Military Transition Career Assessment help from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The goal of the MBTI is to identify four key areas of personality:

1. World View – An Extrovert favors an outer world focus. Someone who is more interested in their internal reactions and interpretations of the events of their world is considered an Introvert.
2. Information Processing - A preference for tangible, clear information is the mark of a Sensing individual. A person who leans toward supplying additional meaning to the information received via the senses is considered to be Intuitive.
3. Decision Making – Do you give more weight to concrete information for the purpose of decision making? If so, that would assign you to the Thinking category. If on the other hand, you consider the information's consequences on others, or perceive unique circumstances, you are a Feeling personality.
4. Structure, or how you deal with the outside world – A person who prefers to get decisions made is assigned to the Judging personality category, while a Perceiving personality type will allow a certain degree of flexibility and wait for events to unfold prior to reaching a decision.



Applying MBTI Results For Career Assessment

Your response to the results you obtain using the assessment will very likely give you fresh insight into situations that always seemed puzzling.

If you're surprised or upset that your personality does not conform with your self image, take it as an opportunity to learn. You may for the first time understand why some of your past experiences may perhaps have been stressful or unpleasant. Don't take this as an indication that you have done anything wrong. It simply means you finally get to spend some time thinking about how you act and feel, and see where your true strengths lie.

Apply this new knowledge to identifying careers that mesh well with your type, and you can avoid careers built precariously on your weaknesses, and concentrate on those that capitalize on what you're naturally good at.

You'll begin to understand, if you're an INTJ for example, how a career that includes a great deal of interpersonal interaction, requires rapid decisions, doesn't allow for considering others' feelings, and lacks a clearly quantifiable outcome may not be ideal for you, but would suit you fine if you were an ESFP.

We are all to some extent products of our environments. Our education and many of our early work experiences focus on eliminating weaknesses and shaping individuals who are well-rounded and "successful" according to the prevailing norms of our society. Not a bad program. But too often this grooming and shaping comes at a price for the same attention is not given to developing your natural abilities.

Career assessment tools like the MBTI can help you shift your focus away from minimizing weaknesses--many of which can never be totally eliminated anyway-- and concentrating instead on building strength.

Self knowledge and understanding of the sort provided by the Myers Briggs will help you in all areas of your life. The insights gained though the use of an instrument like the MBTI are just as valuable in relationships or parenting.

But when it comes to your career transition this information is often extraordinarily helpful: heading off detours down paths with no future and setting you on the road to personal success and fulfillment in an occupation powerfully aligned with your unique talents, preferences and personality.