Choosing a Career

Alan Bernstein

What "color" is your ideal career path?

It's easy to find a job; the hard part is finding one that's right for you. Alan Bernstein, author of Guide to Your Career (The Princeton Review), explains how to find a job you'll love through a little self-analysis, including the Career Style Mini - Quiz [TM], which identifies (as a color!) your interests and work style.

When Michael Jordan scored more than 60 points in one game, he reported entering a state of timelessness where moments "stood still." We call that state "flow," and it can be applied to many areas of our life, including our careers. When we are in a state of flow, we feel easy and natural. That's how most of us would like to feel in our careers, but often people find themselves in occupations that do not excite them.

As someone heading out into the world looking for the ideal work situation, you should take some time and examine what you really want to do in life. What career will put you in "the flow"? There are dozens of career assessment tests and interest inventories on the market designed for just that purpose. Here we present a short version of one to start you toward your ideal career path. First, take the Career Style Mini Quiz [TM] developed by Birkman International. Birkman has been in the career assessment business for more than 40 years, and its system lets you visualize your work preferences as a color. The quiz will help you pinpoint your occupational interests and work styles.

Then, to go a step further, do the activities at the end of this article that use your memories to explore job roles that may satisfy you.

Your Interest Color

Now that you have these four counts, estimate your interest color. Simply read the four statements below and see which one describes your counts for interest. The color associated with the statement that is correct for your counts is the best estimate of your interest color you can make from this exercise.

* BLUE

Your interest color is probably blue if your Interest H count is 4 or more (4, 5, or 6) and your Interest V count is 3 or less (1, 2, or 3). You like creative, humanistic, thoughtful, quiet types of job responsibilities and professions.

* GREEN

Your interest color is probably green if your Interest H count is 4 or more (4, 5, or 6) and your Interest V count is 4 or more (4, 5, or 6). You like persuasive, selling, promotional, and group-contact types of job responsibilities and professions.

* RED

Your interest color is probably red if your Interest H count is 3 or less (1, 2, or 3) and your Interest V count is 4 or more (4, 5, or 6). You like practical, technical, objective, and hands-on, problem-solving types of job responsibilities and professions.

* YELLOW

Your interest color is probably yellow if your Interest H count is 3 or less (1, 2, or 3) and your Interest V count is 3 or less (1, 2, or 3). You like organized, detail-oriented, predictable, and objective types of job responsibilities and professions.

Your Style Color

To estimate your style color, simply read the four statements below and see which one describes your counts for style. The color associated with the statement that is correct for your counts is the best estimate of your style color that you can make from this exercise.

* BLUE

Your style color is probably blue if your Style H count is 4 or more (4, 5, or 6) and your Style V count is 3 or less (1, 2, or 3). You prefer to perform your job responsibilities in a manner that is supportive and helpful to others with a minimum of confrontation. You prefer to work where you and others have time to think things through before acting.

* GREEN

Your style color is probably green if your Style H count is 4 or more (4, 5 or 6) and your Style V count is 4 or more (4, 5 or 6). You prefer to perform your job responsibilities in a manner that is outgoing and even forceful. You prefer to work where things get done with a minimum of thought and where persuasion is well received by others.

* RED

Your style color is probably red if your Style H count is 3 or less (1, 2 or 3) and your Style V count is 4 or more (4, 5 or 6). You prefer to perform your job responsibilities in a manner that is action-oriented and practical. You prefer to work where things happen quickly and results are seen immediately.

* YELLOW

Your style color is probably yellow if your Style H count is 3 or less (1, 2 or 3) and your Style V count is 3 or less (1, 2 or 3). You prefer to perform your job responsibilities in a manner that is orderly and planned to meet a known schedule. You prefer to work where things get done with a minimum of interruption and unexpected change.

Understanding Your Colors

As you begin to reflect on the career or profession you are drawn to, you will want to consider whether it contains aspects that match your interests. If your occupational interest is green, for example, you will likely feel natural in an environment that calls for promotion or persuasion--like advertising or law.

Your style color describes how others might describe you. While your interest color shows what you like to do, your style color shows how you like to do things. Your style color adds extra insight for possible career choices.

It is not uncommon for a person's interest and style colors to be different. A person may like the types of job responsibilities associated with their interest, but prefer to practice these responsibilities in a manner and within an environment that is consistent with their style.

For example, a green interest and blue style combination suggests a career option that involves persuasion performed in a humanistic, creative, and supportive style. This is a person who likes selling, promoting, and group contact responsibilities but will still be most comfortable with a cause or product in which he holds conviction. A fund-raiser for a nonprofit company may have both green and blue traits.

A red interest would likely be drawn to an active career or profession, say a visible leadership role in a company. If you have a blue style, however, you will likely need some downtime to withdraw and reflect on the meaning of proposals. A red interest, red style, on the other hand, might maintain an entirely proactive work style. A red interest with a yellow style may be drawn to a leadership role, but is likely to operate conservatively with a close eye on the bottom line. A red/yellow may be someone who starts an Internet business.

Mining Your Memories

To take a step beyond the color quiz, you need to carefully look back and remember incidents from your past that had the following characteristic:

You were asked, or asked yourself, to accomplish a task--something you were not sure you could do. In doing this project you found not only that you could complete it, but that time had slipped away. You were in a state of "flow" and ordinary linear time disappeared.

Try to remember those environments in which you've been most creative. They can be school, work, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, summer camp--wherever you've felt that you were completely satisfied to be doing what you were doing and in the way you were doing it. See if you can isolate some common themes.

What I Was Doing When I Felt Happiest

1 ----------

2 ----------

3 ----------

For some of you critical thinkers, this may be a tough task, so we've developed a reverse twist to jog your memories:

Times When I've Felt My Worst

1 ----------

2 ----------

3 ----------

The purpose of this second list is to help you figure out what was lacking in those experiences. You may then be able to work backwards to create your list of what conditions encourage you to feel happy and creative.

After you've finished your lists, select up to three specific memories in which timelessness was a key ingredient. These are times when you were so involved in completing a project, accomplishing some task, or solving a problem, that time slipped away, and you couldn't tell how long you'd been working. When you recall these specific occasions, jot them down.

"In-the-Flow" Moments

1 ----------

2 ----------

3 ----------

Select your favorite "in-the-flow" moment and write a 250- to 350-word story. Be specific; appeal to the senses. What did it feel like to be in that situation? Why, specifically, was it an exciting moment? What were the colors, odors, textures? What were you trying to accomplish? Did you expect to be able to do it?

Interpreting Your Story

Now read your story to yourself or a friend. First, note what you are drawn to, what the action or subject is, in short, your interest.

Then observe your style. How were you operating in this memory? Were you alone, with one other person, or in a group? If you were in a group, were you leading or following? We might ask you to consider, for your style, which of the following are the most important:

* Having plenty to do

* Having to make clear-cut decisions

* Having others be direct and logical

* Having objective supervision

* Knowing exactly what to do

* Being able to work without interruption

As you complete these exercises, patterns may emerge. You should discover what experiences are "timeless" for you. The ideal is then to find a work environment that will offer those types of experiences. Then you will be in the flow.

Now take the information you have gathered about yourself and start talking to people who do things you might like to do. Can you work in your best style in their career? Are your interests reflected in the way they apply themselves in their work?

Alan Bernstein is a psychotherapist with an expertise in career development.

OCCUPATIONAL INTERESTS

Check out the activities that correspond to your interest color.

Red likes to:

* Build

* Organize

* See a finished product

* Solve a practical problem

Yellow likes to:

* Schedule activities

* Do detailed work

* Keep close control

* Work with numbers

* Work with systems

Green likes to:

* Sell and promote

* Persuade

* Motivate people

* Counsel or teach

* Work with people

Blue likes to:

* Plan activities

* Deal with abstraction

* Think of new approaches

* Innovate

* Work with ideas

RED CAREERS

IMPLEMENTORS

Aerospace Engineer

Architect

Chef

Chemist

Computer Engineer

FBI Agent

Physician Assistant

Pilot

Police Officer

Webmaster

STYLE

Check out the activities that match your work style color.

Red appears:

* Objective about people

* Commanding

* Competitive

* Practical

* Forceful

Yellow appears:

* Sociable

* Orderly

* Cooperative

* Consistent

* Cautious

Green appears:

* Personable

* Directive

* Independent

* Enthusiastic about new tings

Blue appears:

* Perceptive

* Agreeable

* Conscientious

* Reflective and creative

* Cautious

GREEN CAREERS

COMMUNICATORS

Advertising Executive

Attorney

Buyer

Fund-Raiser

Hotel Manager

Insurance Agent

Investment Banker

Publicist

Real Estate Agent

Television Reporter

YELLOW CAREERS

ADMINISTRATORS

Accountant

Bookkeeper

Court Reporter

Financial Aid Officer

Health Care Administrator

Office Manager

Surveyor

BLUE CAREERS

PLANNERS

Actor

Animator

Artist

Child Care Worker

Journalist

Musician

Nurse

Photographer

Physician

Professor

COPYRIGHT 2001 EM Guild, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group