In the pay-for-performance era, doing your job to the best of your ability usually means enjoying it – those who love what they do usually end up at the top of the career ladder. So how do you know how suited you are to a particular career path?
Psychometric testing tools offer a scientific method of assessing career suitability based on personality, ability and interests. One such test was offered free of charge to students who registered in advance for The Hindu Education Plus Fair 2008. Career Sure Test, which was conducted by Bodhi, a Chennai-based people development organisation, assessed the interests, internal motivators, aptitude (logical and abstract reasoning; mechanical, numerical, spatial, verbal potential) and personality (behavioural traits and personal values, including interpersonal style; decision making, planning and time management capabilities) of 250 high school students.
The results reveal how important personality can be in making career choices. Just over 55 per cent of the students fell into the categories of inspirer (optimistic and creative but can be impractical or bad planners) or charmer (high energy, entertaining multi-taskers), whose personalities were more suited to creative jobs such as advertising, design, filmmaking, creative writing or people jobs including public relations, event management and customer care. While nearly 17 per cent of students registered as value-holders suited for NGO work or activism, nearly 10 per cent registered as leaders, just over 8 per cent as caregivers and 6 per cent as explorers.
Almost all respondents were extroverts, a personality trait that may have helped in registering for the test in the first place. While the sample is not fully representative, Dr. Raj Mohan, psychologist and director at Bodhi, said that they could be indicative of a trend – these students have good people skills and are less inclined to work with machines or pursue research opportunities.
For Kalavathi, head of the career division at Bodhi, the results were worrying when placed against the clamour for jobs in IT and engineering. “When a people-oriented person is put on a job where he/she is relating mostly with an inanimate PC, he can find himself frustrated and stressed,” she said, adding that this often results in job hopping which eats into the quality of life of the individual.
For students caught between what they want to be and what they feel they should be this holds an important lesson – go for what you enjoy because you are likely to perform better and progress faster. For parents it is a reminder that encouraging a child’s personal development is as, if not more, important than pushing them to achieving high grades if he or she is to find personal fulfilment and professional success.
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