Personality Traits and Traitors

by Duncan Mathison

Once again I came across someone who tried to not-so-patiently to explain why networking in job search would not work for their personality type. They were a technical person who suggested those in technical trades are more comfortable facing a keyboard and screen than facing another person in a networking conversation. Further, they suggested that any “techie” worth their salt would not have the personality type to look for a job in the hidden job market because, well… you needed a personality.   

The exception, they said, was if someone was motivated enough to be promoted up into management leaving behind the real technical work. (Think of the pointy-hair boss in the Dilbert comic strip.)   Their point of view could be summed up as, “Why would I want to use social skills to get a job that requires no social skills?”

This annoys me. First, it is an outrageous stereotype and like most all stereotypes it limits opportunities and it closes doors on other people as well as yourself. Secondly, while there are certainly personality styles, they are just that – styles. Styles are preferred ways we tend to operate.  How we observe and interpret our environment, how we process information whether it be data or ideas, whether we pay more attention to internal thoughts or external surroundings and whether we get the energy to renew ourselves from external social situations or internal reflection.  But styles are like clothes.  We have our preferences but we can look good in a different kind of outfit even though we may ultimately decide to return it to the store after only wearing it only once. (Sorry Nordstrom’s, though I did leave the tags on.)

I got interested in the coaching people in their job search because frankly I really hate to looking for a job myself. I struggled with many aspects of the search from networking to interviewing; from rude employers who would not bother answering applications after I spent HOURS creating what I thought was a perfect cover letter and resume to people in a networking meeting who would look at me blankly after I asked for help.

So early in my job search coaching career, when I told clients to conduct vaguely defined “information interviews” and they either blew off my advice or tore it to shreds because they said it made them feel phony and lame (“I’m not looking for a job, I am looking for career advice.”) I had to admit, it had its drawbacks.

A large percentage of my clients have been technical. Brilliant intellects and genuine people some of whom were more introverted than the executives, marketing people, and sales people half their smarts. The introverts taught me the most about creating an effective job search regardless of personality.  They challenged me to help them create a job search with creativity, integrity, focus and effectiveness that would work across professions and industries.

Best of all, they taught me when the stakes were high, and they needed to pay the mortgage and support their family, they could find the courage to take a little bit of risk outside of their personal comfort zone to find the right job. They did not have to become a professional social gadfly to get a great job. But they did need to adapt and temporarily try on some new approaches to succeed in the search when times were tight.

To them I say thank you for my career inspiration and allowing me to be part of their courage.

Tags: Bias, crazy boss, interviewing, job search advice, mood, networking, positive psychology, self improvement

This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Blog, job search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.