most likely struggle as a salesperson, but might make a wonderful copywriter.  Likewise an energy-filled people-person will probably be bored to tears sitting in front of a computer all day, writing code.  Put them in a sales position, however, or customer service, and they’re more likely to thrive in that kind of job.

Another example of personality and careers colliding that is really common and often misunderstood  is the way personality causes one person’s interpretation of reality to be different than another’s.

A classic case of this is often the person who believes in rules and all rules must be followed.  Then you have the person who believes rules are a “guideline”.  Both people often clash and don’t cooperate, often mistrusting each other, but both just perceive reality different.

There are so many examples of what different personality traits prefer and what they mean it’s really surprising more emphasis is not placed on them in the work place, schools and even preparing for marriage.

Here is an example, I am an ENFA (Extrovert, iNtuative, Feeling, Adapting).  In my report it tells me I have a tendency to “change gears” and “when absorbed in your latest project, you think of little else”.  So true…

My personality also has draw backs, I dislike routines among a few other things.  Wouldn’t it have been beneficial to my previous bosses to know some of my shortcomings?  Where they needed to watch for possible re-direction?  I was fortunate that most of my bosses were very good at letting me run things as I saw fit.

Career Personality Test

It’s good practice, and even just fun, to take a career personality test every so often. Certainly you want to when you’re deciding upon a college major, but even as the years go by and your ideals and skills change, you might be surprised to see how the results of a personality test changes over time.

There is a slight difference between the career sorters and the personality type quizzes, both are a good guideline.  The career quizzes typically are not as detailed in the nuances of personality types but they do a good job at understanding career and personality preferences.

You can take free career aptitude quizzes online that will offer suggestions for careers based upon your personality type. One that I like is the Keirsey Temperment Sorter, Dr. Keirsey is a leader in his field and it’s a really easy report to understand.

Personality Tests in the Interview

When you’re sitting in a job interview, if your interviewer is at all experienced, you will be faced with personality interview questions.  These might be in the form of very tough or “no win” questions or they might come at you in the form of role-playing a difficult situation with the interviewers.

Know your strengths and weaknesses going in to the interview.  Don’t worry about sharing your personality weaknesses.  We all have them and your interviewers want to see if you’re aware of yours and if you have a plan for improving them.

It’s also a good idea to understand your management preferences and what environment you work best in.  If you understand your personality you can make sure you are marketing yourself to your potential employer accurately.