Reviewed October 28, 2026
Career Personality and Career Personality Tests — Part 2
Career personality is mainly about your personal style: how you approach and do your work. Personality assessments examine aspects of that style. Interest assessments focus more specifically on the activities and subjects you enjoy.
Your style can illuminate some interests, but the two are not interchangeable. Knowing how you prefer to work does not fully answer what you want the work to involve. That is why I consider personality and interests separately, then bring the findings together in your profile.
What does personal style tell you?
Personal style concerns the way you engage with work and other people. Depending on the assessment, it can help you explore questions such as:
- How do I prefer to take in information and make decisions?
- How do I organize my approach to responsibilities?
- How do I communicate, collaborate and respond to other styles?
- What does my style contribute to leadership, and where do I need to adapt?
Different instruments use different models and measure different features. A personality type or style is a way to understand patterns, not a complete description of a person or a substitute for their skills and experience.
Career direction and career development
Career direction concerns the fields and kinds of work you choose. Career development concerns how you perform, relate to others and grow within your work.
Personality information can contribute to both, but the report matters. A report designed for communication or team development answers a different question from one designed to explore occupations and work roles.
Why I use MBTI for career direction
I use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for personality-based career direction because its career reports connect personality preferences with work tasks, environments, job families and occupations to consider. The Myers & Briggs Foundation describes applications to career exploration and development.
MBTI Step I identifies four preference pairs. Step II adds detail through 20 facets within those pairs. The more detailed report can help explain differences between people who share a four-letter type. See the publisher’s explanation of Step II.
The available report determines which career or development questions you can explore. A type label alone does not provide everything in a career report, and a suggested occupation is something to examine alongside interests, abilities and circumstances.
Personality tools for development and leadership
MBTI also offers applications to communication, relationships, teams and leadership. DISC-style assessments and their many variations are useful in development conversations about how someone works with others and applies their style.
For example, Everything DiSC offers workplace and leadership learning applications. Other DISC products come from different publishers, so their reports, methods and guidance should be checked individually.
The practical aim is to understand what your style contributes, recognize where it may create difficulty, and develop ways to perform effectively with people whose approach differs from yours.
Strong: interests with broad style information
The Strong Interest Inventory is an interest assessment. Its central contribution is a more specific exploration of the activities, subjects and occupational interests that engage you. Its Personal Style Scales add broad information about how you prefer to work and learn.
The established Strong Profile includes five Personal Style Scales: Work Style, Learning Environment, Leadership Style, Risk Taking and Team Orientation. These are described in the publisher’s Strong documentation.
The newer Strong 244 has six. It separates the former Work Style scale into People–Things and Data–Ideas; the other four scales remain. See the Strong 244 technical supplement. Use the version and report you actually receive when discussing your results.
Those style scales are helpful, but they do not turn Strong into a comprehensive personality assessment. For a fuller discussion of personal style, I use a personality instrument alongside the interest findings.
Why combine Strong and MBTI?
Strong helps us explore what you enjoy. MBTI helps us explore how you prefer to approach the work. Used together, they let us consider activities and fields alongside suitable ways of working within them.
Illustrative example: Two people may both enjoy healthcare. One may prefer careful analysis and an orderly approach; another may prefer frequent interaction and flexibility. We need to discuss the actual duties, responsibilities and setting rather than assume that an interest in healthcare points both people toward the same role.
The publisher explains how Strong and MBTI can be used together in career conversations. Some packages include combined career reports; check the specific package rather than assume every report is included.
Personal style within your full profile
Personality is one part of your career profile. Interests, natural abilities, internal needs and external circumstances contribute other information. Consultation brings those findings into the decision you face.
Find My Profile Package to compare assessment coverage, reports and debrief formats. First, buy and complete your chosen package. Each assessment includes consultation, through its available video-plus-consultation or consultations-only format.
Decide your next step at the final profile consultation. If you want to continue with Targeting or Landing, those phases involve further coaching sessions with Marjorie Wall Hofer, with the plan and scope agreed together.
The Career Profiler owns TestEts. Marjorie is the consultant for clients coming through this website. If you have questions before choosing, request a free 30-minute introductory consultation.
