Career Change Advice?

Before leaving high school I did not know what career I wanted to do and my hobbies were things like painting art which does not have much career wise to offer. On 3 occasions over 12 years I've tried the Myers-Briggs personality test when choosing a career or considering career change.



The advantages are that it confirms your personality that you are already aware of and to add to that identify some character and skill sets you can draw attention to when applying for a job, etc. Great! But the downside is (like other psychometric tests) that it makes career suggestions based on your personality NOT your natural abilities and interests. Another thing it does not address is the workplace culture of each career being suitable to your values, likes, dislikes, etc. Some general examples I can think of are : Investment Banking which is highly competitive, accounting which is troublesome and stressful, working in an NGO very laid-back by comparison, etc.



From personal experience this test identified me as an INTJ and on another occasion ISTJ, even though I answered the questions as truthfully and accurately as possible. The top 3 careers recommended for me by this test and a career counselor were : Accounting (which I failed study in no matter how hard I tried), Engineering (not academic enough) and Office Admin (so boooooooring and wasn't fast enough in). Based on my experience in the careers and courses recommended above, I would not recommend it and I haven't found much evidence to prove the test accurate enough for recommending potential careers to those looking for or changing careers.



I feel like a stupid mug for following the career recommendations the test and career counselor said would be at my peak potential (and failed all these) this leaves me in a real dilemma. It has left me feeling like I can’t do anything and it is really bothering me.



1. Is there another process that’s consistently reliable?



2. How do you find a career you would be best at if you have hobbies (like painting and travel) that are NOT so useful to the job market?



3. Has anyone been through this experience or similar and how did you resolve it?



Please advise as I would love to see yours and other people’s comments. Thanks.Career Change Advice?
First of all, nothing can tell you what the best career is for you other than you. You may well do better in something you're interested in and don't have as much natural potential for than something you have a lot of potential for but aren't interested in. I say this because if you're interested in what you're doing, then you're more likely to work hard and passionately at it.



The Myers-Briggs is also a flawed system for the reasons you already said. It doesn't take interests and talents into account, and it's only so reliable as a measurement of personality. If you want a career test that might give you better results, I found a list of them with reviews on how useful they are here: http://www.quintcareers.com/online_asses…



That said, I will attempt to answer your questions.



1. Unfortunately not. Different people function differently. Some people know exactly what they want to do with their lives from the time they're six years old, and others stay lost for decades. The best advice I can give you is to pay attention to what you enjoy and are good at, and then figure out what career uses those skills.



2. Sometimes you have to be creative. If you're inclined toward art, there may be something for you in some kind of design. If you're inclined toward travel, it might be best to go into a business that will have you make business trips frequently. There may not be a market for your exact hobby, but they might be jobs that include elements of them and would be things you might enjoy doing because of that.



3. I can point to myself here. It's not the same situation, but similar enough. I majored in East Asian Studies, and while I really enjoy studying those cultures and histories, there aren't many jobs that use that background that actually interest me. I took a career test a while back and it was better for direction that the Myers-Briggs, but still really only succeeded in telling me things I already knew. I've had a hobby of doing various kinds of art for a while, and I enjoy playing around in Photoshop, so now I'm looking at a career in graphic design.



If you decide you're interested in something technical (graphic design included), this is a website that offers online skill training classes that could help you with the transition to whatever you want to learn. http://nefuniversity.org I've started on some of the classes in the web design package and they're pretty good, and considerably more affordable than many online classes.



I hope this is helpful. The best advice I can give is to pay attention to your own talents and interests. The tests can help highlight something that you might not have thought of on your own, but they shouldn't dictate what you do with your life.Career Change Advice?
My sister over the past few weeks found herself redundant so she used the opportunity to search for a job. She unearthed the website in the box below which gives tips on how to find jobs different countries.

For more detail please visit

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for most people the process is not very difficult.



first of all make an accurate assessment of your mental abilities. if accounting was too hard for you, of course you would stand no chance in engineering. what subjects did you do best in school? how much education do you have? how difficult was your education? you were able to express yourself reasonably well in your question so i would think you are fairly capable.



next determine a broad area of possible jobs, for example health care or business etc. and try to determine where your interest is, and then what jobs within that general area do you have sufficient ability to perform. try to interview people that you know who are in these jobs. this will help you to determine if they are something that you could reasonably accomplish and would you want to do them. you will probably need some specialized education for whatever job field you choose.



also look at the jobs that you have held so far. what did you like about them? what did you dislike about them? maybe a different job at your current location would work better. i gather from your question that you are 12 years out of high school and if so you should have held many jobs and you should have learned from other jobs that were related to the ones that you held. in short by now you should know quite a bit about your likes and dislikes and your abilities and what you want from a job or career. i don't believe you will gain by consulting with more experts or taking more tests. you might ask people that you know about what they think you might do, but if it does not make sense to you then don't bother. also, finding something reasonable is about the best that you will be able to do, although some people do find an ideal job for them.



as for me i have changed jobs or careers a number of times when i was laid off from one job only to eventually get another job in another field. some were better than others but none were close to ideal.



hope this helps