Ever wondered how your personality could affect your chosen career path? Analysing your personality is one of the first things you should do when choosing a new career. In continuation of her article 'What do you want to be when you grow up?', career management expert Sherridan Hughes explains the importance of matching your personality and temperament to the appropriate jobs within your career field.

What are the implications of personality factors?

Your personality will have major implications regarding your type of career: should you be dealing with people or with things (e.g. if you are a strong scientist you could be either a doctor or an engineer); if you are good at working with facts (e.g. being talented with words could be useful in both law and journalism); and are you best placed in a maintenance or change-oriented position (e.g. if strong numerically are you the accountant/credit controller or the operational researcher)?

Temperament has implications regarding your role: do you have leadership ability or are you a team member/support type; or perhaps you are better suited to being an independent adviser or consultant? The possible level or seniority will depend to some extent on ambition, drive, aptitude and experience, but personality and ability/desire to multi-task and handle pressure and responsibility should be considered too.

Individuals can further have a personality mismatch with the organisation. Some thrive on the structure and bureaucracy of a large organisation and cannot cope with a dynamic, unstructured and unpredictable small firm. Some suit non-commercial rather than business settings. Yet others would be best suited to self-employment.

What strengths do you have in terms of personal qualities, behavioural traits and interpersonal skills? What could be considered a weakness? Turn this around - where could this trait in fact be considered a strength (e.g. a night watchman may not need to be outgoing and good with people)?

Personality changes over time

However, it is important to remember that personality factors do change with time and can be situational. If one has fallen out with peers, they may appear temporarily rather withdrawn. Stress can stem from a temperamental predisposition, but can also be externally evoked; if stressed, a person may be impatient, irritable and bullying to others, but reversed, an aggressive style can also contribute to problems for the dictator (who may have to face others' rebellion and obstructive behaviour)!

Thought needs to be given to your usual behavioural responses, which admittedly can be different at school, at home and out with friends etc. – who actually are you? Matching your personal style to the career type, level, role and organisation can enable you to be who you really are at work too, rather than straining to simply play the part every day.

Choosing a career is a complex business which many people find scary and perplexing. So many people are held back from their dream careers through fear of failure. So many ‘fall into something’ and remain stuck in that rut for years.

Fortunately, a ‘career for life’ is a thing of the past, and most people these days feel they owe it to themselves to fulfill their potential and to be the best and happiest they can be, even if this means changing careers as they grow and develop. To be satisfied and successful at work (which obviously takes up an enormous proportion of  life), you will clearly need to invest in some serious self-analysis, meditation and research, and it certainly helps to view a career as a journey rather than end in itself!