Pitman Career MOT

Being a part of the propelling force behind a business, facing a number of responsibilities and adapting to challenges to suit the needs of an employer is becoming a common element of most modern roles. Yet no 2 people are the same, it’s a crazy thought when you really begin to dissect the characteristics of colleagues, clients and suppliers.  This got our office thinking, how can two people, that are complete polar opposites, fulfill the same role? When they have different strengths and weaknesses? The reality is that however ‘well trained’ for the job we are, there are a variety of innate, personal characteristics which determine how you deal with situations, how you plan, how you conduct tasks etc. But really, at what point do you ever focus in on this as part of your career development?

When you think of your career in the same context as an actual business, which in many senses is true, it seems absurd that we are not prompted to run some SWOT analysis’ more often, other than the obligatory yearly review.

To put this in context, have a think about the following areas and ask yourself how often do you evaluate these areas:

Strengths – The fuel that keeps your career racing

While many may like to shout their strengths from the roof tops, and others give a modest smirk when praise is given, it is true to say that everyone has a variety of strengths. Without question you will have already worked out yours for yourself, but how many times do you consider this strength and really think about how it could be possible to harness it in different areas of your role?

Weaknesses – The parts that occasionally need a bit of reinforcement

Now, whilst I would love to proclaim the ‘I’m perfect’ card, the reality of being human, is that there is no such thing as perfect. What’s more, having a few weaknesses, is not a necessarily a bad thing in relation to your career. In fact, depending upon how you acknowledge, showcase and manage them, weaknesses can actually be quite an endearing or attractive quality within an employee, especially when you weigh this up against their strengths. There are also many training options available to help ‘fix’ what may be seen as potentially weaker areas.

Opportunities – Those modifications you’ve always wanted

Just how much have you been longing for the new International role? A change of title? More responsibility? Did you succeed? How far did you actually push yourself and your boundaries to make these goals within your grasp? Did you harness your strengths and go out of your way to grab hold of what was really at stake? Opportunities come in many formats, but how you view each stepping stone can determine whether you succeed. 

Threats – The ability to see ahead of the fog lights 

There are many character traits which, if not pre-empted can result in some pretty awful disasters, however if you can be very truthful about these potential ‘issues’, disaster can be avoided.

Now, you might have guessed there’s a bit of a car theme running through this?! 

After thinking about how important it is to evaluate profile characteristics in your career, we decided it was about time to get our techy brains on, and develop an app that does just that!

Introducing: The Pitman Career MOT

Our careers and professions are like our cars. If we don’t look after them from time to time and give them a regular overhaul they can start to flag, not really perform too well and that’s when the trouble starts...

Our new, free app focuses on helping you make the most of your characteristics, in the style of an MOT – Similar to the SWOT analysis we just looked at, each of your key attributes are outlined in your results after some brief diagnostic profiling – based upon the theory of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. 

The beauty of seeing your personality on paper, is that you are actually empowering yourself way beyond the capabilities of most. Almost like a secret cheat sheet, you can begin a process of visualizing your future, tailoring yourself to fit the role… you have the power to design your own turbo-charged career engine! You just need to get hold of all of the pieces.