News & Press
Jobs And Personality: Hartford Career Counselor's New Website Helps People Find The Right Work - by Anne M. Hamilton - Special to The Courant
10.09.2009
A veteran Hartford career counselor and best-selling author has developed an online program that tries to match personality types to jobs.
"Our focus is finding work that's right for you," said Paul Tieger, who launched MyPersonalJobCoach.com in September.
Most people work for most of their adult lives, Tieger said, often in jobs that are neither fulfilling nor energizing — so "why not find one that will be more intrinsically satisfying?"
The customized job search program has its roots in "Do What You Are," a highly popular book Tieger and his former wife Barbara Barron published in 1992. It applied the concepts of the Myers-Briggs analysis of personality type to techniques for finding the right job, and sold 800,000 copies in four editions.
With the recent surge in unemployment, Tieger decided to transfer the book's central ideas to a personalized and easily accessible online job search program.
"When 1,000 people show up for 100 jobs, the odds aren't good," is one of Tieger's mantras. "But 100 people will get the job. We can help you have an advantage."
He doesn't promise success, but claims that knowing more about yourself, the kind of work environment you prefer, and situations where you excel will help you target the type of job you will enjoy and make your application more competitive. Tieger also throws in personalized tips on how to market yourself and ace the interview.
His website has multiple layers. The first layer is free. It helps assess personality; the questions take 10 to 15 minutes to answer, and the program provides an instant analysis based on the Myers-Briggs personality classifications. Tieger then gives a one-minute video description of the person's type.
Once enrolled in the program (you have now paid), job seekers receive descriptions of work situations they might find satisfying, and then are asked to pick four "career satisfiers." An inventory of skills and interests is matched with the job seeker's personality and linked to specific jobs and careers. There are multiple links to websites that give more information about jobs, advice on how to succeed at job interviews, and hints on avoiding interview pitfalls. A private 30-minute telephone consultation with a job counselor is also part of the package, which costs $49.
"The difference here is that [the program] is customized to the individual," said Tieger, the founder and CEO of SpeedReading People. "That's what using personality type allows us to do — personalize every bit of advice." The program takes about 90 minutes to complete, but clients can continue to return as often as they want.
Barry Joel Matt of New London was one of the first people to try the program. At 58, he's owned several companies, but he sold them and is now looking for work. My Personal Job Coach identified some strengths and weaknesses, and confirmed some things he already knew about himself and what he is searching for. "What I got was affirmation and direction," Matt said. "I think having an adrenaline boost, which is what this was for me, was really helpful."
Tieger had firsthand experience with job dissatisfaction when he came to the University of Hartford as an undergraduate to study for a career in insurance. He soon realized his personality wasn't suited to the job and he probably wouldn't do well if he persisted. He changed his major and decided to concentrate on psychology.
After graduation, he worked for several years, then returned to the university as assistant dean of students and career counselor while he obtained his master's degree in organizational behavior. He also developed a successful sideline as a jury consultant, helping lawyers in both civil and criminal cases select jurors.
In 1981, he went out on his own and trained career counselors in how to identify and work with personality types, and since then he has worked with outplacement and human resources specialists to teach them how to match people with appropriate jobs.
Tieger relied increasingly on the principles of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, an inventory of psychological types that has been in use since its development in the 1940s by Katharine Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers. Their work, in turn, was based on theories developed by Carl Jung, the psychoanalyst who laid out his theory of personality in "Psychological Types," published in 1921.
The Myers-Briggs inventory is now widely used in career and marriage counseling, management training and team building. It divides people into 16 personality types that classify how people take in information, how they interact with others, how they make decisions and whether they prefer a structured or more spontaneous personal and work environment.
Tieger has applied the Myers-Briggs theories in other books he and Barron have written on child raising, ("Nurture by Nature") relationships ("Just Your Type") and getting along with others ("Speed Reading People").
Beth Sweetland-Bailey, a human relations specialist in Coventry, learned about the new online program from Tieger.
"It isn't telling you so much as it is guiding you to come up with your own solutions," she said. "I think he's hit on a need that might not be fulfilled in the marketplace. Anything that can give you insights on a career search can be helpful."
At the Center for Professional Development at the University of Hartford, which is open to any adult job seeker, career counselors administer the Myers-Briggs test as well as the Strong Interest Inventory. Associate Director Eleta Jones said she finds one-on-one counseling sessions to be more effective than assessments alone.
"I find most people feel the need to sit down and talk to somebody," Jones said. Tieger's program "might be a good starting point, but not a good ending point."
