Searching for Your Best-Fit Job

“To achieve career satisfaction, you need to figure out what your preferences are and then find a job that accommodates them.”—Paul D. Tieger & Barbara Barron

When it comes to your career, your goal is to find your “best-fit” job, a job where you can excel by using your natural gifts and talents. When you use your inborn personality type preferences—ie, your gifts—you’ll feel more energized, motivated, and satisfied.

The search for my best-fit job has taken some fascinating turns since receiving my DVM in 1984. I would never have dreamed that 25 years later I’d have founded a consulting business and become a certified coach, serving the profession with an entirely different set of skills than the technical ones I learned in school.

There was a time I worried that I had wasted precious time pursuing the wrong career. But I wouldn’t be where I am without the experience I’ve gained along the way. As Randy Pausch says in his book The Last Lecture, “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.” I’ve learned that by investing in my personal development, gaining greater self-awareness, and understanding my own unique personality type and values, I have found a fulfilling job that enhances my quality of life.

Looking Back
The handwriting was on the wall during veterinary school. Maybe it was when I noticed that my classmates demonstrated a true interest and passion for learning about the pathophysiology of hyperadrenocorticism while I was content to simply get through the class and pass the exam. Maybe it was when, during my junior year, a second-year student asked for help understanding cardiology and I was at a complete loss, even though I’d taken the same course only a year prior. Maybe it should have been cause for greater concern when I found myself looking forward to small caseloads during our small animal internal medicine rotation, because it meant less time required for “hands-on” case work and more time to hang out with classmates or study for boards.

I remember telling the veterinary school interview committee three reasons they should consider accepting me: 1) I liked working with people; 2) I liked working with animals; and 3) I liked science. By my senior year I still strongly agreed with 1, but was starting to wonder about 2, and had some serious doubts about 3. Naturally, I began to wonder about my choice of profession and how I would fare as a small animal practitioner. I was too proud and too much of an achiever to quit and I didn’t want to disappoint my parents or appear to be a failure to my friends and extended family. I really didn’t have a “Plan B”; I just gutted it out.

Upon graduation I took an associate position as a small animal practitioner in my home town. I had a positive relationship with the practice owners, got along well with the practice team, and enjoyed interfacing with clients, especially as it pertained to client education. It didn’t take long, though, for me to realize that I wasn’t happy. I tried adopting a more positive attitude, but to no avail.

When You’re in the Right Job
What I didn’t understand at the time was that the right job enhances your life. It is personally fulfilling because it nourishes the most important aspects of your personality. It lets you use your innate strengths in ways that come naturally to you.

If you’re in the right job, you should:
• Look forward to going to work
• Feel energized (most of the time) by what you do
• Feel your contribution is respected and appreciated
• Feel proud when describing your work to others
• Enjoy and respect the people you work with
• Feel optimistic about your future

I felt like I was trapped in my job. While I like being around animals, I didn’t enjoy the hands-on work with them. In fact, restraining animals to examine or treat them was an ongoing source of frustration. As I saw it, I was heroically trying to help or even save this animal’s life while it reciprocated by doing its darndest to bite, scratch, or claw me!

On my days off, perhaps as some kind of coping mechanism, I took classes in mime. I even entertained the thought of quitting my job and applying for the Barnum & Bailey clown school in Florida, which was a clear wake-up call for me and an indicator that something needed to change.

Despite receiving feedback that I was a good veterinarian, my “cameo appearance” as a small animal practitioner lasted only about 2 years because, ultimately, my heart wasn’t in it. Here’s perhaps the most important thing I learned from my education and private practice experience: Being good at something and being fulfilled by doing it are two different things. Although I performed well in science classes in school, I really don’t enjoy or have a passion for the subject. I have more interest in subjects like leadership and organizational development. Pursuing our purpose in life requires passion and knowing what motivates and energizes us is extremely important.

The secret of career satisfaction lies in doing what you enjoy most. A few lucky people discover this secret early in life, but most of us are caught in a kind of psychological wrestling match, torn between what we think we can do, what we (or others) feel we ought to do, and what we think we want to do.
 

Best-Fit Job Search Tips

Make a commitment to self-discovery, learn more about who you are, and the rest will fall into place. By making a conscious effort to discover the “real you,” you can learn to focus your natural strengths and inclinations into a position that you can love. As a general rule, the more aspects of your personality you match to your work, the more satisfied you’ll be on the job.

Take the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) assessment (go to myEVT.com) and determine your best-fit type. The goal of the MBTI personality assessment process is to help you identify and confirm your natural preferences. This is accomplished by determining your best-fit type, which is simply the four-letter type (eg, ESTJ, INFP, etc) that you feel best represents your innate behavior preferences. The MBTI provides a systematic, effective way to evaluate both your strong points and your probable weaknesses. Once you have these figured out, you’ll be operating from a position of strength most of the time.

Dig deeper to identify your specific “career satisfiers.” Career satisfiers are job elements that bring satisfaction because they honor your personality preferences and make the best use of your natural gifts. An excellent resource is Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type, 4th edition, by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron (Little, Brown, 2007.) It provides type-specific lists of key ingredients for job/career satisfaction, suggestions for your ideal work environment, and a list of potentially satisfying career options.

Understand that there is no perfect job. Let’s be realistic. You’re not always going to look forward to going to work and you’re not going to be energized by what you do 100% of the time. Your goal is to find a job where you can play to your strengths and use your natural personality preferences at least 51% of the time—the more the better. Basically, you want to maximize your career satisfiers and minimize job-related “dis-satisfiers.”

Don’t just “gut it out.” In the current economy, we can be tempted just to hang on to what we have. But don’t let the tight job market hold you back from looking for a better fit. Short of leaving your current position, perhaps there might be some opportunity to renegotiate your duties and responsibilities to increase your job satisfiers or take on new responsibilities that allow you to utilize your gifts and strengths.