How knowing your personality type can help you prepare for interviews

Job seekers, no matter what industry or sector they are looking to get a job in, are up against a really high level of competition. A lot of the time, you will be put up against some great candidates, but it’s how you handle the interview stage that can get you placed higher than your fellow candidates. Understanding what the interviewer is looking for and tailoring your answers is all well and good, but understanding yourself, what you have to offer and how your personality type works in that kind of environment can help you get ahead of the others. You might have never thought about this before but understanding your strengths and what other personalities you may work well with is a very interesting and helpful thing to know and understand.   

What are different personality types?

It’s obvious to say that everyone has a different personality, therefore has different strengths and weaknesses. However, it’s not always as simple as saying you are introverted or extroverted. There are multiple traits that make up your personality and picking this apart and understanding it better, will help you in things like interviews.

According to Myers and Briggs, there are 16 different personality types that you could fit into. Myers and Briggs created personality traits to help people discover their own strengths and steer away from focusing on the negative traits you may have. (Because everyone has some) Gaining a better understanding of yourself never hurt anyone.

“Their theories were based on the work of psychologist Carl Jung, although they extended his ideas to create a more complete framework of personality typing. Myers and Briggs proposed that there were four key dimensions that could be used to categorize people:

• Introversion vs. Extraversion
• Sensing vs. Intuition
• Thinking vs. Feeling
• Judging vs. Perceiving

How can I find out what personality type I am?

Finding out your personality type is relatively easy; the Myers and Briggs website offers the opportunity to take their test for free and it will give you an overview of what everything means. This may take some time, so start it when you have the time to answer all questions properly to get the best results.

There are different tests online and you can find them really easily through search engines. It’s up to you which test you take, but it’s always good to try a few!

How can your personality type effect how you perform in an interview?

Once you know your personality type from your research, you can analyse and use the information given to you to understand how you operate as a person. The analysis part of the test is usually quite thorough, so it will explain everything! You can draw on this information when preparing and tailoring your CV to different job roles. Understand what they are looking for and see if you can make a connection between what they want and who you are.

When preparing for interviews, you can use the information to draft up answers to frequently asked interview questions. Find ways to answer questions by highlighting the strengths of your personality. Questions you answer in interviews should not be given with generic answers, it’s better to talk about yourself, your own experiences and why you think you would make a good fit.

For example, if your personality type given includes a strong ‘thinking’ personality. This could suggest that you are good at analysing the situation. You are a strong thinker and problem solver; you will never make rash decisions and make the right choice for you. Strategic thinking is a skill that’s looked for in a good candidate.  

Why?

There is nothing better than being properly prepared for an interview and even if you don’t succeed in the first instance, this information will help you continue your job search. If you’re not job seeking, understanding yourself better can help you feel happier in your personal life. Understanding why you think the way you do. It can allow you to find people in your workplace that you would work well with and see how you could improve your current working position.

We are going to be publishing a series of articles, outlining different personality types and how they can prepare for interviews. The articles will be subject to one personality type at a time and will be there to help people understand. We are in no way experts about this subject, but think it is a great thing to do and can really help with your job seeking and interview preparation.

Make sure you head back to the E&TJ Careers Advice page next week to read about the ENTJ personality type, also known as The Commander.