I recently read Natasha Alli’s article on aptitude tests and it took me back a couple years to when I was required to take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test as part of an Organizational Behaviour class in university.
The test is broken down into four dichotomies that each consist of two opposing preferences: Extraversion vs. Introversion; Sensing vs. Intuition; Thinking vs. Feeling; and Judging vs. Perceiving.
For me, it was surprisingly accurate. I actually scored in between two of the 16 possible combinations: somewhere in the middle of an ENTP (Extraversion, iNtuition, Thinking, Perception) and an ESTJ (Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judgment), with the addition that I was, in fact, not too far off from an ENTJ as well.
But what, if anything, do these seemingly random letter combinations mean? Are they actually capable of extrapolating my inner workings and from that determine what career path I am to enter?
The reality is that no letters can tell you better than yourself what you were born to do. All they can do is help and assist you down the path, hopefully verifying what you’ve known all along.
The MBTI confirmed I’m extrovert who thinks pragmatically and acts decisively and quickly. I’m a leader that requires an engaging, creative and challenging environment to thrive. I am a sociable multi-tasker who loves to communicate, collaborate and demands the best.
I already knew most of this, but there is certainly some power in having it reaffirmed by a third-party. I embrace all of these aspects of myself because I believe they culminate in the rather complex tapestry that is me. And we are all complex, unique individuals which no test can accurately measure.
I was about to graduate at the time I first took the MBTI. I was ready to embark on my professional career and I had recently decided that marketing held the most promise for me.
As an ENTP, it fit wonderfully. The fast-paced, ever-changing landscape of marketing appealed to me. However, as an ESTJ, marketing was not a suggested career path.
I think, like all new grads, I was searching for validation that I was making the right decision to ensure my endeavours post-grad didn’t go up in flames. But even though the MBTI seemed to know me pretty well, it was also telling me two very different things.
It’s important to remember that this test should not be taken as gospel because it can only attempt to scientifically measure the intangible properties of each individual’s unique personality. I remember thinking that as long as marketing was somewhere in the all the clutter of the MBTI I would remain steadfast with my decision.
And now, almost two years after graduating from university, I’ve learned that I ultimately made the right choice not because I listened to a test but because I listened to myself.
To take a version of the test online for free to determine your MBTI, click here and answer the questions. Once your MBTI type has been determined, you can do more research on your type by searching the four-letter combination in Google.
I’m an INTJ through and through. The Wikipedia INTJ characteristics are me in a nutshell.
Engineering and law are the two most recommend professions for my personality type, but writing and editing (and managing in general) is up there too. I definitely agree that we shouldn’t determine our careers on a personality test.
It’s nice to re-affirm what we already know about ourselves (the good and the bad), but I’m not convinced these personality tests have any application beyond that.
I am also an INTJ, and I’ve found that I also really like methodical, ordered things, but that’s not also to say I like jumping around and yelling with groups of a couple hundred people in brightly coloured overalls.
Perhaps we should all be recognizing that since there are so many layers to our personality although there may be a few overarching and stronger tendencies that we are still capable of doing things that are against these tests; which again suggests as both Cassandra and Simren mentioned we shouldn’t be using these tests as a way to run our lives completely.
Okay, this is a bit weird, but–I’m a fellow INTJ as well!
Like Cassandra, I’ve consistently scored INTJ since high school and university, and again after taking the test via the link Simren provided. Overall, I think the results are a pretty accurate reflection of my personality and preferences, especially with regard to how I work, how I interact socially, and how I make decisions.
That said, I agree with everyone that these results aren’t exactly black and white. Going by the recommendations for INTJ’s, I would be best suited to jobs in research, management, and the sciences, and I could actually see myself in those professions. In fact, I majored in management partly because I felt my “abilities” were affirmed by the results of this particular test!
But after graduating, I felt somehow that my real passion lay in writing and journalism, which is another layer of my personality (as Danielle rightly pointed out) that the test can’t really objectively take into consideration. I think tests like these serve their pupose best when they’re taken as general guides that give you a glimpse of what job/s you’d be good at based on your dominant personality traits, but they don’t really define who you are and what you eventually decide to do.
Thanks for a great article, Simren!
I have always, always, always tested as an ESTJ. I think maybe once or twice I have tested an ISTJ. This doesn’t really surprise me, as I actually see myself as both extroverted and introverted. I love meeting new people and can turn on my social side really easily. But given the choice – I’d rather hang out with a couple of close friends than go to a party and meet a hundred new people…a very introverted state of mind. I also find that when I am at parties and meeting new people, I consciously choose to be outgoing as a coping mechanism, as opposed to it being my natural state.
As for the writing/editing bit…it’s about the last thing as ESTJ is supposed to do. Try leading in business or the military. If not that, law or police officer.
Introverted-Extroverts/Extroverted-Introverts FTW! (I’m one too)
There’s some great discussion going on over at the Brazen Careerist version of this article as well (it was a featured article on Brazen yesterday).
WOW! What’s with all the INTJs — and they are all into writing/journalism as well. That is such an amazing result. I think everyone who commented act as the perfect examples to show the accuracy of the test — it does provide insight (and further validation) of YOU and for some that can be a crucial part of their career decision.
We all do seem to share the same sentiment that this test should obviously be taken with a grain of salt. But I honestly do appreciate the introspective value it offers!
I took the test and got ENFJ. However, marketing was not listed as a career choice, even though thats what I majored in.
I can’t remember what my exact type was, but I remember taking the Myers-Briggs in first year because I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to do career-wise. I do know that my career options were split almost 50-50 between science-related jobs (like speech pathology) and writing/journalism/law. At the time it was incredibly frustrating, because I was trying to decide between those two career paths. But now I can see how good it was at describing me, because I ended up getting degrees in both science and journalism, and my career uses elements from both.