When your tasks, your surroundings, and the value you both provide and receive from your obligations are in harmony, you will find a suitable career for your personality.
The theory that a personality-job fit is crucial is supported by research. According to studies, you feel that your work is more significant when your personal and professional lives are in harmony. When your work reflects your ideals and boosts your self-esteem, the impact is at its maximum.
Being more adaptive and robust to changing demands is one benefit of matching your job and career to your personality, but it also translates to higher performance at work. Because they were happier and more successful, people who had the best personality-job fit made up to a month's salary more annually. Greater involvement, vigor, excitement, and invention at work are also associated with a good fit.
As a result, the best way to ensure that you'll be more productive, content, and influential at any level of your career is to look at your present and potential jobs through the lens of what you need to thrive and what you need to survive.
You can try using the hierarchy of professional needs, a play on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs, to determine whether a position is a correct fit for you. This approach can be used in your current position to identify your needs gap and your job hunt when considering various positions.
Basic Needs
The Hierarchy of Needs, a theory proposed by American psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943, illustrates that humans can only develop, grow, and reach their ultimate potential upon meeting a particular set of basic requirements. This idea can also be applied to the workplace due to basic needs falling under three categories:
1.Physical Needs – physical needs, otherwise known as physiological needs, are at the bottom of the pyramid and form its foundation. It encompasses every element of your workspace, whether at home or the office. Identifying the best level of creative and intellectual stimulation gives you stability and peace while fabricating a workplace climate that promotes concentration and reaps the best of what you have to offer to your profession.
Questions to Ask:
How private or quiet do I want my workspace to be?
Do I find a high-energy working environment exciting or uncomfortable?
What kind of atmosphere helps me feel engaged and present – from interior colors and room accents to lighting?
2. Relational Needs – included in this part are the interpersonal aspects of your job, from the frequency of interaction between you and your colleagues to the feeling of belonging and trust in the workplace. It could also involve whether you identify as an introvert or extrovert or how much you enjoy collaboration and teamwork even if you do your best work alone. When it comes to this area, consider the qualities of your professional relationships that bring you happiness and satisfaction.
Questions to Ask:
How frequently do I want to interact with colleagues?
How much time do I like to spend in meetings and collaborating with others? How excited does it make me?
In workplace relationships, what makes me feel accepted, and I belong?
3. Organizational Needs – this area of the pyramid requires you to evaluate the kind of organizations you would enjoy working for. This includes how an organization functions, what it brings to society and the world, its reputation, and what it stands for in the global marketplace.
Questions to Ask:
What attributes do I find inspiring and motivating in a leader? Is it vital that their principles connect with mine?
How important is it that a company has a mission I am equally dedicated to?
What type of company culture do I thrive in the most?
Growth Needs
Once your basic needs have been addressed, you can consider your growth needs, which result from the desire to develop and advance as a person.
1.Health and Lifestyle Needs – this pyramid stage requires people to think about their work-life balance and the conditions that drive their optimal physical and mental health. The important thing is to accept responsibility for the rules and conditions that control your energy and general well-being.
Questions to Ask:
How much control do I need over my daily schedule? How often do I need breaks?
What time would I ideally arrive at work and leave the office at the end of the day?
What degree of flexibility can I not live without?
2.Learning and Performance Needs – sitting at the top of the pyramid are the duties, skills, and strengths you want to utilize at work. There is no particular standard for this area because fulfillment has different definitions for others. Some people meet their needs by pursuing careers they feel passionate about, while others are only concerned about earning enough to pursue outside interests beyond work. To be able to pinpoint their needs, you need to reflect on how you aspire to grow in the future
Questions to Ask:
What do I consider my most exceptional skills and talents?
How motivated or exhausted am I when performing the essential duties of my job?
What hobbies or talents are you interested in enhancing or using differently?
Four Ways to Clarify Your Needs
Identifying your basic and growth needs can help you make minor adjustments that better fit your professional preference – whether in your current role or as you search for your next job. However, if you are feeling unsure about what you need and want in a good job or how to get there, here are a few tips to get you unstuck:
Take a Look Back at the Past Consider your past positions (including campus projects, internships, and volunteer work) and what you enjoyed the most about them. What were you doing? What about it did you like the most? What would you like to continue or build upon? On the other hand, think about the workplace situations you do not want to experience again.
Prioritize Over Paralyze
While identifying your needs, you may notice that needs under specific categories conflict with each other, which is perfectly normal. Which area is currently a priority if some compete? Which compromises are you prepared to make to further your priorities?
Job Craft
Additionally, you can actively modify your job to increase job happiness. Consider redesigning your duties to include developing training tutorials for other teams if, for example, you enjoy imparting knowledge but your work is mainly focused on execution.
Zoom In
Try this more reasonable thinking exercise instead of trying to create a five-year career plan: See yourself one year from now. What exactly would change? What would not change? Even closer to six or three months might be necessary when zooming in on that period. What do you see?
