Empowering career search and enrichment

Written by Patrick L. Kerwin, MBTI® Master Practitioner

Sometimes, despite your best efforts to keep yourself chill for the holidays, at work, family reunions, etc., you can feel yourself going down that slippery slope of being totally stressed out. One of the ways you know you’re headed in that direction is when you start “overdoing” your personality type. And every type has its own “special” way of doing that! Find yours below, and watch for those signs…


ISTJ and ISFJ: Obsessing about details
INTJ and INFJ: Over-swirling about connections and possibilities
ISTP and INTP: Over-focusing on finding logical conclusions
ISFP and INFP: Over-analyzing how you’re feeling

ESTP and ESFP: Being obsessively active
ENFP and ENTP: Bouncing from one possibility to another to another
ESTJ and ENTJ: Overly-controlling situations and people
ESFJ and ENFJ: Over-focusing on creating harmony and pleasing others

Often just recognizing that you’re overdoing it is enough to get you off of that slippery slope!

Written by Catherine Rains

The main difference between the authentic MBTI® tool (published by CPP and no one else) and a knock-off version of the MBTI is the reliability and validity of each. The knock offs aren’t based on sound research, or usually any research at all, nor is the scoring method, so students will get inaccurate results much more often, up to 50% of the time. The reason some faculty and counselors love using the knock-offs, besides the fact they are usually cheaper, is that they think they are getting as accurate type with a knock off as with the real MBTI. Why do they think this? Simple – they take the knock off MBTI themselves to see if it comes up with their type, and lo and behold it does, 100% guaranteed! Problem with this validation method is that once you know your MBTI type, you can take the most invalid MBTI knock-off and still come up with your type. For instance, once you are clear that you have a preference for Extraversion, you will easily identify E/I questions, even poorly written ones, and you’ll almost always answer them in the E direction. Students who don’t know their type, on the other hand, will not have this level of self-knowledge, resulting in them being mistyped much more often and possibly making career decisions based on inaccurate information about their natural preferences.

Written by Patrick Kerwin
MBTI® Master Practitioner

So it’s that wonderful, magical time of year, when your thoughts turn to…finding that “perfect gift” for all the special people in your life! If you prefer “J,” you probably started thinking about this back in September, wanting to put your gift-purchasing plan in place. And if you prefer “P,” you probably have been playing around with some ideas, but will really start kicking your gift-buying into gear right before you give it! Both styles work – and whatever your preference, you can use type to find that truly perfect gift. Here’s how…

First, think about the “type” of person you’re buying for. And when I say “type,” I mean their “MBTI® type” (of course!). In particular, it’s helpful if you can figure out their two middle letters, as those letters influence what a person likes. If they’ve taken the MBTI instrument, then that’s a slam dunk: just ask them what their 4-letter type is. If they haven’t, here are some clues to what their two middle letters might be:

STs tend to be practical and logical.

SFs tend to be practical and sympathetic.

NFs tend to be innovative and empathetic.

NTs tend to be innovative and logical.

Second, think about the “type” of gift you buy: 

When you’re buying for STs, look for gifts that they would find practical and useful.  Often STs like gadgets – but useful ones.  For STs, that grill fork with a built-in digital thermometer might just be the perfect gift!
Hopefully these tips will make your gift-buying easier this season.  Happy shopping! 

Written by Catherine Rains

The golden rule with teaching by type is to teach how your students learn, rather than how you like to teach. Some classes will have a dominant type, such as ESFJ for education, but most classes will have all types present, which means faculty need to teach to all four type learning styles.

So what does each type want? Let’s start with Introverted Sensing (IS), who prefers a very organized syllabus with clear expectations and goals set for the semester. They want to know EXACTLY what the faculty requires of them, with clearly written step by step instructions for completing assignments. Introverted Intuition (IN) wants a broad vision of what will be taught in the course, and then given the freedom to find a new way to learn the topic on their own. They thrive on independent study assignments where they can do it in their own creative way. Extraverted Intuition (EI) also wants to be given a broad vision for the class, and then be given the freedom to skip the directions and find a new way to learn the topic. They want to talk and try it out, starting with the big picture, with little details provided. And finally Extraverted Sensing (ES) wants lots of hands-on activities that produce practical results. They want step-by-step instructions for assignments and the freedom to try out what is being taught from the beginning.

Written by Catherine Rains

First, let’s look at the learning style of students with ES preferences. They are looking for a classroom experience that is practical, real-life and hands-on. They want to experience what they are learning and test this learning in a group setting, rather than just listening to a lecture, reflecting on what they have heard, and being tested on the material. They also want their faculty to provide clear steps on any assignment, and be given opportunities to think out loud. In addition, they learn by talking out what they are learning. Add the P preference to ES, and you have someone that wants this hands-on, active learning to be fun.


Next week we’ll look at who is teaching our ESTP and ESFP students, which could be part of the reason they are at risk.

Written by Catherine Rains

Obviously what these two types share in common is the ESP combination. These types want to be actively engaged in the classroom, and if they aren’t, they will be easily distracted by what is happening outside. Students with SP preferences are the “fun seekers”, and often use their fun meter to measure whether what’s happening in the classroom is worth their time compared to what they could be doing elsewhere. Distractions could include a wide range of things including a job, a party, an academic club, someone walking by their classroom window, etc.

One of my favorite examples came from a good friend, with an ESTP preference, who dropped out of school during his junior year in college because a part-time job turned into a career opportunity. He thought working sounded more fun than finishing school, where he wasn’t very engaged in class. Good news is that he returned to school at age 40 to finish his degree, and eventually earned an MBA as well. But could anything have been done to keep him in school when he was 21?

Stay tuned for next week’s blog for some ideas on how to engage students with these preference types.

Written by Catherine Rains

Of course this is another trick question. Perceiving preference students often are labeled as “procrastinators” because of the way they wait until the deadline to complete a project or make a decision. But as we’ve discussed in previous blog entries, they aren’t actually procrastinating with these behaviors. They are simply energized by the deadline, and/or want to keep their options open to make the best decision. Yet, even though we know this about Perceiving preferences, they still get labeled as the procrastinators, even by themselves, because in America we culture our citizens to have Judging preference behaviors.


So the real question is not about who procrastinates more, but what do you procrastinate on? To put it simply, everyone procrastinates, and what you procrastinate on will be with those behaviors associated with your non- preferred preferences. For instance, my preferences are for ENFP, so I tend to delay doing things that will require Sensing or Thinking skills, which are preferences I’m just not as comfortable doing. These take much more energy, so I procrastinate. When I wait until the deadline to complete a project, I am not procrastinating; I’m simply using my energy in the most efficient manner!

Written by Catherine Rains

Now here is a trick question if I ever saw one! To answer this question you have to look at how each preference goes about approaching a project with a deadline. When a student with a Judging preference is assigned a term paper, they usually begin working on it soon after it is assigned. They choose a topic quickly, outline what needs to be done, and start working through all the steps. In fact, they keep working these steps in a fairly focused manner until at some point they decide they need to get this off their to-do list. So then they focus their energy to get this project done. Consequently, they often get the paper complete long before the deadline.


Our student with a P preference, on the other hand, also begins working on the paper soon after assigned, however much of the actual work is in their head. They are thinking about the topic, maybe researching different ideas for it, talking it over with fellow students or their teacher, writing down ideas for how they want to approach the topic, etc. Then close to the deadline, and this could be a week before, three days before, or the night before, they get a flood of focused energy, and they bring all of their ideas together to write the paper in an efficient manner, finishing it on time.

Therefore, the question isn’t who gets things done quicker, but instead: when does each preference get energized to complete a project? Judging preferences are energized in the beginning and Perceiving preferences are energized at the end, with both using their energy when they are most efficient. So the answer to the original question is: Judging preferences are “quicker” in the beginning of a project, and Perceiving preferences are “quicker” near the deadline of the project. The trick is to tap into our student’s natural way of getting energized so that they are do things in a manner that is most efficient and energizing for them.

Written by Catherine Rains

One of the best strategies for supporting students with a Perceiving preference is to first allow them to delve into the many options that fascinate them. Suggest they take classes and internships/co-ops in the many topics that interest them. If they also have a preference for Intuition, that list will be even longer and more diversified, making the process of narrowing and selecting even more challenging. However, one way to get them to finally commit (at the deadline), and to stick to their choice, is to show them how their chosen major will allow them to pursue many different kinds of careers after graduation. Majors such as Communications, English, Psychology, and even Business, are common choices for Perceiving preferences because of the many potential career paths each offers.

Why do Perceiving students really wait until the deadline to declare their major? Stay tuned for a discussion on this topic next week.

Written by Catherine Rains

One of my favorite ways of “guessing” whether someone has a preference for Judging or Perceiving is to ask them WHEN in their college career did they choose their major. Often times, people with a preference for Judging will say they chose before they went to college or by the end of the first semester of their Freshmen year. They need that decision to be made and checked off their list so they can get on with the business of completing the coursework required to graduate in 4 years or less. Perceiving preferences, on the other hand, will often say they chose at the drop dead date for choosing a major, usually at the end of their sophomore year.

This is an ALMOST full proof way of identifying someone with a Perceiving preference, unless something in the Perceiver’s world pressured, encouraged, and/or nudged them to choose earlier. Most Perceivers will say they were “forced” to choose, and even when they did choose, they didn’t consider it a final decision. Much more often than Judging preferences, Perceivers are willing to change majors to something quite different than the original major. For example, they might choose Biology and then switch to Business, and then switch to Philosophy, hence losing credits in the process and delaying graduation by a semester or two.

What can we do to support students with Perceiving preferences stick with their choice of a major? Stay tuned for next week’s article on this very topic!

Written by Jim Larkin

Have you been introduced to the booklet Introduction to Type® and Learning? This little gem was written by Donna Dunning, a learning, career development and work performance consultant. Donna has been around Type for over 20 years and has contributed to or personally authored several Introduction to Type® booklets. Introduction to Type® and Learning offers many insights into how type impacts how we learn, not just in the classroom setting, but by what life brings our way. The Introduction begins with:

Written by Catherine Rains

Face it – in the United States we train our citizens to have a Judging preference, whether they like it or not. Where is my evidence? It starts with how we encourage students to choose a major before they leave high school or at the latest by the beginning of their freshmen year. We feel sorry for students who are going through college as a History or Communications major, not knowing what they are going to do after graduation. As someone with a preference for Perceiving, I know first-hand the shame that is inadvertently bestowed on students who cannot quickly answer the question “what are you going to do after graduation”. On the outside looking in, it appears that P’s will never make it.

However, you and I both know lots of people with a preference for Perceiving (50% of our colleagues), and they are doing quite well in their professional lives. It’s simply another path to success, equally valid to the one that most J’s take. Ask a professional with a Perceiving preference how they got to where they are today and they will say something like this: “it just happened”. Usually without a plan or goal in mind, other than maybe to like the work they do. They began by choosing a major that interested them, and possibly a second one (and a third), and then choosing jobs after graduation using the same criteria. One simple step at a time, until they find themselves in the career they are in today - as successful as their Judging preference colleagues. Just a different—and often misunderstood—path to get to the same destination.

Written by Jim Larkin

I recently had the occasion to view a “TED” lecture. It was delivered by Simon Sinek, author of the book “Start with Why.” In a nutshell, Sinek distinguishes between “Leaders” and “those who Lead.” Leaders, Sinek says, hold positions of power or authority, those who lead inspire. We follow those who lead, not because we have to, but because we want to. We follow those who lead, not for their sakes, but for our own. And what inspires? Knowing the “Why” of what we do, not just the “What.”

Take a moment to think about why you do what you do. If you’re answer is to help point students in the right direction, think more deeply. Helping students find direction is what you do, it is the outcome. Why do you help them find direction? I believe you do it to help them become happy, satisfied, and content (or whatever your bottom-line is) in the direction you help them find. Sure you’ll feel good in five years when that “lost” student comes back into your office to thank you for helping them find a job/career because now they are making a lot of money and are climbing the corporate ladder. How much better will you feel when that same student walks into your office and says thanks because you helped them find job satisfaction; not because they make a lot of money or they are progressing, but just because they like what they do, they are satisfied and content in their work life?

What you do may be to help your students understand what it means to be an ENTJ or an Artistic, Enterprising, Social (AES) individual. Why you do it is to help them be at peace with what it means to be an ENTJ or AES individual. Why you do what you do is to inspire your students to be better at being themselves, to find the joy in their lives and to find a job that won’t push that joy down, make them suppress it inside, or have to find it somewhere else.

If you would like to view the Simon Sinek’s TED lecture, you can find it here. Find your “why” and let it ignite a fire in you to inspire your students to ignite a belief in themselves. You are the inspiration! Identify why you do what you do and it will inform the what of what you do.

Written by Catherine Rains

Over the last 15 years I have taught hundreds of MBTI workshops all over the U.S., and during every one of them (yes, I mean at EVERY one), someone will come up to me and “out” themselves as a P for the first time. Why does this always happen to me?


Maybe because I always share my story about being trained to have a Judging preference as a child, a process I liken to being trained to use your right hand even though you are naturally left handed. This never fails to trigger a career counselor in the audience to start questioning their preference for Judging, and by the end of the workshop, they excitedly confess their true preference for P, as if discovering a long lost best friend, or being let out of jail.

Knowing that you are really a P doesn’t suddenly change how you get things done – you still get things in on time, make lists, set goals and accomplish them. However, it does open up a world of new choices for how to integrate the world of P into what you had been trained to do as a J. What might that look like? Stay tuned for next week when we talk about how a P survives with grace (and humor) in a J world.

Written by Jim Larkin

In continuation of my 2-part post, I discuss more instructions to give students when taking assessments - specifically for the Strong Interest Inventory® assessment assessment. For the Strong, the confusion is often around the student thinking that they are indicating whether they think they could actually do the job well or be successful in a class about a particular subject. The Strong does not measure skills and abilities, only INTERESTS. You might tell them to imagine getting on a cross-country flight. When the person sits down next to them and they go through the typical introductions and find out that the person is a Broadcast Journalist, Pharmacist, or a Recreational Therapist, does that pique their interest to make them ask some questions (showing some interest or that they LIKE that occupation) or do they want to just say, “Oh, that’s interesting” and turn to pick up the airline magazine and do the crossword puzzle (showing indifference) or make them think inside, “Ugh, who would be interested in that?” (indicating they DISLIKE that occupation). Remember to emphasize that their interests are being compared with the interests of 1,000s of people who have completed the Strong, who are successful in their jobs, have been in their careers for at least 3 years AND are satisfied in their jobs. The theory states that people with common interests will have a high likelihood of achieving high job satisfaction and success in the same jobs.


I hope you found this helpful. If you have any tips or insights of your own to share, please post as a comment!

Written by Catherine Rains

Let’s face it – we live in a J world. ESTJ to be exact. Most organizations, and most schools in the U.S., validate people who exhibit Judging behaviors. From birth, you are taught to get things done on time, arrive early, keep your room neat, use a day timer, keep lots of lists, make decisions and stick to them, etc. Ok, I admit it, I’m talking about myself. I was raised as a Judging kid, by a wonderful Judging father. He was so successful at raising me as a J that I thought I was one until I turned 33.


What changed? Well my type didn’t. I was ALWAYS a P undercover, even to myself. What changed is what happened when I turned 33. At that point in my life I was the director of a college career center, managing 10 professionals. For the first time, I was able to do things in a manner that I preferred, without a boss managing my daily actions. Through the process of learning to be a manager, I realized that I had always been a Perceiver, who was trained as a J to survive in a J world.

Don’t get me wrong – I am very grateful that my father taught me Judging skills. They have greatly added to the success of my professional life. However, now I can easily access my J skills when appropriate (and it often is), and can bring in my preference for Perceiving to make the process much easier and more fun.

Stay tuned for the next excerpt on this exciting series on the “world of P”!

Written by Jim Larkin

The best results in any personality or interest inventory will be returned when the “client” has clear instructions on how to approach the questions. This is equally true for the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® assessment as it is for the Strong Interest Inventory® assessment. When giving instructions to your students who are sitting down to take either or both assessments it is critical that they know how to approach the questions. With the MBTI assessment, you want to emphasize “preferences”. With the Strong you are, of course, after the students’ interests.


When instructing your students who are taking the MBTI® assessment, emphasize that they are to indicate their PREFERRED behavior when answering the questions. They may find that they typically act one way more often, but given the choice, they may actually PREFER to act more in line with the other answer. Their typical behavior may reflect what they have learned to be the “correct” behavior, but if they truly answer honestly, they may find that they are not acting in a manner that would be more natural or comfortable for them. Another way to approach this is to answer as if no one else is going to see your actions and give you their approval or judgment about that behavior; no friends, parents or teachers are going to tell you whether you did the right thing, only yourself. There are no expectations or “shoulds” included in the answers. There is no “normally” I do this, because the possibility is that they may “normally” be acting outside of their preferred behavior because of an outside expectation.

Next week, I’ll share some insights for the Strong assessment.

Written by Catherine Rains

During a time of transition or at mid-life, many people begin to explore their opposite functions. For instance, my preferences are for NF, which has been reflected in my career choices for most of my adult life, in addition to my personal interests. However, at mid-life I started to become fascinated with ST activities, the opposite of my preference for NF. For me this took the shape of a new hobby, collage, which involved assembling hundreds of magazine pieces together like a puzzle, resulting in a collage that looks like a painting. Although a creative NF activity, this art form is VERY detailed oriented and VERY ST in nature. For some people, this movement toward their opposite function could also mean that their Preference Clarity Index (PCI) could move toward the middle of the scale (their preference bar would get shorter) reflecting their new fascination with their opposite functions. However, your type does not change. Bottom line is that I’m still an NF, who is now accessing more of my opposite functions in a more conscious, deliberate way. Oftentimes if you see a client pursuing their Tertiary and Inferior (opposite functions), they will be doing it in a way that still honors their Dominant and Auxiliary functions. For me that means doing collage in an ST way, but the subject of my collages are about inspiring people to find their heart’s desire –all NF!

Next week, we’ll be talking about another favorite topic – the misunderstood world of P!

Written by Jim Larkin

Have you ever heard a student say that when you are going over their Strong Interest Inventory® (Strong) results? I’ve heard that one before. The thing we need to do as Career Counselors is draw the students’ attention away from specifics, this or that occupation, and move them over to trends. Look at the top 10 occupations and draw out General Occupational Theme trends. The Strong assessment lists only 122 occupations per gender. In no way does it intend for the student to choose from only those occupations. The Holland Dictionary of Occupations contains thousands of occupations—all of them assigned with a General Occupational Theme code. Our goal is to help the students identify a few Themes that they can then focus their search on.

The Strong Interest Inventory® Manual: Revised Edition offers another approach:

“…scores indicating similar interest in [for instance] “Production Worker” suggest an interest in the production and processing of tangible goods that might be linked to other occupational areas such as engineering, supply chain management, or construction… no interest inventory can provide scales that will measure the respondent’s interests in every occupation or academic major. Thus, generalizing the OSs to additional occupations and majors of the same type can greatly expand the usefulness of the instrument.” (Pg. 171)

Another approach takes advantage of programs such as O*NET™. On this site you will find listings for thousands of occupations that provide job descriptions, typical work tasks, work environment, expected pay scales and even projected job availability. By using the job descriptions, you can pull out specific tasks that appeal to the student and begin to see another trend. So, instead of identifying other occupational areas, like the manual suggests, you can find trends within those appealing tasks. By putting these tasks together on a list you can then start to create job descriptions and look for jobs that most closely reflect their dream job. You will also notice that O*NET assigns GOT codes to the occupations. One caveat here, the codes associated with jobs on O*NET relate to the tasks, not interests. So, GOT codes on the Strong assessment will not necessarily match the codes on the O*NET. Just something to keep in mind.

So, next time you hear “I don’t want to do any of those jobs!” you can start this simple process that may use “those” jobs to help you find the right one. Good luck!

Photo credit: furiousgeorge81 on Flickr.

• What they contribute 
• What they need from others 
•  How others may see them 
•  Under stress they may 
•  Conflict generators 
•  Blind spots 
•  Areas for development