Morning Gorgeous xx
How are you all today? I hope you’re all good? If not my thoughts are with you all…
One of the biggest problems I’m facing with my transition (and I suspect this is the case for most Trans people), is working out who you actually are. Who are you going to become and what type of person are you in reality? Remember that, typically, Dysphoria usually means you’re living inside a mirror-glass box. With the reason for the Dysphoria typically being what causes the mirrors to exist and take effect – you can’t see past them. Once your outside of that box though, the world is a completely different place. You soon learn that your reactions to the world around you, and it’s reaction to you, can be very surprising – Almost a shock, sometimes.
That’s what is happening to me at the moment – I’m trying to get back into the world of work, I’m trying to deal with the problems associated with not being in work and I’m trying to remove the barriers, from a long term perspective, so that I stay in work. And in a job that I enjoy and can sustain me.
So my employment adviser asked me to do a basic Meyers-Briggs analysis. He wanted to find out what my personality type was, and from that he can then understand what type of role within my chosen industry(s) that I should be doing. Well, I thought I need to help myself and resolve my issues, so I did the test. I wish I hadn’t, but I did the test. Here’s my results:
Yeah, thanks for that – Characteristics of more than one personality type, great.
The main issue here is the clash with Introversion over Extroversion. This one really does speak for itself, and it’s one I already knew about because I can be both, depending on how I feel. I kind of have this switch, you know, that I can turn on and off. And I can’t really identify what triggers it, but, it’ll flip me from Introvert to Extrovert and back again at a moments notice. Handy.
Yet there’s the other problem, which is not so obvious. There is a slightly less marginal preference for Thinking / Feeling (6%). My score is just outside the boundary for what would be considered marginal but not enough to indicate a strong preference – Hello!
I had an idea about this being an issue, but seeing it in black and white is a whole different ball game. You see; when I get bored, I start to think – In great detail. And when I’m not bored and have a lot to do; I’m usually an extrovert and I’m out there with the pack. So is boredom the trigger then? No, because too much to do and I’ll procrastinate; which will lead to boredom. I hate my life, it’s a vicious circle. This is a very Black & White personality trait as well, it’s either On or Off; no in-between. I’m either out there, or I’m in there – Period.
Anyone for either BiPolar Disorder or BPD? Been there, it’s not that. I am Autistic (Asperger Syndrome) if that helps.
To try to resolve the problem; I reverted to the thinking side of my personality, which I always do. And I read the profiles (from more than one site) for all four personality types which I thought might apply:
The four in Purple are the ones that apply to me. So put them together and I’m basically the Visionary Thinker who Inspires people through Ideology. Head in the clouds spring to mind? – Yeah, I get that. Sure as eggs are eggs (and not chickens) though; I have aspects of all four different types in my personality – Now we can go all Jung & Freudian here and say that we can all relate to all sixteen different types in some way, and I get that. But when all four do actually stand out as being you; there’s a problem – Especially when you clearly can’t relate to any of the others, it’s just not there…
How do I deal with this problem then? Well I’m relating this to work-based scenarios, so what kinds of jobs, broadly speaking, do these four personality types suit? So if you were going to choose a career SOLELY based on your Meyers-Briggs type, what would it be?
Well I’ll list the basic jobs for the four types that matter below:
- ENTP:- Attorney at Law, Psychologist, Entrepreneur, Photographer, Consultant, Engineer, Scientist, Actor, Sales Rep, Marketing Rep, Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst
- INTP:- Scientist, Physicist, Chemist, Photographer, Strategic Planner, Mathematician, University Professor, Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst, Technical Writer, Engineer, Attorney, Judge, Forensic Research, Park Ranger, Mechanic
- ENFP:- Consultant, Psychologist, Entrepreneur, Actor, Teacher, Counsellor, Politician / Diplomat, Writer / Journalist, Television Reporter, Computer Programmer / Systems Analyst, Scientist, Engineer, Artist
- INFP:- Writers, Counsellors / Social Workers, Teachers / Professors, Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Musicians, Clergy / Religious Workers
These are by no means an exhaustive list but I hope you get the type of jobs that should suit that person. It’s not always right but it’s a start.
Well several of these job types stood out to me immediately. And anyone who knows me well; will know what they are. For those that don’t, here’s another list (picking out those that are repeated from the four different personality types as they’re the ones that stood out):
- Consultant
- Engineer
- Computer Programmer
- Systems Analyst
- Writer / Journalist
- Psychologist / Counsellor
- Scientist
- Artist / Musician
- Teacher / Professor
See anything? Yeah, pick a job doing one of the above and it’s a pretty safe bet for me; based on what you’ve just read. However, if you know me well; you will have spotted something straightaway. If you don’t, then it might help you to know that I have worked in the IT & Technical Support / Customer Service industry’s for over 30 years, and my passions outside of that are usually in some way creative (Music & this blog for example). Oh, and I’m very active on Quora; the Q&A site, at the moment as well.
I do it to myself every time…
Now I don’t know how the Meyers-Briggs personality types were worked out. But I’d heard of the test before. And I knew there was sixteen different Meyers-Briggs types; but I’ve NEVER done a Meyers-Briggs myself before. EVER. No word of a lie here. It’s something the HR people want you to do, and something I’d actively tried to avoid. On top of that, if you seen my CV, you’d get what I’m trying to say straightaway. It’s like I just know, and do, but I haven’t got a clue what I know. It sucks ass.
In fact, you can see for yourself. As before I transitioned, I used to use a CV site known as NETCV to advertise myself – I’ve pointed many a recruiter in that direction as part of the application process. The profile is still up and I can’t take it down as it won’t let me in to remove it, so I gave up on it.
Go here: Net CV and see for yourself. Meanwhile I’ve still got to find a job…
Much Love,
Vikki xx
Feeling Trans 