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Career Development and Personality

Career development is how a person develops and evolves either within or between an occupation of their choosing. The type of personality a person has can help in determining the best career choice for that person. It can also influence the type of career path a person will go down in their lives. The choices that one makes because of one's personality characteristics or personality traits can halt, help, or have no change on one's career development.

Definitions

Career Development is a process which involves managing a career either within or between companies or organizations. This process involves learning new skills, making improvements, and moving forward in a career. Personality: There are numerous ways to define personality, but a simple definition is this: it is essentially what makes a person who they are; a person's behaviors and the way a person acts.

Identity

Where a person lies in their identity formation could help in determining their career path and therefore, their career development. A person's career development, and where they stand in their career can also influence the way that a person views him/herself. Relating James Marcia's ego status formation theory to career development can be very helpful. There are four identity statuses that Marcia developed. The identity achieved status means that a person has explored the environment and himself and has committed to who he wants to be. A moratorium status means that a person is still exploring who he is but has not yet committed to an identity. A foreclosed identity means that a person has not done any exploration, but has committed to an identity. Finally, an identity diffusion means that a person has not done any exploring and has not committed to an identity. If a person knows who he is and knows what he wants and has found the career that he enjoys, this person had reached an identity achieved status. Exploring one's career while also exploring one's identity can be helpful because by exploring a career one will be more able to learn about him/herself and determine what he/she likes about each career and what he/she does not like about the careers. This exploration of the self through exploring careers would be classified as a moratorium status. Knowing oneself will make it easier for a person to find a career that he/she will be happiest in and a way of finding out who the self is is through exploration of different careers. If a person enters into a family business and has known that he was going to enter into the business since he was very young, he would have a foreclosed identity status. And, if a person has no idea who he is and what he wants to do for a career then he is in the identity diffusion status. As people enter the moratorium status, they are more likely to engage in more career exploration than a person in any of the other statuses. However, a person with an identity achieved status may also engage in career exploration, but to a lesser extent than people in a moratorium status.

Personality Traits

According to the Big Five personality assessment there are five major personality traits: extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience. Each of these five traits help a person in choosing a career that will be best suited for them. A person who scores high on extroversion, conscientiousness and agreeableness may be best suited for a job that requires a lot of contact with other people such as a sales person. If a person scores low in those personality traits then they may be better suited for a job that does not require much contact with others such as an office job, or in information technology. There are exceptions however, where a person who scores high in extroversion can work in a place where there is low contact with others and is perfectly happy doing that. Also, knowing one's emotional stability can be very helpful in choosing a career. If a person scores low in emotional stability, they may want to stay away from jobs that have a high stress level. Openness to experience is very important, not only for choosing a career, but also for performance over time within a career. If a person scores high on openness to experience, they are more likely that others to excel in job performance and within the career because they are more willing to try and learn new things. There are many more different personality traits, a person is not limited to having only five traits, but these five traits are very important in determining a person's career and development within that career.

Theories Related to Career Development

Trait Theory

Trait theory was developed by Gordon Allport and claims that there are specific traits that people are born with that influence a person's behaviors, thoughts or emotions. These traits are thought to be stable over a person's lifetime. This can be very helpful in career development in the sense that traits can be matched with certain qualifications that are required for certain jobs. If the traits and the qualifications match up well then a person will most likely be happy in that specific career.

Work Adjustment Theory

This theory claims that the degrees of satisfaction and satisfactoriness are seen as predictors of the likelihood that someone will stay in a job, be successful at it and receive advancement. Satisfaction refers to being satisfied with the work that one does. Satisfactoriness, in contrast, refers to the employer’s satisfaction with the individual’s performance. The more closely a person’s abilities (skills, knowledge, experience, attitude, behaviors, etc.) correspond with the requirements of the role, the more likely it is that they will perform the job well and be perceived as satisfactory by the employer. Similarly, the more closely the reinforcers (rewards) of the role correspond to the values that a person seeks to satisfy through their work, the more likely it is that the person will perceive the job as satisfying.

Holland’s typological Theory

According to John Holland, there are six personality types that match well with specific careers. Each of these six characteristics are important in choosing a career and developing within that chosen career. The six personality types (called Holland Codes) are realistic, intellectual, social, conventional, enterprising, and artistic. Knowing what type of personality a person has can help guide a person in the direction of an appropriate career. However, not everyone fits these personality types and there are exceptions where some jobs are held by people who do not have the predicted personality type for that job.

Personality Trait Assessments

There are some career assessments that can help people determine what type of personality they have and therefore help determine the type of career they should be working and developing toward or in. One such test is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This test claims that there are sixteen different personality types. These personality types come from eight basic traits extroversion, introversion, sensing, intuition, thinking, feeling, judging, and perception. Knowing which personality type a person is can help them determine which type of career they should choose. Another personality assessment that a person can use to determine which personality characteristics holds the most influence on them is the Big Five personality assessment. This test determines how much of five different personality traits (openness, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism/emotional stability) a person's personality holds. This can help in determining which career path will allow the most career development. There are types of assessments that will tell a person which type of career they will be happiest in based on other people with similar personality types. One such assessment is called SkillScan [1]. It can be done online or by a professional. If it is done by a professional it is a Q-Sort test. A person sorts cards with descriptive words on them into piles based on which best fit with the person, what they value most, what they like or dislike, etc. Based on the answers the person gives, certain careers that the person may be happiest in are generated. This type of test can be helpful for a person who is not sure which direction to turn when it comes to careers.

• Needs and Job Satisfaction
• Occupational Values
• Others
  • Career development of women
  • Career development of people of color