A request from Donna Dunning
Please Share Your Story or Strategy
Although I have studied personality type for over 20 years, I still find it most helpful to hear from the experts on the different types. That’s you. To help others learn and develop, please share your stories. How does your career suit who you are? What have you learned to do to be successful? Thanks for sharing.
To find a sample of type-preferred occupations go to the Assimilator occupations page.
Not sure of your type? Learn more on the What’s Your Type pages.
Share Your Story
If you want to share your career success story or strategy on our web site, please fill in the form below. *All fields are required. By submitting your story you are agreeing to let us publish it. We may edit your story for length and clarity. Thank you.
Personality Type: ISTJ
As an ISTJ, I function well when I have a clear list of instructions for my work responsibilities. However not every employer is going to hand you a nice list that you can work from. What I’ve found in my previous work experiences is that when I’m given a job to complete I need to do a reality check before I begin. Step back, look at the entire job, visualize the different steps and think about every task that is involved in completing the job and if there is anything I’m unsure about, ask questions until I have it all straightened out. Once I have that overview in mind, I can create my clear list of instructions and then I can simply follow them to complete the job. When dealing with longer or more complex jobs its always a good idea to record the steps in a notebook or on a computer, this way you can go back and look at your notes to know exactly how to complete a job that you might not have done for months without having to spend the time to figure it all out again.
Personality Type: ISTJ
As an ISTJ I have made a few adaptations in how I work with others and how I go about my work that I think have made me more successful. My ISTJ preference generally suits me relatively well as a project manager for a utility company. As an ISTJ I prefer to work through problems logically, have strong opinions for the ‘right’ way to do things, am extremely reliable, and usually view working alone as a more efficient option than working in a group. Since learning my own MBTI and how others are different from me, I learned that I needed to develop my interpersonal skills to advance my career.
I am not typically curious about my co-workers lives but I have realized that many of them respond better to me if I occasionally ask them about their interests outside of work. Hence, I keep a spreadsheet of my co-workers personal interests such that I can ask follow-up questions at a later date and seem interested even if I really don’t care. I also try to ask how people are doing and remember instances in which I can relate in order to come across as more empathetic.
I have also worked on my body language, especially in meetings. I feel that many meetings are a complete waste of time for me, and that meetings can be a terribly inefficient way to exchange information. However, I usually make a great effort not to let my body language reveal my true thoughts on the meeting as I know that it may make others think of me as arrogant or disinterested.
Personality Type: isfj
Hi Donna, I’m pretty sure I am an ISFJ. My career story is really rather plain. I worked for a number of years in various areas such clerical, sewing and did a brief stint cooking. For me nothing compared to the satisfaction I felt when at last I married and had children. I loved being a mother, caring for my young children and taking care of my home in order to make it a place of growth, security and joy for my family and anyone else who visited. More than twenty years later I still feel this way. Sounds ‘cute’, I know, but this is the way it is for me.
Thanks Phil for adding your career experience. There are many useful tips here for other managers who prefer ISTJ.
Thanks for sharing your story Sonya. I believe parenting and homemaking are two essential life roles that provide a major contribution to societal health and well-being. I appreciate you reminding us that there is more to life than work. What people do outside of work can provide a valuable contribution as well as providing satisfaction and joy.
Personality Type: ISFJ
I am currently working as an air stewardess in a rather prestigious airline. It is my first job and I really hated how the training was! They made all the new crew learned on the spot and conduct test right after. I find that discussion in class was not useful. I can’t fully internalize what was said. My classmates were made of mostly extroverts and they were really noisy and disruptive to learning in my opinion. We were supposed to do a graduation dance at the end of our training. Some of my classmates were dancers, some attended schools in the past where they teach dancing. I really couldn’t dance and they only allowed us two weeks to learn. One of my classmates was so mean and said that I don’t know what the hell I was doing and spoil the whole show. In the end the graduation show has nothing to do with our actual duties on board. I completely have no idea why we have to do the dance up till now and why the training school didn’t spend more time teaching us actual duties during the training period and choose to make up do stupid and redundant things like learning to dance.
And I was often criticized for being an introvert while at work. While some were nicer and said that with more exposure, I would learn to PR more, others were nasty and said that this job is simply not suitable for introverts.
Often in life, I felt that I could understand extroverts and that the things that they said are usually said in spur of the moment, without much “filter”. I grew up with an extroverted sister and mother. My friends are made up of mostly extroverts as well. Hence, my exposure to them is wide. I began reading a lot on personalities type since I was younger and I can really understand the differences. However, I find that many extroverts can’t respect and do the same for introverts.
Hi Grace, Sorry to hear that other people are not accepting of who you are and that your educational experience did not suit your learning style. I agree it is too bad that people are not aware of and interested in accommodating other personality preferences. That is one of my goals for this site – to educate people and help them appreciate all type preferences. I would be happy to have a air stewardess with ISFJ preference. I imagine your gifts would be knowing and following important safety procedures as well as being kind and considerate of others (As you demonstrate in your post by respecting others with Extraverted preferences). Hopefully your experiences on the job will improve as people get to know you and work with you. Best wishes, Donna
Personality Type: ISTJ
Hi Donna. I’m ISTJ with a background in science and currently working as an engineer. I really enjoy my job and think it suits me well as does working in a male dominated field. ISTJs are hardworking, and I’ve found that others really appreciate that trait in me. I’ve become better at working in groups with practice and have made an effort to lighten up. My greatest challenges now are keeping in mind the bigger picture when working on a project rather than getting carried away with the details and also thinking outside the box. It can be very difficult for me to think about how to approach a problem when I have no experience of it and I tend to rely too heavily on others’ opinions. I’m trying to practice taking a step back to gain a different perspective and encouraging the creative side of myself.
Personality Type: ISFJ
Hi Donna. I’m an ISFJ. Even though I have no real job, I am very productive at home helping my mom with all the chores.
Hi Billy, Thanks for your comment. Being productive and helping your Mom are great ways to start off your career.
Personality Type: ISFJ
Hi Donna
I work at a university where I’m a project manager and I supervise my marketing team of student staff. I love my job because I can get into my zone and do my design work. The other part of my job that I love is mentoring my staff to become better designers/developers. It’s like raising adult kids, giving them advice on career goals or even life problems. I’m willing to sacrifice myself just so I can help one of my students meet their career or academic goals. Usually this requires me to do something I might not like such as to do interviews because now I need to find a replacement for a student I helped out or work overtime to meet a deadline because they need time off to go study. Part of my job also requires me to do some customer facing service. I hate it when the phone rings and I have to answer it. Actually, I don’t like front desk duty at all but I have to because I also do system support – in order for me to understand how our system is used, I need to do front desk and use the system. Aside from that, I have a 4 year old and an ENFP hubby.
Thanks for sharing your story Lynne. Sounds like your team is lucky to have you as a project manager.