I love personality and strengths discovery tools (often called tests but they aren’t). They help me explore the depths of who I am and my value to the world. In the past I’ve talked about StrengthsFinder, Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator (take it here for free), and 5 Love Languages (take it here for free).
A couple years ago, my business mentor Michael Smith had me take the Kolbe A Index. Admittedly, I took it, thought it was accurate but just didn’t understand how it connected too much and so it kind of sat on a shelf for me.
But recently I’ve returned to the Kolbe A and my MO (modes of operation). And found it very helpful tool for those seeking out your first steps into the workforce, those seeking a second career (I feel like I’m on my third), or finding the right fit in your business.
My Kolbe numbers are 6-3-8-3. You can see what that means here in my Kolbe report here.
I found this to be spot on.
- Improvising
- Explaining — something I love doing as evidenced by sharing in this post
- Adapting
- Imaginging
But the recent tool I found based on the Kolbe A is the Career MO+. I believe it’s SUPER helpful for two primary reasons: Job Ideas and Interview Tips around your strengths.
And my results were pretty spot on from past jobs I’ve enjoyed as well as other careers I’d be interested in with a couple of “WHAT?!”:
- Recruiter — something I really enjoy at iThemes
- Copy Editor — a job I held several times in the past
- Counselor / Therapist / Crisis Counselor / Therapist / Crisis Counselor — something I thought deeply about
- New Product Developer — what I do at iThemes
- Real Estate Developer — very interested in this
- Technology Sales — a part of my job at iThemes
- Engineer — more like I wanted to be an architect
- Trial Lawyer — this is interesting – had never thought about it but think I’d like it (maybe)
- Human Resources Manager — part of my gig at iThemes
- Sales Manager — part of my gig at iThemes
- Radio Interviewer — I love doing webinar interviews
- Theatrical Producer — What. The. ?
- Tax Accountant — What. The. ?
- Sports Writer — my job in college for a semester and then later I was the creative director of a college sports magazine group
- Alternative School Educator — interesting, have thought off and on about education
- Publisher — I wanted to buy the Ringling Eagle newspaper
- Politician — Um, yeah, I’ve thought about serving
Some of the other parts of the reports were really awesome and worth the price of the combo package to get.
- Page 10 — Check out how careers fit your MO — gives you a list of job idea with notes of how it might be good or not great based on your MO.
- Page 11 — Career paths based on your leading strengths — “the following examples of jobs that have bought satisfaction to people with an MO similar to yours.” I listed this above.
- Page 13 — Striving for your job match
- Page 15 — Sell your authentic self
- Page 16 — Uncovering the authentic you
- Page 17 — Writing a cover letter
- Page 18 — Preparing for your interview — I found out my Natural Advantage is Entrepreneur on this slide. I bought the audio version and loved it. Very helpful and accurate.
- Page 21 — Having a sense of purpose
Get your Kolbe A + Career MO+ here for $63.95. It’s more than worth the price and time.
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