Marble Jar Gang Career Counseling: Traits
The basic premise or formula is to recognize that when your skills + traits + behaviors are placed in the right environment, the outcome will give you a greater chance of success and happiness in your work.
Traits –you have them!
Your traits differ from skills. Skills are generally believed to be learned where individual traits are thought to be genetic. While you inherited these traits, they were influenced by the culture you were raised. These are the personal characteristics and features that are your distinguishing qualities making you the person who you are.
In adults, personality is set. Your friends and family would use specific words to describe you. Generally they fall into 5 broad areas. They are called the Five Factor Model and sometimes called by the acronym OCEAN.
1. Openness to experience- intellectual curiosity or dogmatic? Seeks out adventurous experiences or looks to fulfillment by perseverance?
2. Conscientiousness – Are you a planner or like spontaneity? A high level of conscientiousness can be perceived as stubborn or very focused. A low level can be described as a lack of reliability.
3. Extraversion – are you perceived to be more dominant and talkative or reserved and reflective?
4. Agreeableness – Is it in your nature to be compassionate, cooperative, possibly submissive or is it your natural tendency to challenge, be suspicious and less trusting of others?
5. Neuroticism – are you more vulnerable, anxious, easily experience unpleasant emotions, gets stressed? Or are you the calm one that people may perceive as unconcerned, stable, in control?
Your personality traits are easy to see when you are being interviewed.
However, your character traits and values are more difficult to evaluate. It is your job to understand your true personality traits so that your working environment will bring out the most positive elements of the real YOU.
If you want to add a marble to your jar, answer each of the 5 questions listed above and give an example in current or previous positions.
For a deeper dive, please see below regarding traits;