Your Results

Strategic Insights

With variety in your top attributes, you should consider jobs that don’t necessarily look the same from one month to the next, or even from day to day. One option could be project-based jobs. You may also enjoy working on a team where everyone needs to wear multiple hats from time to time (for instance, most startups). Variety comes with unpredictability, which for some is a perk. You get to solve problems, and you’ll often be thrown into situations in which you are not yet an expert. This is a fast track to gaining competency and experience across many different areas.

Variety doesn’t necessarily mean a chaotic or unpredictable workplace (though it can in some fields if that’s what you want). Some jobs, such as K-12 teaching, coaching, and construction, have variety built into them because of the different topics, lessons, projects, and people you interact with every day.

To find a job that’s high on variety, look for positions that have structural reasons for why your work would vary. Does the position entail working for diverse clients on their various needs? From consulting to accounting to home remodeling, working with clients is one way that variety can be built in. Another often overlooked source of variety is working on a small team or in a small company. As part of a smaller firm, relatively few people must address the day-to-day tasks and problems. Everyone has to pitch in for the venture to succeed. This is a good way to avoid boredom.

Interview Questions

• How many clients do we work with at any given time, and how different might the jobs be for various clients?
• What will my day-to-day work look like? (Often, in positions with high variety this will be a hard question for them to answer, which is a good thing in this case)
• How big is the team I will be working on and how do job assignments get handed out?

Job Search Tips

• Look for the words “client” and “project” or “project-based” or “many/multiple/different hats.” These are not the only ways to find jobs with high variety, but they’re a great start.
• Want variety? Go work for a startup. There are job boards that post positions specifically for startups and you will likely end up doing work across all sorts of areas in a fast-paced environment.

Strategic Insights

With collaboration high in your results, you should look for jobs where you get to be part of a team. In the sports world, you’re more basketball than cross-country. You’d rather be part of a band than a solo singer-songwriter. This is a useful thing to value because people who have jobs that people assume are mundane have some of the highest levels of job satisfaction. Why? It’s often because the people in those jobs get to work closely with others as part of a team, and that’s what they end up enjoying the most.

Having collaboration in your top three means that you are motivated by contributing to a team. Get beyond the tasks and figure out what the work is actually like. Is this really a team project, or is the team just a bunch of people doing their own thing with very little interaction? We’re social creatures and we love to achieve things together. So go watch Apollo 13 or Remember the Titans, and get ready to find a job where you achieve something by collaborating with others.

Interview Questions

• Will I work by myself in this position or collaborate with a team?
• What do others who have this position seem to like most about the job? (See if they say anything about “the people they work with.” That’s a very good sign.)
• Could you tell me more about the team I would be working on? How often do team members see each other and work together?

Job Search Tip

• Again, look behind the curtain. Don’t be turned off by jobs that may look boring from the outside. Accountants, for example, tend to have very high levels of job satisfaction, in large part because of their team-based work. People in these roles often love their jobs because they are part of a team and collaborate on projects. You can leverage this to take good positions, often with higher pay, because you value how and with whom you get to work more than a sexy job title.

Strategic Insights

With clarity high in your results, you should prioritize positions that have clearly defined processes, outcomes, and expectations. Many of the most satisfied employees are so happy because they see that they have become very good, even expert, at something. The feeling of mastery, and making progress towards mastery, is one of the greatest gifts work can offer.

This doesn’t mean that you need your hand held to succeed—far from it. It simply means that success is clearly defined. Through hard work, ingenuity, and brilliance you can become more successful in your role every day. Look for jobs where there is little mystery to how success is measured or achieved, then you can spend your time becoming great instead of guessing what you’re supposed to do.

One great way to add some clarity to your role is to seek careers that are marked with formal credentials and certifications. This helps you and others keep track of what you are capable of doing. It is easier to measure your skills in a credentialled field. (This is why credentialing is very difficult for painters and waiters, but much easier for doctors and accountants). Clarity in what you need to know lends itself to clarity in what you need to do, which is something you appreciate, and for good reason.

Remember that, as with predictability, you can help your manager provide you more clarity. Just do it in a humble and non-accusatory way. Say something like, “I have a few questions for you so that I can make sure I give you exactly what you're looking for,” are almost always going to lead to more clarity.

Interview Questions

• What would a typical workday look like?
• What would your dream employee for this position become excellent at?
• How clearly is success is measured in this role?

Job Search Tip

• The interview is a great place to gain insight. Some clarity comes with the type of position you are applying for, but far more often comes from how clearly management lays out their expectations. Ask lots of questions about what is expected and pay attention to how precise or “squishy” the answers are. “Squishy” expectations often lead to high levels of uncertainty, making it harder to know what things to spend time on and undercutting mastery.