Become the Nike swoosh of your life! Most students put little effort into developing and promoting their brand.
I put the below video together for a group of college students in the Balkans. You can begin at the “4:15” mark to avoid the details about the charitable organization.
Here is a website that is similar to MBTI and it is free:
https://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality
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Also, here is another free one. So many companies do this that I think it would send the right message and protect you during a job interview if you made sure to do this at some point.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp
Contact me for material on how to interpret your results.
I make students do this – Do a SWOT analysis for yourself by identifying 5-10 traits for each category. Strengths and Weaknesses might be obvious, but Opportunities and Threats might be less obvious (but do your best). For example, an opportunity might be that you are a millennial with lots of energy and a positive attitude that is not typically associated with older generations. Another opportunity might be that you are open to and actually eager to live and work anywhere (and travel a lot). A threat might be that for the next few years the baby boomers will still be in the workforce which might allow for fewer job opportunities or promotions because of your lack of work experience (and they have lots of work experience).
The purpose of this exercise is to be prepared for an interview where they ask questions to this affect. You are basically trying to determine what your current brand and image looks like at this point in your life. It is a self assessment of what you have to offer and what you need to work on. This also helps you determine what might be the best fit for you professionally. I will also be reading these in order to get to know you (but be forthright, there are no wrong answers).
Note: One of the coolest resumes I have ever seen is a student from last year that took his personal SWOT and built it into the top of his resume. He spent hours on developing his own personal SWOT (he took a personal self assessment to help with that) and then he spent several more hours creating an infographic of sorts that looked exceptional at the top of his resume. He said employers ate it up and most interviews involved discussing his personal SWOT and his professional work experience. Having said that, you still might need to do a personal self assessment and it is not that easy to do. Our business college will actually pay for and interpret for you a personal SWOT type of self assessment. Again, students that make the extra effort and do this are better prepared for job interviews because they can better describe their strengths and weaknesses in the context of the job they are interviewing for. It makes for talking through the STAR interview techniques much more effective. If you would like to take this personal psychological profile test called the MBTI, then please stop by our career services and they will guide you.
Note skill sets required of supply chain professionals:
Solid skills required in future supply chain managers include:
- Project management
- Technical understanding
- Cost accounting skills
- Ability to understand financial statements
- Understanding of e-business / e-procurement systems
- Troubleshooting, problem solving
- Understanding of cross-cultural / global issues
- Business ethics
- Understanding of the legal issues involved in managing contracts
Soft skills and personality attributes required in future supply managers include:
- Ability to communicate effectively through presentations, email, one-on-one, and team discussion
- Ability to logically organize thoughts
- Ability as a natural facilitator to enable team-based decisions
- Time management
- Leadership
- Understanding of customer’s expectations
- Vision – creating the environment
- Desire to learn
- Ability to present oneself with confidence
- Ability to think on one’s feet
- Ability to pass on knowledge and mentoring
More…
WMU Career Assessment Guidelines…
What is a career assessment?
In general, career assessments can:
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses, i.e. what you do well and what you could do better
- Pinpoint your interests and match them with your skills
- Clarify your values, specifically what is important to you
- Examine the overlap among your skills, interests, personality, and values to identify corresponding majors or careers
These assessments are not a test of an individual’s abilities, but rather an examination of how their skills, values, personality and/or interests align with academic majors and career pathways. Career assessments can help you select or eliminate a major and/or career, as they are one way to start exploring different options available to you. Sometimes career assessments increase the number of options of interest to you, while other times they narrow your options. Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers when taking a career assessment.
Who can take a career assessment?
All Haworth College of Business students are welcome to take a career assessment. Yet, students who need assistance selecting a major or career pathway are strongly encouraged to take a career assessment.
What career assessments are available to business students?
- FOCUS – provides a description of your interests, skills, personality and values in order to explore careers matching your unique profile.
2. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – provides an in-depth description of your personality preferences, including how you gather information and how you make decisions.
3. Strong Interest Inventory (SII) – provides in-depth feedback on your occupational interests including “what” academic program and career pathway might be a good fit for you and characteristics of work environments that motivate you.
Do career assessments take a great deal of time and money?
Time
- FOCUS – Each assessment takes 10 to 15 minutes, for a maximum of one hour.
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator –Takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete.
- Strong Interest Inventory – Takes approximately 35 to 40 minutes to complete.
How does a business student choose which career assessment to take?
The FOCUS is a self-administered and self-interpreted career assessment. You are not required to meet with a career development specialist to take the FOCUS, but students are welcome to schedule a meeting for assistance with interpretation and career. Internet access is all that is required to take the FOCUS.
To take the MBTI and SII, students are required to meet with a career development specialist. Taking the MBTI and SII is a three-step process that occurs over the course of at least two weeks:
- Informational appointment – to gather information to assess a student’s needs and to describe the process of taking a career assessment (20-30 minute appointment)
- Career assessment(s) – student takes career assessment(s) needing only Internet access
- Interpretive appointment – to interpret the results of the assessment(s) and create an action plan based on student needs
- Please contact me for more material on this.
Directions for taking the MBTI through WMU HCOB career services if you so desire…
Myers Briggs (MBTI) personality assessment. The great thing about the SCM field is that there is ample opportunity for all personality types. The MB assessment will help you understand yourself much better. It only takes a few minutes to complete and WMU HCOB Career Services will actually help you interpret the results. All of you will get that classic question from an employer where you have to identify your strengths and weaknesses. This MB assessment will help you answer that question in the context of your personality profile. We are all born a certain way and predisposed to some extent, but that does not mean we cannot work on some things and just accept other things. However, in order to do of all that you might need more awareness. The MB assessment will give you that awareness. I took it last year for the first time because I thought it was psycho babble and it was spot on. I am glad I took it and I think you will be glad if you take it. Stop by the career services center if interested.
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I had a student ask me the following question…
If we consider something as our strength if it also presents an important part of our personal brand and overall personality, but our employer evaluates that it could distract us at some point and it could become our weakness, what should we do?
For example, if we are empathetic and we embrace that quality because it helps us communicate better and understand people’s needs better. Should we try to change or hide that characteristic in order to adapt to the workplace or simply be ourselves in a slightly modified manner?
I shared this question with a professional career services counselor at Western Michigan University. His response is copied below.
It highlights how informative these career and psychological assessments can be. Thank you.
Sime, I always go back to what I learned in MBTI training and basic psychology. Certain traits (even personality based traits) are not always under our full control. Personality can adapt, but at some point, dominate traits take over. Slightly modified without sacrificing self is the answer from me. Concerning “Strengths” (I will use Clifton Strengths finder practice here) there could be 2 perspectives. If someone’s empathy is considered a distraction to the evaluator, the evaluator either does not see the value in that strength or the person being evaluated is “operating out of the basement” of that strength and is being correctly evaluated. This means their empathy is clouding good judgement and sound practice. Empathy is considered to be a relationship building strength. It is an emotion based strength profoundly useful in bringing depth to relationships but can be very personally draining. Since control lies in the individual, here are some steps a person with high empathy can take in order to “slightly modify” their approach to this tough situation. Practice refining words used to name the feelings this person experiences and observes in others Develop routines at the end of the day that allow this person to decompress (This one is VERY important) Practice silence and careful listening to show that this person’s emotions do not get the best of them in tough situations. This also improves non-verbal communication and allows for more trustworthy and transparent conversation Empathy and sympathy are 2 different things. Understand the differences and be aware that overly sympathetic individuals tend to be seen by others as “bleeding hearts”. Some may see this type of person as incapable of making tough decisions. The control aspect is very important. We cannot control others. We can only hope to know ourselves enough in order to adapt (when necessary and if possible) to the situation. If the situation has become unhealthy and the evaluator has introduced toxicity into the relationship, then, in my opinion, it’s time to find something else. I hope this makes sense and is helpful.
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Here’s why people still take the Myers-Briggs test — even though it might not mean anything. https://lnkd.in/ehj3ysR
For details on how to build your brand (with a workbook): https://lnkd.in/dSAA6wF
I have way too many students failing their first interviews because they were not ready for STAR. Practice, practice, practice.
https://lnkd.in/eZgTxWc
Thank you. Sime
E-Mail: sime.curkovic@wmich.edu
“WMU Integrated Supply Management (ISM)…Nation’s best undergraduate SCM program (Gartner); 2nd in SCM technology (SoftwareAdvice); 2nd in top global SCM talent (SCM World)”