In honor of National Careers Week in the UK, we are featuring a special blog post for teens to support and enhance your career exploration process. Feel free to frequent the blog at IMCLeaders.com for more relevant careering information!
When it comes to career exploration—or completing any project, for that matter—it’s pretty well understood that every individual may have their own way of accomplishing key careering steps like researching, identifying, and experiencing career options. What may be lesser known is that research exists to back up the reality of having differing perspectives on our learning styles, how we see the world, and what approach we take in studying, researching, working on projects, and problem-solving.
We’ll refer to these perspectives as “filters.” Did you know we all have filters when it comes to the way we approach, well, just about anything? It’s true—empirically driven and scientifically backed truth.
So why is all of this important, especially as we celebrate National Careers Week in the UK? It turns out the same holds true for the way you approach your career exploration. And learning more about the varying perspectives—or filters—can be immensely helpful in validating how you’re choosing to plan your career future. (By the way, the behavioral analysis tool is called The Birkman Method®, and it has a less than 1 percent error rate—it’s that accurate.) It can also guide you in figuring out where your interests fall, which can prove beneficial in choosing possible fields, industries, or career paths to try out and follow.
Let’s break it down a bit—shall we? To begin with, we’ll divide up the filters into four categories, each designated by a color. They include the Doer (Red), the Communicator (Green), the Analyzer (Yellow), and the Thinker (Blue). Now, keep in mind, you may relate to one—or a happy mix of more than one.
Doers are hands-on and action-oriented. If you’re a Doer, chances are that you research and explore then prefer to make quick decisions and get results. You may favor making lists then tackling your to-dos with direct, action-oriented focus, giving full attention to the task at hand.
Outside of careering, as a Doer, you may also enjoy building, working with your hands, organizing people, and projects, solving practical problems, and producing a tangible end product you can see, touch, and feel. People may see you as objective, energetic, commanding, and someone who enjoys team competition. In a nutshell, you’ll find you choose to get results through action.
Communicators are extroverted and people-oriented. If this two-word description sounds like you, read further. First, you’ll be a person with a strong desire to communicate and work with people. In fact, your approach to careering will likely be more geared toward reaching out to experts to learn more about your options. You may naturally gravitate toward informational interviewing and networking opportunities. It can include wanting to work with your peers, share progress, and exchange ideas—perhaps even in a healthy, competitive way.
Profession-wise, every time anyone sees a Communicator, they are busy selling, persuading, promoting, motivating, counseling, teaching, or working with people to get results. In short, if you believe in a product, service, or idea, you can communicate about it with ease and a natural confidence. If you want someone to win friends and influence people, a Communicator is your person for the job.
Analyzers are low-key, cautious, and systematic. In many ways the opposite of a Communicator, Analyzers are known for their love of working with processes, details, definitions, and rules. How does this approach translate for careering? Well, you’ll be more likely to map out an approach and be very systematic about tackling it. You may be a bit more cautious about your choices, taking extra time to consider the options through careful and detailed online research. Yep, that’s right—we’re talking about lots of research that you’re fantastic at doing. You may even find that you’re discovering options others may have overlooked or missed. The hallmark is your natural thoroughness and attention to completing your tasks accurately.
Jobwise, Analyzers enjoy doing careful and detailed calculations, scheduling, recordkeeping, and establishing systematic procedures. They can be comfortable with numbers, place a high priority on being fair, and are cautious and thorough in analysis. Like Doers, Analyzers are task-oriented yet in a very different way, in that Analyzers often prefer indirect communication methods including forms, rules, and regulations. Hey, if you find people gravitate toward you to get organized or add a bit of structure into their lives, well, you’re likely an Analyzer.
Thinkers are low-key, people-oriented, and plenty insightful. Consider Thinkers as the concept-initiators and idea-generators, not to mention more strategic in focus. Thinkers love innovation, being creative, and long-term planning. In careering, all of these qualities can lend themselves to being more imaginative and creative about the types of possible careers out there. Even better, you’d likely be thrilled with the prospect of brainstorming out those possibilities. You’ll also be more likely than the others to be thoughtful in your approach.
In the career world, Thinkers can enjoy abstract thinking and discovering new ways to solve problems. They thrive on generating fresh ideas and coming up with the most viable solutions for the problem at hand. One tiny caveat: Thinkers tend to be introspective, and while they love originality and innovation, they may need to be around other creative individuals to trigger that spark. If you find you’re the insightful go-to person that listens and offers advice to friends or family on matters of the heart or emotions in general, then you may just be a Thinker!
Whew! Now that you’ve gotten a good feel for Doers, Communicators, Analyzers, and Thinkers, consider these three big takeaways:
- Remember that while some people may relate only to one perspective or approach, many others happen to be a mix of more than one. Be sure to take a moment to consider your blend—like a finely ground gourmet coffee!
- The second important point to notice, if you haven’t already, is that when your strengths are in one area, there may be other skills may not come as naturally. That means that if you have a preference for one area, put things in place so that you can benefit from the other ones. For example, you may be an Analyzer who prefers emailing someone to get connected, but you could benefit from taking a more Communicator approach by in-person or virtual video networking.
- A great way to gain exposure to and benefit from other approaches is to connect and work with your peers and other students. Together, you can share your career research and exploration experiences. After all, you never know what you may find helpful and useful. I feel Dr. Birkman, the creator of The Birkman Method®, himself said it best in the following quote:
I would aspire to having people see the enormous . . . value of individual differences, to honor the various ways we think and to really appreciate how much we all need each other in our essential diversity.
Notably, the diversity he refers to is all about having a different approach or filter from others around you. To sum up, it’s important to consider all of these concepts like assistive and validating tools as you embark and venture out on your unique career exploration—undoubtedly using your particular filters in your own unique ways.
Lastly, if you’d like to learn more about anything we’ve discussed here, feel free to read more about The Birkman Method® on the IMC website. There are also plenty of free careering resources and tips I’ve made available on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest at handle @TamaraSRaymond.
I also have informative careering videos you can find on YouTube at The IMC Leaders Channel. Here’s a direct link to the Careering for Youth Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRb-RthM9S8&list=PLQnntlp28BpDo1u5xV7ODslTXw7Gt-OXQ. And, do not hesitate to contact me with any careering questions or shares of your own at traymond@imcleaders.com.
