I used to work in financial services direct marketing with huge insurers like Cornhill and Royal & Sun Alliance. Before they offered you a job, they’d carry out a load of personality tests to see whether you’d be suitable and if so, where your talents lay.
Because we’re not all 100% self-aware, it was incredibly useful. It helped me find out what my core skills were and what career personality type I was at a stage in my life when I didn’t have much of a clue.
Apart from anything else, personality tests are absolutely fascinating. Over the years they’ve helped me pin down strengths I had no idea I had, and establish weaknesses to avoid.
What work personality are you?
I’m very good at working alone, pretty poor at working with people in teams – I am not a team player, which gave me all sorts of problems when I first started working for a company. I’m not scared to disagree when I think something’s silly, unwise or misguided. I don’t care what people think about me – I go my own way whatever they say. I never worry – life’s too short. And I don’t plan ahead. I spend most of my life in the present, not thinking about the future or mulling over the past.
It took a few years but once I found all this out and pieced it together, I realised freelance life was the best way forward for me. And I have never looked back. I have found my niche and I’m totally happy with my career.
What about you? If you’re determined to set up your own small business or go freelance, do you have a detailed grasp on your strengths and weaknesses? Or would it help to do some personality testing to identify the aspects of your personality that’ll be the most useful in the quest to generate money?
If you fancy a go, search Google for FREE personality test and see what comes up.
Tests to lookout for – Myers Biggs
A lot of corporate organisations use the Myers Biggs test to identify job candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. You can do a quick and dirty version of the test for free here
There are more free personality tests on these websites, many of which are based on the Yung / Myers-Biggs test:
- Learn Myself – IQ, relationship, optimism, career, life goal tests and more
- 41Q – 41 questions, one personality test – as Featured on NBC
- 16 Personalities.com
- The BBC – a particularly good test
- Team Technology
If it turns out you’re a gregarious team player by nature, you probably won’t fare too well working alone month after month a freelancer. If you’re reserved and cool you might find working in a team stressful. Whatever type of person you have, it’s better to know what you are than remain ignorant. The more you know about yourself, the more successful you will be.
(Thanks to http://emboldenzine.com/ for the cool image)