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Can You Choose a Career that Doesn’t Fit Your Personality?

<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-2792" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2010&sol;07&sol;CareerChoices-211x300&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"211" height&equals;"300" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Your <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;great-jobs-for-each-personality-type&sol;">career personality<&sol;a> is important <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;factors-to-consider-when-choosing-a-career&sol;">factor to consider<&sol;a> when choosing a career path&period; But since no career is perfect&comma; is it possible to choose a good career that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t align with your personality&quest; The answer is complicated and depends on other factors such as <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;assessing-career-values&sol;">career values<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;interest-areas-choose-a-career&sol;">interest areas<&sol;a> and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;jobs-for-your-natural-skills-and-abilities&sol;">natural skills and abilities<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><strong>There&&num;8217&semi;s No &&num;8220&semi;Perfect&&num;8221&semi; Career<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>If a career doesn&&num;8217&semi;t perfectly align with your personality&comma; it could still be a good fit for you&period; One instance where you might choose a career path that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t align perfectly with your personality is when everything else &lpar;values&comma; interests&comma; etc&rpar; do fit perfectly&period; It may be that no career will fit with everything so you&&num;8217&semi;ll have to prioritize&period; For instance&comma; a career that offers a great deal of <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;careers-that-offer-autonomy&sol;">autonomy<&sol;a><&sol;strong> &lpar;a career value&rpar; may be more important than one that fits your personality type but doesn&&num;8217&semi;t offer much autonomy&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s no such thing as a perfect career&comma; but there are careers that are better fits than others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Personality Isn&&num;8217&semi;t Black and White<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Another consideration is that personality tests aren&&num;8217&semi;t always accurate and can&&num;8217&semi;t account for when people don&&num;8217&semi;t fit perfectly into one personality type&period; Many people fall in the middle range of certain traits and therefore can&&num;8217&semi;t identify with one personality type&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;ve gotten different results on different personality tests&comma; or feel your results don&&num;8217&semi;t fully align with your true personality&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s best to rely on what you do know for sure&period; For example you may not be sure about certain aspects of your personality but you do know that you&&num;8217&semi;re an introvert&period; It may be best to focus on that when researching career paths&period; See our post on <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;jobs-for-introverts-and-extroverts-in-each-field&sol;">jobs for extroverts and introverts in each field<&sol;a><&sol;strong> for ideas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>Consider Interests and Values<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Interests and values matter just as much as personality&period; A strong interest in a subject may offset a less than ideal fit in other areas&period; For example&comma; if you love psychology and want to help people&comma; you may be satisfied as a psychologist even if it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t align with certain aspects of your personality&period; An introvert may be happy interacting with a lot others if it means talking about something he or she loves&period; See our post on <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;collegecareerlife&period;net&sol;interest-areas-choose-a-career&sol;">career interest areas<&sol;a><&sol;strong> for more information&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The bottom line is that you shouldn&&num;8217&semi;t discount a career just because it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t fit exactly with your personality&period; As long as it&&num;8217&semi;s not a complete mismatch&comma; a career can work if it aligns with your career interests&comma; skills and&sol;or values&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Andrea: