Transcript for "Matching your skills to a career"
A: It’s important to identify career options based on your interests, strengths, and goals. Try to identify jobs that match your personality and determine how they fit with who you are. Here to help you match a career with your skills is Fern Selesnick, President of Fern Selesnick Consulting. Good morning, Fern.
FS: Good morning, Ashley.
A: It’s wonderful to have you here.
FS: Thank you.
A: Why is it so important for someone to match their personality with their career?
FS: Well, it’s essential for a couple reasons. First, most people who work spend the majority of their life on the job, so you want to be happy. But also most people want to succeed at their careers, and to do that, you need to do something you love. Usually you’re good at the things you like best.
A: It’s so true. And you spend—You think about how much time you spend at work. You don’t want it to be work. I mean, you’re pretty much living there you know. It’s forty hours a week. So it should be something you love. How many times do people change careers in their life on average.
FS: On an average, five times.
A: Five times?
FS: Five times.
A: So it’s okay if you do change five times. You’re not alone, really.
FS: You’re not alone. And not only is it okay, in today’s economy it’s realistic because careers are changing, so it’s important to be flexible and to be able to move among different paths in the work world.
A: So the idea of matching your personality with a career. Is this a new thing, or has this always been the case?
FS: That’s a great question. It’s probably always been the case, but not always been named. But as early as the 1900s, the military was matching people to various types of occupations, and they did special testing to make that happen.
A: So now it really is known. It’s known that you need to be happy, and to be happy you should be doing what you love.
FS: Right, and also to succeed.
A: Right, to succeed, of course. So what’s the first step? Someone thinks, okay, I’m ready for a new career, or I’m starting out. What’s the first step to finding a career for them?
FS: Well, the first step is to think of what it is they love to do. That can be things they’ve done as part-time work, volunteer work, things at school, things even in their spare time. Another thing people can do is imagine an ideal workday. What time they’d like to get up in the morning, how far they’d like to travel, how they’d like to dress, what the people are like there, and what they’d like to be doing the most.
A: So once they’ve discovered, okay, “I know what I want to do,” where does the search begin? How do they begin finding what they want in a career?
FS: Well, there’s a lot of ways. One thing that you can do is you can talk to people who are doing things you’re interested in. It’s called informational interviewing, and get a sense of what they think the work is like from their perspective and how they got into it. There’s also a lot online and reading from the Department of Labor that will tell you about different jobs and what kind of personalities and abilities and skills go with them.
A: So how could a career counselor help someone? Do they help them if they don’t know what they want to do, or after someone’s discovered what they want, can the still get help from a career counselor?
FS: Both ways. It’s a lifelong process. And career counselors and coaches use a combination of techniques. Sometimes we do career assessment tests that will help people look at what their personality’s like, what they value, what they care about. Sometimes we will help people interview with other people in those occupations to get a firsthand sense of what the work is like.
A: Do you recommend attending job fairs, career fairs? Is that helpful?
FS: It’s very helpful. The more information you have, the easier it is to make a decision. It’s also good to process it with someone and bounce it off of other people that know you.
A: So let’s talk about a few different personality types. And I know it isn’t black and white, and you can’t really pigeonhole people into certain careers. But first: quiet, reserved, shy. What’s a good fit for that personality?
FS: Well I can tell you what’s probably not a good fit, which is anything that requires a lot of extroversion, like sales, public relations, perhaps your job [news reporter].
A: Mmhmm.
FS: Okay. Beyond that, we need to know more about the person. For example, are they interested in research? Would they like to work in literature, in books? Would they like to fix things? Work that requires not necessarily outgoing personalities, but concentration and time alone.
A: Right. Now people that are the complete opposite: a people person, social, outgoing. What are some options for them?
FS:Oh, there are lots of options. It can be anything from working with the public in public relations, in the media, to being a manger or a leader, and inspiring other people to do their best work.
A: What about a philanthropist, someone who loves to help others?
FS: Someone who loves to help others you frequently find in the non-profit world. But you may also find them in the media and show business. A lot of people who are artistic also have a great social bent and want to help people as well as perform for them.
A: So you could be more than one. You could be creative and artistic and outgoing and love to help others. So it’s not just that easy to say, this is who I am, this is what I’ll do.
FS: Exactly. People are generally a blend of personality types. And the art of it is to find out what that blend is for a person and where they would match a particular occupation or occupations and be happiest.
A: What if someone isn’t sure of their personality type or their strength and skills? How can they find out what their strengths are?
FS: Well, that’s a great question. There’s a number of ways. One way is to talk to a career coach or a career counselor. There are a lot of tools out there that can help people to identify more about themselves and who they are. And once you start talking about it, it all starts to fall into place.
A: And tell me about the workshop that you’re hosting, Fern. [It’s] something that a career counselor can offer to help people.
FS: Sure, yeah, thank you. There’s a July workshop happening on July 11th and 18th in North Hampton called Career Change, but it could be called Career Decisions: Inspiring Decisions and Practical Moves. It’s a combination to find out who you are and what you value and what the labor market has to offer you at this point.
A: And it’s important to note too that it’s never too late to change a career. It’s never too late if you’re unhappy to make a change, would you say?
FS: Absolutely. You know, we’re growing, thriving human beings for our whole life, and work is essential to being happy. So any time is the right time.
A: Fern, thank you so much for this advice. It’s incredibly helpful. Thank you very much.
FS: Thank you for having me.
A: And to learn more about Fern’s workshop and how you can get help finding the right career path for you, visit mymassappear.com and click on personal appeal.