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What Might be a Challenge for an ISTJ?

What Might be a Challenge for an ISTJ?

By Donna Dunning

Career change and searching for work are challenging for anyone, but people with ISTJ preferences can find the process especially stressful and difficult.

Change is not an ISTJ’s best friend

Some people seek and are enthralled by change. Generally, however, people with ISTJ preferences enjoy things to stay the same – stability, familiarity, predictability, and routines are all usually comfortable for them.

Job loss, with its accompanying loss of routine and loss of day-to-day structure can be very uncomfortable for people with these preferences.

Marketing is not usually the ISTJ forte

People who prefer ISTJ like to think before acting and tend to dislike informal “small talk” or “chit chat”. They often shine more once you get to know them and are better at demonstrating than talking about their skills.

They may seem “slow” when performing new tasks, as they approach an assignment carefully with thorough thoughtfulness.

This initial impression is often misleading. After the individual with ISTJ preferences figures out the best approach and makes a plan, they usually work efficiently and accurately.

Tips for Managing Transitions

Here are a few tips for someone with ISTJ preferences who is looking for work.

• Keep a routine. Consider joining a job club or other structured work search process to work through the transition.

• Take advantage of e-mail and social media to contact people in your field with well-crafted messages. Research the company in detail to target your messages. This cannot replace “getting out there”, but can be a great starting point.

• Traditional networking at conferences or “meet-ups” may be uncomfortable. Instead, volunteer your services. That way you can make contacts while completing a useful task. Others will see your skills rather than you having to talk about them.

• Determine what you want to say during an interview. Rehearse answers to common interview questions and link what you want to say to potential questions.

• Avoid waiting for something to happen. Get out there and talk to people even though this is outside of your comfort zone. Start with people you know well. Ask them for referrals and challenge yourself to make a new connection every day.

Interested in learning more about how ISTJs tend to act and interact?

Here are a few posts you might like.

Assimilators (ISTJ and ISFJ) Personality Type Preferences and Stress

Developing Your Type: ISTJ

Narratives of Type: Assimilators (ISTJs and ISFJs)

Is there an ISTJ in your Life?

Introduction to Type and Communication describes in detail how personality preferences influence communications.

If you live in the USA, Introduction to Type and Communication is now available on Kindle.

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This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2012 at 7:23 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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