Have you ever done a personality test? If you have, feel free to stop here and carry on with your day but if not, I would recommend it.
Developed in the 1960s by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katherine Briggs based on the research by Carl Jung, they found there are 16 different personality types divided into four sub categories. I am an E(extrovert)N(intuitive)F(feeling)P(perceiving), also known as a Campainer, which falls in the Diplomat category and makes up an estimated 7% of the global population. This initially annoyed me as purely on a title basis I wanted to be an Adventurer in the Explorers category. I had no idea what being this Adventurer person would be like, I might have hated it but I wanted the title. Although, after reading about the ENFP, I realised it was fairly spot on.
I was asked to do one by a family friend who used to be an HR director before retirement. He was helping me modernise and optimise my CV so that these new software systems that are used to scan them for key words would pick up my CVs best bits. Part two of this process was to do a personality test to save me from applying for jobs that were deemed “not compatible” with my personality type.
What I found the most fascinating about reading the ENFP profile was that it was able to put into words, traits about myself that I would often struggle to explain. It does not tell you why you are the way you are, that is left up to your own imagination, but it does describe what you like as a friend, a colleague, boss, in relationships, as a parent etc. Traits that stuck out to me was that I enjoyed starting new projects or games but very rarely followed through with any of them to completion. This explains the number of times I started playing Final Fantasy 8 on the Playstation when I was younger, never making it beyond the second disc and the number of blog posts I started to write that are sat in my documents folder half finished. This one alone took longer to finish than I care to admit. I also enjoy the freedom to be able to be creative at work in my own time. If something needs doing, just let me know and then let me get on with it. I have very little time for people looking over my shoulder seeing how far I have got and micro-managing me. The trait that my parents thought was very spot on was my inability to choose a career path because I wanted to do everything and didn’t understand why it would be an issue to be an astronaut, marine biologist, secret agent and firefighter all at the same time. I still don’t. I am also very influenced by anything I see at the time. A documentary on The Cold War, working in a submarine would be cool! Going to a music festival, I could still be in a band and headline Glastonbury. Watching James Bond, I wonder if MI6 have any vacancies going? I checked and they did but I didn’t meet the criteria. This explains the 12 different jobs I have had up until this point as I try various industries to find my place in the world.
Jobs to be avoiding were ones that are heavily repetitive and predictable, regimented with a strict hierarchy structure and no creative freedom. Being a data analyst was never an aspiration of mine but this also removed careers such as the armed forces or police which I always thought could be a back up if everything else went to pot. Areas of employment I should have been looking for were ones in the social sciences or services like social workers, teachers or detectives to other creatively social lines of employment such as journalists, actors or TV reporters. This makes sense because whilst I find humans thoroughly irritating, I do also enjoy interacting with them and working out what makes them tick. I do like to think I get on with most people and find it relatively easy to just start a conversation. If they look like they are open to some conversation at least.
I do think I am more logical than my personality type suggests I am. I find my creativity through logic which is why I prefer making videos than painting or drawing because, to me at least, there is a sequence that works. I probably put more thought into my actions than the free spirit I am made out to be, but on the whole my Myer-Briggs personality type is an accurate description of me as a person. I have in the past, been accused of using my personality type as an excuse for not being good at certain things or the way I process information. I have recently been told that it is not an excuse, but a framework to explain my thought processes and a way to explain the natural way my brain perceives and acts in the world the way it does. I did the same personality type test on a different website the other day, as it had been five years since the last time I did one and it is not uncommon for personality types to change over time as you get older. I was pleased to find out I remained an ENFP. It is far from perfect but I like the way I view the world.
If you want to test yourself and feel like a shiny, glittery specimen of a human click here!
For a more evenly balanced review click here.
