Updates from yesterday's interview (and career counselling session)
So, many thanks to all the people who wished me luck yesterday for my interview at Dawson. It turns out they're looking for someone to replace a teacher who fell ill suddenly and is out on sick leave for an as-yet undetermined period of time. They've got members of the department covering two of her sections, but they need someone to cover the other two: a Tuesday / Thursday afternoon class and a Wednesday / Friday one.
All told, I think the interview went okay. I did my teaching bit (didn't get as far as I'd intended, but I never do, and that's okay), did the actual interview, killed my voice... but I think it went okay. There were 5 interviewers, and they drilled me pretty hard about my submitted syllabi and attitudes towards teaching. Some questions I simply couldn't answer, but I doubt I could have answered them unless I had experience teaching those submitted classes... which I don't. In any case, they'll get back to me within 10 days and tell me what's going on. I did my best, and that's all I can ask of myself. The ball's in their court now.
Also on Tuesday, I got the results of the career testing I did on Monday. I took two tests, the Strong Inventory Profile and the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator).
The Strong essentially identifies careers and work styles that might be a good fit for you. In terms of work styles, I'm pretty much middle-of-the-road in terms of most things (alone vs. team; leader vs. being led; data vs. people). I'm slightly risk-adverse. And, for the kicker, I show a strong preference towards academic learning, as opposed to practical, on-the-job learning. I could have told you that.
The Strong also ranks "themes" (I should be looking at "investigative" and "artistic"), interest areas (top for me: 1. writing and mass communication, 2. mathematics, 3. taxes and accounting, 4. politics and public speaking, and 5. religion and spirituality -- again, no surprises except the third, oddly enough), and career options. To determine this last one, they give the Strong to people working in various professions, and compare your answers to theirs. More similarities = higher score.
The counsellor looked at my top ten and said, "I know you're pursuing accounting, but have you considered any of the others on this list?" Read this list, read my annotations, and you'll understand why this is amusing:
1. Librarian -- did this in high school, interviewed for an assistant librarian position last week
2. Translator -- I'd love to do this if I had the French skills; did it on a volunteer basis at my old dojo
3. Attorney
4. ESL Instructor -- my main source of income for the last year
5. Photographer
6. Editor -- I've done this on a volunteer basis for years, applied for an official editing position last Sunday
7. Investments Manager
8. University Professor -- interviewed for a job teaching at Dawson three hours after the counselling session
9. Software Developer
10. Artist
So... yes. I have, in fact, considered and/or done many of the things on this list. Heck, I'd be interested in being a photographer or artist, too, if I had ever honed my artistic talents. I was pretty good at software programming in high school, but I doubt it would hold my interest now. I can see myself being a good attorney if I were willing to let the profession eat my soul, which I'm not. The only one that pops out at me as being a "wtf" choice is the investments manager one. Please note that "accountant" is not on this list... we'll get back to that.
Other choices the test said might be good for me: chemist, geographer, technical writer, and college instructor.
From there, onwards to the MBTI. For those who don't know and haven't bothered to google / wikipedia it, the MBTI ranks you in four different categories and based on the results, fits you into one of sixteen personality types. I am, according to the test, an ENFJ -- extrovert, intuition, feeling, and judging. Each of those last three is only "slight" (ie: less than 5 points), while the extroversion is "clear" (18 points out of a possible 30).
I find it highly amusing, incidentally, that in the past ten years I have gone from a moderate introvert to a clear extrovert. Apparently this is a score that is supposedly genetic and not supposed to change. Maybe it's just that my high school was relatively devoid of people I felt like being extroverted with. Who knows.
Anyway... I found most of the description of ENFJ both accurate and relatively vague, which might explain the accurateness accuracy. (I can't believe I just wrote "accurateness." I must be more tired than I thought.) Among other things, ENFJ's are apparently "warn, compassionate, and supportive," "loyal and trustworthy," "curious about new ideas and stimulated by possibilities for contributing to the good of humanity," etc. It also says that they're "usually seen by others as sociable, personable, gracious, expressive, responsive, and persuasive," so if you've read this far and think those adjectives are accurate, let me know, okay?
One statement that spoke to me was the following: "ENFJs are found in jobs such as teaching, preaching, counselling, and selling. They may be less happy in work demanding factual accuracy, such as accounting, unless they can find a personal meaning in their work." (My emphasis)
The counsellor looked at me at the end of the interview, after we'd been chatting for a while, and said, "I don't think accounting is the right choice for you... just to be subtle about it." (Ha!) Which pretty much solidified much of my thinking for the last 2-3 weeks. But you never know.
Anyway, I've rambled on far too long. I'm going to bed, and you should too. (Unless, of course, you're reading this tomorrow morning, in which case, you should get on with your day and stop wasting time reading foolishness on my LJ!
All told, I think the interview went okay. I did my teaching bit (didn't get as far as I'd intended, but I never do, and that's okay), did the actual interview, killed my voice... but I think it went okay. There were 5 interviewers, and they drilled me pretty hard about my submitted syllabi and attitudes towards teaching. Some questions I simply couldn't answer, but I doubt I could have answered them unless I had experience teaching those submitted classes... which I don't. In any case, they'll get back to me within 10 days and tell me what's going on. I did my best, and that's all I can ask of myself. The ball's in their court now.
Also on Tuesday, I got the results of the career testing I did on Monday. I took two tests, the Strong Inventory Profile and the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator).
The Strong essentially identifies careers and work styles that might be a good fit for you. In terms of work styles, I'm pretty much middle-of-the-road in terms of most things (alone vs. team; leader vs. being led; data vs. people). I'm slightly risk-adverse. And, for the kicker, I show a strong preference towards academic learning, as opposed to practical, on-the-job learning. I could have told you that.
The Strong also ranks "themes" (I should be looking at "investigative" and "artistic"), interest areas (top for me: 1. writing and mass communication, 2. mathematics, 3. taxes and accounting, 4. politics and public speaking, and 5. religion and spirituality -- again, no surprises except the third, oddly enough), and career options. To determine this last one, they give the Strong to people working in various professions, and compare your answers to theirs. More similarities = higher score.
The counsellor looked at my top ten and said, "I know you're pursuing accounting, but have you considered any of the others on this list?" Read this list, read my annotations, and you'll understand why this is amusing:
1. Librarian -- did this in high school, interviewed for an assistant librarian position last week
2. Translator -- I'd love to do this if I had the French skills; did it on a volunteer basis at my old dojo
3. Attorney
4. ESL Instructor -- my main source of income for the last year
5. Photographer
6. Editor -- I've done this on a volunteer basis for years, applied for an official editing position last Sunday
7. Investments Manager
8. University Professor -- interviewed for a job teaching at Dawson three hours after the counselling session
9. Software Developer
10. Artist
So... yes. I have, in fact, considered and/or done many of the things on this list. Heck, I'd be interested in being a photographer or artist, too, if I had ever honed my artistic talents. I was pretty good at software programming in high school, but I doubt it would hold my interest now. I can see myself being a good attorney if I were willing to let the profession eat my soul, which I'm not. The only one that pops out at me as being a "wtf" choice is the investments manager one. Please note that "accountant" is not on this list... we'll get back to that.
Other choices the test said might be good for me: chemist, geographer, technical writer, and college instructor.
From there, onwards to the MBTI. For those who don't know and haven't bothered to google / wikipedia it, the MBTI ranks you in four different categories and based on the results, fits you into one of sixteen personality types. I am, according to the test, an ENFJ -- extrovert, intuition, feeling, and judging. Each of those last three is only "slight" (ie: less than 5 points), while the extroversion is "clear" (18 points out of a possible 30).
I find it highly amusing, incidentally, that in the past ten years I have gone from a moderate introvert to a clear extrovert. Apparently this is a score that is supposedly genetic and not supposed to change. Maybe it's just that my high school was relatively devoid of people I felt like being extroverted with. Who knows.
Anyway... I found most of the description of ENFJ both accurate and relatively vague, which might explain the accurateness accuracy. (I can't believe I just wrote "accurateness." I must be more tired than I thought.) Among other things, ENFJ's are apparently "warn, compassionate, and supportive," "loyal and trustworthy," "curious about new ideas and stimulated by possibilities for contributing to the good of humanity," etc. It also says that they're "usually seen by others as sociable, personable, gracious, expressive, responsive, and persuasive," so if you've read this far and think those adjectives are accurate, let me know, okay?
One statement that spoke to me was the following: "ENFJs are found in jobs such as teaching, preaching, counselling, and selling. They may be less happy in work demanding factual accuracy, such as accounting, unless they can find a personal meaning in their work." (My emphasis)
The counsellor looked at me at the end of the interview, after we'd been chatting for a while, and said, "I don't think accounting is the right choice for you... just to be subtle about it." (Ha!) Which pretty much solidified much of my thinking for the last 2-3 weeks. But you never know.
Anyway, I've rambled on far too long. I'm going to bed, and you should too. (Unless, of course, you're reading this tomorrow morning, in which case, you should get on with your day and stop wasting time reading foolishness on my LJ!