Ever wondered why you always end up in the wrong job or the worst relationships, even when they seemed so promising going in? It can be especially confusing when there doesn’t really seem to be anything wrong with the work or the other person, just that things never did seem to take off or click. Well, maybe it’s not the work or your prospective partners - maybe you just don’t have a clear understanding of who you really are in the first place - your personality type, your risk aversion levels, your tendencies and the underlying assets, preferences and issues in your make-up that you may not be taking into consideration. But how do you go about “finding yourself” without embarking on a navel-gazing and soul-searching journey of epic proportions (which, face it, few of us have the time for)?
One of the best places to start is personality assessment. There are literally thousands of different assessments available, often on the Internet where they are either free (although often in an abbreviated form from their full fee access) or at a reasonable charge. A quality test can help you map your personality makeup as a whole and perhaps tease out previously hidden factors in your mindset or behavior that may affect your decision making, your overall job and life satisfaction in given situations and your choices.
There are many website and hard-published assessments which can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses, and where your personal gifts lay. However, you have to pay attention and steer clear of “recreational” assessments and quizzes if you are looking for an accurate and predictive overview, especially on the Internet. To be truly useful, a personality assessment must meet three criteria:
It must be empirical and accurate
This means that the test is based on scientifically designed questions that are proven to be predictive (by having known personality types take the test, and checking for correlation in the results).
It must be normed
This means that when the assessment results are tabulated as a group, the number and pattern of personality types it presents must be representative of the general population who are likely to be taking the test. This is done by testing a representative sample, graphing the test results and then matching the results against a scientifically predicted bell curve for that particular population. Note that if an assessment is designed for a specific, narrow population (such as law enforcement cadets, engineers or abused women), it will produce results that are skewed from the general population norm, but which can be internally predictable and normed within that narrowly defined group.
It must be reliable and consistent
This means that the test must return the overall same pattern of results for the same person taking it repeatedly, even if their answers differ slightly from day to day due to normal moods and perceptions. This also means that the greater the number of questions, the more likely it is to be accurate (assuming it was created by