Career Assessment & Consultancy

A primary part of self discovery, understanding and acceptance is to discover your vocational personality and your vocational direction to bring greater meaning and purpose to your life. With that in mind ePsychology Australia has developed the Jungian Holland Types Indicator to provide a broad insight into your vocational personality using a combination of Jungian and John Holland measures.

Carl Jung developed many psychological concepts including the archetype, the collective unconscious and synchronicity, in addition to a conceptual model of classifying personal styles, or ways of interacting with the world around us, which included three psychological spectrums.

• Extraversion – Introversion (E – I) How our energies flow.

The difference between Extraversion and Introversion is related to how you get your energy and where you focus your attention. Extraverts get their energy and inspiration by being around others and focussing their attention outwards on the world around them, whereas Introverts are the most creative when they can work alone, observing and reacting to their world through their thoughts, feelings and ideas. The inner world is more important than the outer world. Basically then, Extraverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented. Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence. Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more substantial interaction. Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone.

• Sensing – Intuition (S – N) How we learn information

Sensing and Intuition is about how the individual processes information from the world around them. Sensing people tend to be practical and realistic people, where Intuitive people tend to be more abstract and imaginative. Sensing people will talk about facts and concrete things whereas Intuitive people tend to talk about their gut feelings about something and conclusions not necessarily based on the facts of the matter. Sensing and intuition are the information-gathering (perceiving) functions. They describe how new information is understood and interpreted. Individuals who prefer sensing are more likely to trust information that is in the present, tangible and concrete: that is, information that can be understood by the five senses. They tend to distrust hunches, which seem to come “out of nowhere”. They prefer to look for details and facts. For them, the meaning is in the data. On the other hand, those who prefer intuition tend to trust information that is more abstract or theoretical, that can be associated with other information (either remembered or discovered by seeking a wider context or pattern). They may be more interested in future possibilities. They tend to trust those flashes of insight that seem to bubble up from the unconscious mind. The meaning is in how the data relates to the pattern or theory.

• Thinking – Feeling (T – F) How we make decisions

Thinking people tend to rely on logic and reason, whereas Feeling people make decisions based on their values, relationships and personal concerns. Thinking people tend to prefer occupations that involve the use of analytical, technical and sceintific skills, while Feeling people prefer to make a difference in people’s lives working in careers such as such as nursing and social work, for example. Thinking and feeling are the decision-making (judging) functions. The thinking and feeling functions are both used to make rational decisions, based on the data received from their information-gathering functions (sensing or intuition). Those people who prefer thinking tend to decide things from a more detached standpoint, measuring the decision by what seems reasonable, logical, causal, consistent and matching a given set of rules, while those who prefer feeling tend to come to decisions by associating or empathizing with the situation, looking at it ‘from the inside’ and weighing the situation to achieve, on balance, the greatest harmony, consensus and fit, considering the needs of the people involved. Thinkers usually have trouble interacting with people that are inconsistent or illogical, and tend to give very direct feedback to others. They are concerned with the truth and view it as more important than being tactful.

Isabel Briggs Meyers added a fourth spectrum in the development of the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

• Judging – Perceiving (J – P) How we deal with the world.

This spectrum concerns how you prefer to organize your life. Judging people prefer structure, planning, predictability and organisation, whereas, Perceiving people prefer spontaneity and flexibility. Judging people like to keep everything neat and tidy, and they like to stay on a schedule, whereas, Perceiving people prefer to do things at the last minute and enjoy frequent adventures.

The combination of these four spectrums reflects a specific personal style type, and knowing your personal style type can assist you to understand your motives, needs and preferences and help you plan for the future in terms of career choice and indeed, life planning overall.
The purpose of learning about your personality type is to help you understand yourself better. When you know what motivates and energizes you, it helps you to seek opportunities that most suit the way you are. This insight also helps improve your relationships with others. The more you recognize your own tendencies, the better you are able to monitor and control your behaviour around others. When you know the personality types of those around you, you can use that information to improve the way you work and communicate with each other.
For example, Thinking people and Feeling people often have a challenging relationship. The thinking types can’t understand the need to agree, because they see debate as a healthy way to discover the truth. They enjoy debate and see conflict as a natural part of a relationship. However, feeling people, on the other hand, can’t understand why someone would want to argue, because they’re focused on having harmony in their relationships. This is an example of where knowledge of the other’s personal style can help build and maintain relationships.

John Holland’s Theory of Career Choice (RIASEC) maintains that in choosing a career, people prefer jobs where they can be around others who are like them. They search for environments that will let them use their skills and abilities, and express their attitudes and values, while taking on enjoyable problems and roles. Behaviour is determined by an interaction between personality and environment.