Personal talents important when seeking a job

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"Your distinctive talents are part of the make-up of your personality and they are different to your skills as they tend to be inherent rather than learned," says Academy of York principal, Richard Leeming.

"Finding them can be tricky but once found they can be nurtured and developed. It's partly a process of self-observation and honesty and the rest is learning and practice. Not all of your talents need be profitable, useful or conventional, but they will always be your own, part of what makes you you.

"When assisting potential students with their career choices at the college, we try to help them to select the right course by finding out what they are interested in and then coupling that with their personal career goals and personalities. Understanding your personality and what makes you tick is vital when exploring a career that will lead not only to success but also to job satisfaction," says Leeming.

Strengths and weaknesses

A good place to start is to write down your personal strengths and weaknesses, honestly and objectively. Many people never spend time thinking about what they are naturally good at so they are unaware of their personal talents. Similarly, they prefer not to dwell on their weaknesses, so tend not to analyse what it is about themselves that may be lacking, or needs to be developed.

Taking a trip down memory lane and thinking back to your childhood also helps. What did you love to do when you were very young? You may have loved doing puzzles, indicating that you are a good problem solver. You may have enjoyed drawing and being creative, thus demonstrating that you should consider applying your creativity in your career.

"If you are gifted as a speaker and at school you were always in the debating team, then chances are you have a natural ability for speaking and convincing people," says Leeming. "Career options that use this gift would include teaching, sales, politics, law, or lobbying."

Personality types

Psychologist John Holland's studies explored the connection between personality and careers and he developed six personality types that indicate a person's aptitude for various occupations. These are:

• Realistic: Building, fixing, working outdoors
  
• Investigative: Researching, thinking, experimenting
  
• Artistic: Creating, designing, expressing
  
• Social: Helping, teaching, encouraging
  
• Enterprising: Leading, selling, persuading
  
• Conventional: Organising, categorising, recording

Most people possess a combination of traits and will have career options that span many diverse work environments. "For example, somebody who is interested in Human Resources (HR) would need to be a social personality type who is attracted to - and happy to be working with - people. However, HR professionals often need to convince people and use their natural powers of persuasion, while also requiring strong organisational skills as well as a management or leadership ability, so a good HR manager would ideally also possess an enterprising or conventional personality type."