Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type

"If you spend twenty years at a job you don't enjoy, you may end up not only out of touch with your natural interests but -- even worse -- with a distorted view of your own competence." (quote from 'do what you are')

If you ever feel you are "not cut out" for your job, it would be worthwhile to check this book out. It helped me evaluate my job and focus in on the parts of my job that are making me unhappy; i.e. the things I have to do that I am not very good at. It also offered ideas for alternative jobs that would better suit my interests and talents.

First you start out by taking the Myers-Briggs personality test, then there is an analysis for every possible result, giving you an overview of your basic personality type and what jobs are show more generally best for you. Then it goes on to describe the hierarchy of functions; basically by the age 25 everyone has developed their top two functions (the dominant and auxiliary) and can rely on them in everyday life. Then we go on to develop our other two functions, and then later we develop our opposite functions; i.e. if you are Introverted, you start developing your Extroverted side, and later in life (60s and beyond) you've developed completely (and are ready to tackle any job! ha.)

I used to look at some people and really envy their ability to think things thru logically with such ease. What I realize now is that they have that as their dominant trait (lucky!) and have been working on it all their life, developing and perfecting it. I, on the other hand, am a natural born Feeler, just beginning to develop my Thinking function, so, while it seems to those Thinking people that my progress is slow compared to theirs, my Feeling function is leaps and bounds ahead of theirs. Unfortunately in our world, Thinking is more highly regarded than Feeling, especially in the world of academia, so I am better suited for more creative pursuits, where I can express my Feeling thru art. show less

I'll revisit this again for my next career crisis.

I came out as an INFJ. (Teacher-Nun-Poet-Novelist-Interpreter-Literary Agent-Editor-Librarian-Marketer-Costume Designer-Curator-Project Manager)

This was helpful in the sense you can feel good about what makes you tick. Evaluate how your working self relates to the working world as it will help you focus on where and what kind of environment you will thrive in.

Now back to becoming Queen of cover letter.

Not very practicable for a mid-career change, but it is excellent for high school & college students. It doesn't make decisions for specific jobs, but identifies individual strengths and weaknesses, and various professions to consider when selecting colleges it classes.

Waste of money. Go to 16personalities.com and get 90% of this info for free. Then do a job search for 50 job titles and throw in some stories about other people that you won’t care about and BOOM! You’ve just written this book. Congrats.

If you know anything about your meyers-briggs score, don’t fool yourself into thinking this will help you find a next career. It will instead tell you what you already know and then list jobs that sound like they would fit a type. No research seems to have done on this one. Nice con. You got me.

This book wasn't quite what I expected, but it helped me think through some issues about where I am in my career(s) and the options before me. For instance, I keep wondering "why am I suddenly interested in creative writing after so many years of not?" It suggests a reason and it makes sense. It's still up to me to decide what to do with it - career change or hobby? But that's OK.

The book looks large and daunting, but I finished it in basically half a weekend. The cover is bright and friendly and the insides are easy to read. And since there are 16 different personality types explored, and you don't have to read about all of them (once you've pinned yours down), there are quite a few pages that are skippable.

A suggestion: go online and show more find a "personality test" or two and take it (them). That way you'll have a better idea about your personality preferences when you get to that section of the book. show less

I liked this book, but I wish the authors had made it apparent that the 4 letter personality type and the 2 letter strengths should be recorded for referencing in later chapters. I was familiar with the personality types, but not with using the 2 letter part or with identifying the order of strengths and developing the third and fourth ones. By the time I realized I needed the 2 letter part, I was already confused and had to go back to figure out what letters I needed. I don't think I ever really grasped most of that information.

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

Choosing a career based on personality type is not a new concept; in fact, the first edition of DO WHAT YOU ARE was released in 1992 (and I can actually remember reading it when I was a junior in high school). In this, the fourth edition, hopefully even more teens will be exposed to this great resource.

The authors, both experts in personality type and career development, put forth the idea that choosing a career path based on your individual personality will be beneficial to your success. For those worried that discovering your personality type is a difficult process, don't despair, because the authors make it quite easy.

There are four dimensions to personality type:

Whether you are extroverted or show more introverted.
Whether you notice things by sensing or intuition.
Whether you make decisions by thinking or feeling.
Whether you prefer to live by judging or perceiving.

Once you've discovered the answer to each of these four questions, you'll be able to discover which of the sixteen possible personality types you fall into. Once you do, you can quickly skip to the relevant section in the book.

In my case, my personality is ESTJ - or extroverted, sensing, thinking, judging. According to the authors of DO WHAT YOU ARE, my strengths lie in organization, being objective, working alone, and being a good decision maker. My weaknesses are also outlined, and include impatience with those who don't follow procedures, a tendency to overrun people, and difficulty listening to opposing viewpoints. Some suggestions for careers, based on my personality type, are as a teacher, government employee, sales, supervisor, or a manager.

Of course the above is not a full list of the strengths, weaknesses, or recommended career choices for those whose personality type is ESTJ - the above is merely a sampling. But I can say with truth that DO WHAT YOU ARE can be a great resource for those beginning their search for a career choice. I can agree that ESTJ is definitely my personality type (faults and all!) and have no doubt that this book has the power to help everyone looking to correctly match their strengths to the perfect career. show less