How can you use Myers-Briggs to make better career decisions?

There are many “short cuts” and quizzes on the internet. Seek professionals who are certified through The Myers-Briggs Company who are trained practitioners interpreting the results of the assessment. There is so much to consider that goes beyond a quick quiz. When conducting assessment workshops looked at the outcome of conducting the full assessment vs using a quick internet quiz. The results differed. My own short research confirmed that you do not get the full MBTI validated results when taking look alike tests on the internet. MBTI practitioners verifies and validates reported answers so this helps with getting authentic results. The MBTI is comprehensive tool for career choice. It is well worth the investment.

I always tell my clients that MBTI types are just "a bunch of 4 letter words." There is value to knowing your MBTI Type, but don't overestimate the value.

Myers-Briggs is a self-reported personality assessment. The actual MBTI?? has been most recently validated by Dr. Dario Nardi, who uses brain scans to confirm type. The four letters themselves don’t tell everything. They are shorthand for how a person is likely to think and act based on the order of underlying cognitive functions. For example, ENTJs are oriented to use their dominant extraverted thinking process to efficiently use resources in a rational manner, combined with introverted Intuition to see connections between various future possibilities and narrow them down to the “best” path forward. Using extraverted sensing by exercising helps them when stressed. Their blind spot is introverted feeling.

Much like selecting the perfect home, choosing the right career path is a significant life decision. With the MBTI, you embark on a journey of self-discovery, just as we explore properties to find the perfect match. By understanding your personality type, you can gain insights into your strengths, work preferences, and communication style. This self-awareness can help you identify suitable career paths and work environments that align with your natural tendencies and interests. The result? Increased job satisfaction and success, just as a perfectly matched property leads to a happy homeowner. Your career journey, guided by the MBTI, ensures you're on the path to professional harmony and fulfillment.

The actual Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)?? asks a series of questions that are psychological opposites, and at the end, it delivers a 4 letter code. The code itself is shorthand for cognitive functions that operate differently based on where they fall in a type’s “function stack.” The four letters alone are the tip of the iceberg. An advanced practitioner can tell you about yourself and those around you to a staggering degree of accuracy to pinpoint strengths, blind spots, and areas of probable conflict and how to work around it.

I have used the MBTI extensively with college students who were trying to decide on a major and/or career focus. It's so important to work with a qualified practitioner who can help you understand your results - and how to translate those results into action steps.

Knowing your type preferences can help you work with your strengths to choose a career path that brings satisfaction vs. makes you miserable. The best way to explore career options is to get a combined report for MBTI?? plus the Strong Interest Inventory?? to compare your preferences to others with the same preferences as you who report satisfaction in a given career. For example, two types that like to help people: An ENFJ (intuitive) might feel stifled as a nurse because of strict, inflexible hospital procedures, where an ESFJ (sensor) may feel right at home. The combined MBTI/Strong report gets very granular, and steers you away from careers you probably won’t like. I recommend a college major report as well starting in high school.

The Meyers-Briggs Type model is a powerful tool for team and personal development. So much of our productivity and performance within teams is dependent upon effective communications. And one important way to improve this communication being aware of our own preferences and style and that of our teammates. Reduce friction and misunderstandings by learning each other’s preferences and ‘type matching’ when communicating important information or instructions.

People with opposite preferences in thinking/feeling, for example, can learn to communicate differently when talking to others. People with thinking preferences want facts and logical progression of thought. People with feeling preferences want to keep relationships flowing smoothly by asking about your family, how decisions will affect people, etc. When talking to people of opposite preferences, thinkers can ask about the feeler’s weekend, etc., and feelers can get right to the point when talking to thinkers. The type differences become even more important when delivering feedback, where thinkers usually want performance feedback and feelers usually want to feel valued for who they are.

I don't recommend the free versions - I strongly encourage people to work with a qualified practitioner to help you understand your results and to help you make decisions based on your insights from the MBTI (as well as other assessments, ideally).