I take pride in tonight's post in that it is the final and utterly last one I will ever make solely in response to procrastinating on a homework assignment. The graduate degree looms in the ever-so-increasingly-closer future and the finish line is in sight... only one 25-page paper on Gender, Work and Family (really should be re-labeled as Feminism and Why Women Are Gypped in the Workplace) stands between me and scholastic freeeeeedom!!!
Never again will I have to write a statistical analysis about detailed food consumption and exercise over three days, or nonresponse in quarterly surveys, or longitudinal data on systolic blood pressures... never again will I have to run general linear mixed models, or impute missing data using cyclic n-partition nearest-neighbor hot deck methods.
One thing I have firmly, irrevocably, absolutely, finally learned from this scholastic experience: I am SO not meant to be a statistician. Sadly, I still don't know what I am meant to be, but the plan is still to find a job in sunny California working for some happy company. This fact of I-am-not-meant-to-be-a-statistician was forcibly brought to my attention last semester, when I stumbled across the infamous Jung-Myers-Briggs personality test that groups people into four categories: Idealists, Rationals, Guardians, and Artisans. I took it and was labeled as an ESFJ, a Provider Guardian. I think I can confidently state I am indeed an 'outstanding hostess' who ensures the comfort and happiness of large groups of people.
Curious, I sent out the test to a few of my statistician classmates. They leaped on the personality classifier with the ferocity of feral dogs and within the course of 24 hours, almost all of my classmates had taken the test. Their results were markedly different from mine: Field marshals, Masterminds, Inspectors... all of them tailored exclusively to work in such institutional, detailed, analytical careers in the federal government such as they were currently happily employed. I, on the other hand, am floating in a career that I have realized, ironically on the other side of an undergraduate and graduate degree, that is completely unsuited to my personality. My question is, how have I survived so long?
That is a question I will address after this 25 page paper is over, but until then, I know that many of you took this test before when I posted it online, but take it again and see how you fare. Are you what you thought you were, and if so, are you in the right place best suited for your supposed personality? And if not, what's your ideal place to be? Let's face our uncertain futures together, and until then, who wants to go skydiving with me?!??!?!??!
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Jen, are we crazy? I got ESFJ too! What are we doing at the Census?! Guess it's good that I'm about to go back to school, in a completely different direction...
I got ISFJ, a guardian protector, sounds like being a mom is what it's about, although I'm not sure I'm really as unselfish as the profile says I am...pretty darn sure I'm not that unselfish...maybe someday:)
Jen, you seriously are 100% ESFJ. Could you make a living as a professional hostess? People could hire you to host their parties. You could be the proxy hostess for people who have other personality types, say, like mine:) But did you also see that you share the same personality type as Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart? Maybe you should start a chain of Chinese restaurants that become so big and powerful that they snuff out all the smaller, independently owned ones. Hmmmmmm . . . Or you could be a teacher, also suggested by your profile:)
My results were INFJ, the Counselor. http://keirsey.com/handler.aspx?s=keirsey&f=fourtemps&tab=3&c=counselor
My profile actually matches up with my career pretty perfectly. It's really is scary how accurate the personality portraits are, though. Especially this part: "Friends or colleagues who have known them for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise . . . they have mysterious, intricately woven personalities which sometimes puzzle even them." Trueness! Yeah, I'm pretty mysterious:)
Abby, don't we talk all the time about switching careers to ones that involve surfing off the sunny Californian coast? See?! We're justified!
Vicki, congratulations on your beautiful new baby! Both your boys will need protector skills, and you are way more selfless than you think. Except the time you forced me to watch Dune. That was miserable. ;)
Becks, I remember you tested as a counselor back in the day, and i SWEAR there was some fantastic line in there about being spunky happy one moment, and then displeasure 'darkening like a thundercloud' the next. That was my favorite description of you. :P It's quite an accurate label though, with your propensity towards helping others with kindness, and you are a great listener who is naturally interested in helping others with their problems. It also says you have a natural propensity towards poetry... long live the fruity soap haiku!!!
Skydiving? I am in.
Jen - that's just about the funniest thing I've read lately. I'm so glad it's almost over for you!! Then we can finally get together. :) I may need some home-decorating help when we get into a place ... maybe that fits into your ESFJ profile ...
So close, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I am completely positive that you would be great at pretty much anything you decide you want to do, at least now you know at least one field not to go into...
On a completely unrelated Myers/Briggs/etc note, I would like to publicly declare the statuses of my previously posted lists of yore. I have now visited the Baltimore Aquarium, attended the Cherry Blossom Festival, found the Darth Vader gargoyle, ACQUIRED A NIKON D40, and almost, almost, ALMOST graduated from grad school.
Speaking of, I should stop procrastinating and get back to this paper...
I'm an ENJF(?) aka Teacher. Huh, interesting test. The only job it listed was one I did. Politics. However, I think it is possible that one outgrows the job or the degree earned as you mentioned. Now, I wouldn't go back to politcs I would do something completley different. Good luck with the paper. I have caramel popcorn for you....
It seems I got on board late on this one. I'm ENFJ as well--The Teacher. I think that's what I got last time i took the test as well.
I proudly join the ranks of Mikhail Gorbachev and Oprah Winfrey.
I took this a while ago, but forgot to post my results.
I'm ESFP - Performer. Whuh? Me? Honestly, like I ever seek attention! Psh. Okay, okay, so it's pretty accurate. While I don't exactly know what I want to do w/ my Masters degree when I'm done, it appears that I'm in the right field. It covers my seemingly unrelated interests and offers me opportunities for attention and human interaction. Could I possibly be the next Judy Garland, Ronald Reagan or Magic Johnson?
The answer on all three accounts is yes. Incontrovertibly, yes.
I love this. Part of my personality that DOES jive with a statistician is the affinity towards lumping people into groups and giving them labels so as to compare them one to another. I'd have to say that there are many elements of each of your personalities that totally match your test results, no? What I like most about the test is the way it phrases things (especially strengths and weaknesses) in ways that you may not have ever consciously verbalized, and realize that you're not a freak, just "mysterious" or "lively and unhibited", and that's totally okay. ;)
We'll all find our field of bumblebees one day...
Hmm... I see that there's another DoctorJ on here. Well, I guess I can be identified as "DoctorJ that plays the Bass".
I took this test at work (ah, Census, how I knew ye) and I was an INTP. This was about 3 years ago.
I just took the online test and am now an ENTJ. Go Fig. Right there with FDR, Al Gore, Steve Jobs, Harrison Ford, and Sean Connery. No wonder I feel a strong pull towards the Gov't, Environment, fine tech products, and Indy movies.
Jen- Would a company that does "no evil" qualify as a happy company ;-)
Whenever I take this, I get "the Teacher" (ENFJ). Maybe I shouldn't have switched careers away from teaching. But I want you to know, I will happily nurture and inspire you to become whatever you want to be.
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