Which career suits you the most? The science behind personality and career tests.

It is true that personality type tests and career tests are not trustworthy when they are taken individually, as they provide us with general answers and they do not take into account some traits of everyone’s character.

These tests use algorithms that return results, depending on the answers candidates give. They consist of questions (usually 20 to 100) that every candidate must answer. Every question aims to discover a personality trait. So, the more questions the test has, the more accurate the result will be. However, every personality is different and each character has many aspects that should be considered. That is what makes these tests inaccurate, as they give an outcome that is partially correct.

Are there any tests that consider all personality traits of every person? The answer is no. Would it be possible to develop accurate tests? Actually yes. That has to do with the accuracy of the algorithms that takes into account more parameters of each person's character. There are many companies working on developing such tests to build complex algorithms that can provide an accurate answer. Also, technology is advancing and we are a step closer to make this a reality.  But if these tests are not accurate, how can they be used? These tests, can give the candidate a "line to walk", the baseline of each character as their algorithms use basic questions to determine the core of the person.  They provide each candidate with answers on questions like, what is your motivation, would you like to work with many people and in a team or alone, and many others.

It is a mistake though, to think that one test can provide an answer that can be used standalone. The more tests someone takes the more accurate the result will be, as these tests are either extremely general or very specific. A combination of a wide range of these can give a great result that can be used to help the candidate take their next career step.

Of course, if someone doesn't want to manage this volume of information, career advisors help every candidate to better understand himself/herself and have a clear view of their future. They can help by combining all these tests together along with new technologies, to create a united result and provide the candidate with as many possible alternatives as they can find, based on the result of the tests.

Some of these tests are:

• what skills we master the most, 
• what we would be happy to learn and 
• what our true motivation is
• what is the best working environment for us

One of these tests, is the one by business insider, which helps you understand the work environment that would best suit you, according to your personality type.

Another test that is used more frequently is the 16 personalities test.

In this test that was developed by Mayer-Briggs, they use acronyms to declare some personality traits, e.g. I means Introvert. They also consider five basic personality's aspects Mind, Energy, Nature, Tactics and Identity. The results are shown in the form of percentages and are meant to show which categories someone falls under. 

Their system, is one of the most accurate on personality tests, and this is why it is very often preferred. 

This image can be found on Business Insider here

Author: Anastasia Chatzikontidou

Little things you can do every day to become smarter

Intelligence is  a word that describes more than just one way of developing a potential outcome.    

        Intelligence can generally be described as the ability to perceive information, and retain it as knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviors within an environment (Psychology Today)  

 

           There are nine types of intelligence, each describing a different way of brain operation. There is musical intelligence, naturalist intelligence, and logical-mathematical intelligence, existential, interpersonal, kinesthetic-bodily, linguistic, intra-personal and spatial intelligence (Gartner).

             Everyone has different kinds of intelligence, and those are that need to be developed more, as they are going to provide the person with more tools in life. When we read about things that will make us smarter or help our brain in that way, we read about how to boost our types of intelligence that dominate our character and at the same time help the other types of intelligence that are not as strong to become stronger.

             Jessica Stillman in her article "10 Small Things You Can Do Every Day to Get Smarter" says that there are little things we can do every day to help our brainpower increase. It is true that there are many times that we just follow a routine, without caring about the quality of work done. For this to stop, being mindful and aware of the present is crucial, while having imagination and many ideas can help us advance our work and take it to the next level.

"Intelligence is a work in progress. Maximize yours with these simple habits"

as Jessica says

 

And what are those habits?

• Be smarter about your online time; don't spend too much time on social media and networking sites. There are many great online learning resources, which help you understand more on any subject.

• Write down what you learn, taking a few minutes each day to to writing about what you learned is sure to boost your brainpower.

• Make a list with what you did that day, that gives you a feeling of accomplishment and it helps your self-esteem so as to do more every day

• Start playing scrabble and make puzzles, it helps your brain combine knowledge from different subject areas

•  Have smart friends, “Keep a smart company. Remember your IQ is the average of five closest people you hang out with,” Saurabh Shah, an account manager at Symphony Teleca, writes.

• Read a lot, every reading material has proved to be brain-boosting

• Explain it to others,  “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough,” Albert Einstein said, and it is true, when you explain it to others is like you teach it to yourself again. In that way you will find what pieces lack from what you learn and you will fill the missing knowledge.

• Do random new things. In order to have dots to connect, you need to be willing to try new things–even if they don’t seem immediately useful or productive.

• Learn a new language.  Learning a foreign language can increase the size of your brain. This is what Swedish scientists discovered when they used brain scans to monitor what happens when someone learns a second language.

• Take some downtime. This is the most important of all. "Downtime replenishes the brain’s stores of attention and motivation, encourages productivity and creativity, and is essential to both achieve our highest levels of performance and simply form stable memories in everyday life." Ferris   JabrIndicesα Scientific American. 

 

Refferences: 

Howard Gartner, The nine types of intelligence, available at <http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm>  

Odyssey, Elissa Bowen, 2016 available at <http://theodysseyonline.com/kansas/intelligence-shaming/280189>

Psychology today, 2016 available at <https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/intelligence>

Scientific American, Ferris Jabr, 2013, available at < http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-downtime/>

The Guardian, Alison Mackey, 2014, available at < http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/04/what-happens-to-the-brain-language-learning>