"All the world's a stage"

All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts.

As You Like It (Act II, Scene VII) William Shakespeare (c.1599) 

As I approach the beginning of my seventh decade, I am reminded of how I felt when, as a teenager, I first heard Shakespeare's 'seven ages of man' speech. 

The prospect of finding one's way through life seemed overwhelming. I had no clear passions, and I was not confident that I had any special talent. I had no idea what part I would play on the vast 'stage' of life. I remember feeling very depressed by the idea of 'the workplace' - a word that suggested decades of drudge.

These memories are triggered whenever I talk to, or read about, young people who are struggling with similar emotions today. It has prompted me to create this section of my website because I wish someone had explained some important things to me when I was at school or university. 

My messages are positive: 

1. the working life does not have to be as scary or as dull as it might appear when we are young; 

2. there are more possibilities than you might imagine, especially if you are alert to:

   1. • the ways in which the world is continually changing

      • the need for reimagined products, processes, skills and services

      • the weaknesses, inefficiencies and mediocrity in all sectors and organisations, providing endless opportunities for improvement

3. there are opportunities to change direction, so your first job is not as important as you think; 

4. relationship management is the most valuable skill you can develop, in all aspects of your life;

5. technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), creates more opportunities than threats for careers;

6. above all, and although it may not always be obvious to you, the world really needs and wants you to succeed.

The secret is to find your own sustainable pathway. This webpage is designed to help you with that process.

This section is a little bit intellectual, but please bear with me, it is important.🙏

In this century, we regularly tell each other that we can be whoever/whatever we want to be. To be clear, this mantra refers to opportunity, not to entitlement. A career, i.e. a person's progress or general course of action through life, is a  lifelong learning project that requires imagination, hard work and some risk-taking.  It is difficult to identify and to sustain a career without at least some degree of alignment with our natural skills, our neurodiversity, our values, and our personalities. 

Much is written these days about the importance of a growth mindset in education. For me this means not being constrained by the academic measures and labels we are given as children. We should have faith in our limitless capacity to grow, if we make the effort. Such faith is well-placed as long as we find the right pathways that are sustainable for us personally.

In previous generations it was not unusual to join one organisation, learn and hone your skills, and spend your whole life there. There were pros and cons to this model. By contrast, in the 21st century people will experience many more changes over the course of their lifetime: changes in direction, in demand for evolving skills, and in their model of employment. They may split their time between jobs, including being self-employed. Well over 4 million people are formally self-employed in the UK (2023).

The landscape of skills and jobs is changing more quickly than ever. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been impacting our lives for decades, but recently there has been more focus on AI's social consequences.  What does it really mean to be 'human' in a world where the historically dominant knowledge-producing methods of homo sapiens are looking a bit obsolete? 

AI raises questions about which human skills and careers will be most relevant for the future.  Some predict that the majority of children born today will end up working in job types that do not yet exist.

A new age of oracy* 

Technology can (where it is permitted) improve learning, communication and productivity. It also disrupts some long-established and embedded attitudes about education, skills and sources of wisdom. Rapid change can be a threat to those who cannot, or will not, adapt. 

Humanity's relationship with text (in its widest sense as the medium for learning and for communication) is evolving in quite fundamental ways. Due to the overwhelming volume of digital media 'traffic' in our lives, our capacity for concentration and reflection is certainly changing, and may be diminishing.

In his 2021 book Stolen Focus, Johann Hari argues quite convincingly that we need to fight hard to rescue our focus from the potentially devastating distractions of living our whole lives online.  This concern about living in the shallows and avoiding deeper thought was well captured 10 years earlier by Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows: how the internet is changing the way we think, read and remember. 

Whichever way you look at it, our reading and writing habits are changing. A growing preference for listening has led to a massive increase in podcasts and audiobooks. We are moving away from long-form texts (like the one you are reading right now) and towards shorter texts, bulleted presentations and audiovisual media. Generative AI is transforming our sourcing, editing, reading and understanding of text. It is also transforming the way information is produced, disseminated and targeted to influence readers and listeners. We can all be published writers, pundits, performers and broacasters now. 

Sooner or later, the devices we currently know as mobile phones will be replaced with solutions that are more wearable, or implanted, and will be more seamlessly interactive and conversational. As a result of all this, we are entering a new age where the relationship between literacy and oracy is being redefined. 

Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, actively listen, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language. In the school curriculum, oracy is a skill which has long been 'the poor cousin' of literacy and numeracy, or as we used to call them: the three 'R's of Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. In the future, as generative AI colonizes the education sector through large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Gemini, oracy is going to matter a whole lot more. 

In a nutshell: what we say will be a more authentic and reliable indicator of what we understand (and what we can contribute) than what we write.  And thanks to the impressive progress and ubiquity of voice-typing, even when we do produce written output it will increasingly be sourced from what we speak. 

These are profound shifts in the ways we produce, validate and distribute 'knowledge' and in what it means to be an effective communicator. Those who adapt and develop the related skills will thrive. 

Voice-typing alone could do much to transform education and productivity in the workplace. There is already evidence that voice-typing helps children take pride both in their speaking and in their writing. Self-editing tools stimulate engagement to really take care and read what we write and raises standards of literacy more generally. All of these things promote inclusivity, levelling the educational playing field for those who are challenged by handwriting or typing from scratch. 

The decline of the 'linear literary mind'

Thanks to social media, 'having a voice' in the 21st century is already very different from what it meant to previous generations. The barriers to entry into the arena of social influence ("the public sphere") are much less restrictive. Most people (if they are so inclined) can generate a sizeable following. 

For centuries, the desired outcome of a 'good' education has been judged to be what is sometimes called the 'linear literary mind'. This means a mind attuned to learning, developing and communicating ideas through long-form written texts: books, essays and journals. Mastery of these formats and channels was the pathway to power and influence throughout your career. The scientific, educational and cultural sectors of the publishing industry have been the gatekeepers of integrity and quality assurance in this process.

However, the linear literary mind is not a timeless or universal attribute of humankind. It is a particular phenomenon of primarily western culture and institutions. Originating with Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in the 15th century, the linear literary mind has dominated knowledge production for the past 500 years. 

Despite this powerful legacy of the printed word, it is likely that through the 21st century we will see a decline in both the appetite and the capacity of humans to source and re-produce their wisdom efficiently through long-form texts and through the traditional mechanisms of publishing.

This has profound implications. It will likely usher in a new age of oracy as the primary domain where human expression can differentiate itself from AI. The spoken word may well regain its pre-Gutenberg status as the more reliable, creative and compelling medium to express our authentic human attributes: ingenuity, character and integrity.

Traditional literacy skills will of course continue to be very important. This is especially true in order to exploit the possibilities of generative AI. And to challenge or edit its output, because AI is only as good as the data it feeds off. There is so much more that we need to do to assure the quality and integrity of AI, and literacy is a critical element of this process.

But however this plays out, oracy (in its broadest sense) can no longer be treated as the 'poor cousin' in education and personal development. 

Our uniquely human contribution

All of these developments create opportunities. In some ways they make life more flexible. They can also make life feel less secure. They require us to be more proactive and/or reactive in developing our skills and our self-awareness. To be clear, self-awareness includes awareness of where society is most in need of our uniquely human contribution**. 

We cannot rely upon schools, universities or other people to align our career for us. We have to figure this out for ourselves. Across the UK there are well over 1 million job vacancies and there is a worrying skills shortage***. The good news is that young people with the energy, disposition and adaptability for self-development are in high demand. 

Even so, the decisions on the what, where and how of our learning and working are not always easy. They have a big impact on our motivation and happiness. There are many different possibilities in learning and career pathways and they evolve over time. Few people make optimal decisions consistently throughout their lives. For many people, the first big decision is whether to pursue Higher Education. If you are at that decision-making stage, I have four key messages for you in Appendix 1 below. 

Of course we do not all have to become experts in the latest technology and AI. But we do need to be broadly aware of technology's evolution and its impact. How might we harness it? Where do we (individually and collectively) fit into the new ecology? This web page tries to address that second question by focusing on the more permanent and enduring aspects of human motivation, skills and values. These are the things that are less likely to be rendered obsolete by AI.

We should not get too alarmed by so much talk of change. Humans have been adapting to huge technological and industrial changes for centuries. But our education sector is not agile. It is conservative (some might say this is a good thing) and has always struggled to keep up with technology-driven changes in our culture and the economy.  This is why each of us need to take responsibility for our own learning pathways and to discover where we can get help. Appendix 2 below has some useful links to online resources for career and skills development.  

Key things for young people to think about

We often learn the most from our mistakes, so trial and error are essential experiences. Pursuing opportunities outside our comfort zone is important. This might involve moving away (at least temporarily) from the people and places that are familiar to us. 

Jobs will rarely (if ever) tick every box on our wish-list. So we have to prioritise and be realistic about what is sustainable for each of us in the longer term. Adaptability and sustainability are boosted if we can align our choices to our values, skills and personalities. So with that objective in mind, I find it helpful to think about jobs and careers with reference to the following three important things:

1. nutrients for sustaining career pathways,

2. economic sectors (for profit, and not-for-profit),

3. psychometrics - discovering what drives you and how you interact with others.

These things are explained in the three sections below. 

-----------------------------

Footnotes

* To understand more about what I mean by 'a new age of oracy', follow this link to an extract from my book. Also see Voice21 - an impressive organisation that has been championing oracy in the curriculum for almost 10 years, or link to the excellent report of the Oracy Education Commission (October 2024).

**There are many free online reports predicting future skills requirements, e.g. 

• NFER Skills Imperative 2035

• HRForecast - A Guide to Future-Oriented Skills 

*** See the UK government's current list for Skilled Worker Visas for Shortage Occupations

Here the career focus is on becoming a specialist, a highly proficient expert, and upholding recognised standards in any one of many fields: technical, creative, administrative, sporting.. etc.

Traditional professions include medicine, law and accounting, but the professional label can apply much more widely e.g. teacher, sound engineer, climate scientist, management consultant, psychologist, sports scientist, set designer, architect, structural engineer, dramatherapist.. etc. 

The list is very long and includes trade professionals. These are careers that often do not require a university degree, and include specialisms such as electricians, plumbers and many new types of technicians and operators in engineering, healthcare, construction, maintenance, and in advanced aspects of technology.

Professionals take pride and comfort in their expertise. Many (but not all) feel a strong sense of a vocation (i.e. a calling or sense of destiny) towards their profession.

The main thing to consider is that it is usually a long-term commitment. It requires several years to master your craft and this may involve passing professional exams. 

Given how quickly things evolve, professionals need to stay abreast of changes through a commitment to CPD (continuing professional development). This can be quite onerous and is often formally regulated by a professional body. 

Most professions will see an acceleration in the impact of technology due to AI. This is most likely amongst the more routine functions and junior roles. It presents a training and development challenge. Professional organisations need to identify where uniquely human skills are most valuable and productive, and to adapt their businesses accordingly. This does not necessarily mean they will employ fewer people, only that their 'product' or 'client offering' will change. Young people who are in tune with the changing landscape for professional skills and services will thrive as they will be the ones shaping the future. 

Professionals can work for themselves (e.g. as private contractors with clients), or as part of public service organisations (e.g. NHS trusts or schools), in partnerships (e.g. firms of lawyers or architects), or be employed in private or public companies. 

Financial rewards vary quite significantly, but are generally very good. Once qualified, professional careers can provide good job-security. 

Entrepreneurs are the people who make new (and often better) things happen in the world. 

The term is sometimes used to describe anyone who has their own business, but that usage is too broad. Similarly, TV series such as The Apprentice and Dragons' Den tend to present quite a narrow and sometimes unattractive stereotypical image of what it means to be entrepreneurial. 

Entrepreneurs see gaps, needs and opportunities in life. Sometimes these are driven by technological possibilites: e.g. the internet, social media, AI, scientific research break-throughs in any sector. Or they could arise from social and community needs where government policy and/or philanthropic resources (corporate or private) make funding available. Either way, it requires individuals to recognise the opportunities and make things happen. 

Entrepreneurs either start new projects or businesses themselves, or they bring together people with the right skills and connections to bring new solutions or ventures to life. Once the venture is well-established, they often move on to new ideas leaving the more routine day to day management and operation of the business to others. 

Key characteristics of an entrepreneur are: 

• passion. This can sometimes appear as a strong sense of community, or duty to do the right thing for a fairer world (social entrepreneurs).

• strong instinct and intuition. They may or may not be inventors or originators, but either way they have a reliable instinct about which new ideas or technologies will work in practice, and they know where to find the right people and resources to bring an idea to life.

• risk-tolerant. Creating businesses out of new ideas always involves risk. This includes the risk of losing time, money and reputation. NB - there is a big difference between being risk-tolerant and reckless.

• initiative. Entrepreneurs do not wait for other people to move, they move first.

• disruption. New ideas usually involve disrupting old ways of doing things. An entrepreneur needs to be persuasive and resilient in the face of the opposition and doubt from those who are resistant to change. 

• self-belief. There can be a fine line between this admirable quality and less attractive traits, such as arrogance, narcissism, obsession and denial. These are things that some of the greatest innovators and achievers in history have been accused of.

• self -discipline. Because they operate independently (i.e. outside of organisational structures), entrepreneurs need to be very disciplined about their time and goals.

World-famous entrepreneurs include Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, James Dyson, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos. To be clear, entrepreneurs are not defined by being white male industrialists. Beyonce, Oprah and JK Rowling are perhaps even more famous people with an entrepreneurial drive. 

Don't be overwhelmed by the success of people on this list. There are huge numbers of entrepreneurs doing impressive things everywhere on a much smaller scale. It is possible for many more of us to be entrepreneurial with more realistic aims. Some organisations and roles explicitly ask for entrepreneurial qualities.

See Appendix 2 below for some useful links to organisations supporting young entrepreneurs.

Humans are social animals and most of us get at least some energy and satisfaction from serving or helping others. 

For some people, serving their community or looking after individuals is what drives, or even defines them. For these people there are some obvious career choices: nursing, social & welfare work, teaching, fire & rescue, therapy & counselling, customer-service, religious ministry, human rights & legal aid law, hospitality, etc. 

Service also includes civic duty in a more abstract way, and many people choose careers in the police, the armed services or in politics because the principles of service, public safety and justice are important to them.  

The ageing population means that the service and care work which requires empathy, social interaction and sensitivity to the differing needs of human development are likely to be in ever greater demand in the future. 

Of course being service-oriented does not mean that your whole job has to be defined by it. For example, if you are not a natural 'people-person', you might focus your energy on organisational, technological and AI solutions that will have the most impact in the care sector. In any event, there are many ways to satisfy the service-orientation stimulus without choosing an organisation in the service or care sector. 

Equally, if you do not feel especially service-oriented, this does not preclude you from choosing these sectors. They employ so many people in such a wide range of functions that all eight nutrients can be satisfied somewhere in the service sector. The important thing is to reflect upon how important the service stimulus is to you.

Service-oriented jobs rarely produce the biggest financial rewards. This is why it is so important to make sure that the service-orientation 'nutrients' in your job provide sufficient non-financial rewards.

Many people get their service-orientation nutrient through volunteering which can also help develop skills and network connections for paid work in your chosen career.

Leadership

An exception to this generalisation about lower pay, and one that often gets overlooked when thinking about service-orientation, is leadership. 

Leaders are not just ambitious bosses who like to be in-charge. Good leadership includes an element of humility.  Leaders need to see beyond their own ego and tap into a collective wisdom. The best leaders are often motivated by a profound sense of service, duty and responsibility. They unite people by:

• articulating a vision of what needs to be done,  

• fostering an inclusive culture, 

• embodying core values, and 

• inspiring others to be the best versions of themselves. 

Leadership requires people to dig deep, going beyond what others are prepared to commit to. We are not all cut-out to be 'the boss', but there are many ways we can develop leadership qualities and opportunities and to 'take charge' throughout our lives.

A career in research is driven by curiosity, the desire to understand and to make things better. This is achieved by exploring new ideas and possibilities and by solving problems through discovering new solutions.

Research broadly falls into two categories: natural sciences and social sciences. Over the past two centuries the natural sciences have generally been regarded as having more status than social sciences. This is perhaps because of so many spectacular technological achievements that have transformed human lives, e.g. in healthcare, industrial production, media and communications, transportation, housing..etc. The commercial potential arising from scientific progress generates considerable funding for research.

In the 21st century things are changing. The concept of 'progress' is more frequently challenged in the light of concerns about things such as social injustice, crime, mental health, climate change and other environmental damage. There is now much wider recognition of the critical role of the social sciences in finding new ways to address  the world's problems.

Research careers can be pursued in any sector, e.g:

• prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness and suffering, including nutritional and behavioural solutions

• development of social policies for optimal impact on the needs of society (education, welfare, housing, justice, pensions)

• efficiency in agriculture, food production, engineering, construction, manufacturing, logistics

• communications technology

• learning and artificial intelligence (AI)

• sustainable energy and environmental research such as advanced geothermal solutions and super-efficient solar cells

• market research and commercial product development

• individual and team sporting performance

• space exploration

• ...etc, the list is very long.

The UK has an impressive history of pioneering research and development, and is still a global leader in many fields. 

Most scientific research takes place in universities or government-approved research organisations of which there are many hundreds across the UK, including all NHS trusts, hospitals and Higher Education institutions. Research also occurs in the private sector, often in partnership with research institutions. 

Think-tanks provide another source of employment for people who are research-driven. Think-tanks are research institutes that often play a key role in converting scientific research into national or international government policy. Whilst each think-tank serves a specific purpose, they all share a common vision to improve their respective sectors, as well as being sources of new ideas and research. Wikipedia lists almost 200 think-tanks in the UK.

Despite the huge diversity in research pathways across all sectors, there are some common requirements that young people should be aware of when considering a career in research. These include:

• a passion for the field of research, 

• a disposition for creative and critical thinking, and 

• the patience to apply methodology rigorously. 

Scientific breakthroughs often steal headlines. This can make research careers sound glamorous. Rarely is it explained just how many thousands of hours of painstaking and often monotonous, repetitive processes have been followed to get to the point of discovering something which might capture the public imagination. This aspect of a research career should not be underestimated.

In addition to the eight categories listed above, there are many other practical considerations in the ways to differentiate job and career choices based on individual preferences. 

You should make your own list of things you care about, but here are just a few examples of preferences:

• Working alone versus in teams.

• Working with the same people regularly versus meeting new people everyday (e.g. customers, the general public) or networking regularly to explore new perspectives.

• Routine, planned or systematic work which is structured and directed versus ad-hoc and unplanned environments that  require you to think on your feet and adapt to changing situations.

• Predominantly interacting with people versus with data/information.

• High versus low  dependence upon technology knowledge and skills.

• Predominantly communicating through reading/writing versus listening/speaking. 

• Working environments which are high-pressure/uncertain versus those which are calm and predictable.  

• Long-term commitment and job security versus short-term flexibility and freedom to move on.

• Fixed versus flexible hours.

• Working in urban versus rural locations;  indoors versus  outdoors; home versus business premises.

• Predominantly desk-based/sedentary versus being mobile/out-and-about.

These are all preferences to reflect upon when contemplating what kind of work is likely to be sustainable for each of us in the long-term. 

We can rarely, if ever, tick all of the boxes for a perfect fit. Compromises will have to be made, so it is useful for you to have a clear idea what are the most important elements, and to prioritise. 

What do you want to be when you grow up?

This is the traditional question we ask children, to which the answer might be astronaut, firefighter, doctor, teacher, chef, scientist, footballer, popstar..etc, or more worryingly: investment banker, lawyer or accountant.🫢

It is understandable to focus on the ‘what’ of jobs as described by their function, particularly those that are very visible roles in society, or ones that are regularly portrayed in film and TV. The downside is that the jobs can be perceived as stereotypes, i.e. having the same responsibilities, management structures and personality types. Amongst the most extreme of these cultural stereotypes are:

• the quirky,  intuitive, lonely and worn-out Detective with the unsupportive and bureaucratic Chief Inspector boss.

• the brilliant and brave Forensic Pathologist who seems to single-handedly solve murder cases. 

• the hard-nosed (and generally corrupt) Businessman who is only interested in profit and closing deals, and does not care about people, communities or the environment.

Many such representations of jobs are terribly distorted. In general, anything to do with ‘corporate culture’ or ‘management’ (especially in hospitals 😧) tends to get treated quite harshly by screenwriters. I understand and respect why they do it, but it can be very unhelpful and discouraging for young people who are trying to get a balanced view of the working life. Trust me, business, finance and management can be fun and morally worthy! 😃

The reality is that jobs, even those with the same title, can vary hugely depending on the organisational context. Also, people can enjoy the same job, or jobs in the same sector, but for very different reasons. This is why you should not let a job stereotype define you or constrain your choices.

For example, being a lawyer can be a very different experience depending on whether you are a barrister or a solicitor, and depending on the field of law in which you work, e.g: family law, corporate law, criminal law, human rights law..etc. A state-employed lawyer helping someone get justice and supported by legal-aid is a world away from commercial lawyers with large corporate clients.

Let me give another example. Referencing some of the eight nutrient labels above, someone might be attracted to the education sector for any of the following reasons:

• They would like to become (and be seen as) an expert in teaching (professional).

• They want to nurture and protect children (service-oriented).

• They like developing and/or influencing young minds (service-oriented, influencing others, research-driven).

• They like to improvise or be innovative in their approach to classes, and/or to perform in front of a crowd (creative).

• They feel it is a worthy and respected job that serves the community (service-oriented, professional).

• They have passion and commitment to a particular academic subject (research-driven, professional).

• They like team-collaboration, clear structures and want to contribute to a well-organised school that serves all pupils (managerial-administrative, service-oriented).

• They have innovative ideas about how education can be reformed (entrepreneurial, research-driven).

• They like long holidays and they are teaching until they've figured out what else they want to do, or until something better comes along (serendipitous).

This list does not capture all of the reasons people pursue careers in education, but my point is that you should not leap to conclusions about jobs and why people choose them. Do your research, talk to those who are doing the roles you are interested in, and try to get some work-experience.

Once you’ve completed all that, think deeply about why you want to pursue that pathway. 

I am finishing this section with arguably the three most important questions that will determine your career path: 

1. How successful do you want to be (and how do you define that success)? 

2. How hard are you prepared to work for that success?

3. What compromises and trade-offs are you prepared to accept?

In recent years that second question seems to provoke frequent arguments between the younger and older generations. Amongst the Baby Boomers (those born 1946-1964) and the subsequent cohorts, known as Generation X, Millennials and Generation Z, the debate rages:  who is the most fortunate, the most entitled, and who is having to work the hardest? 

These are interesting debates, but they are distracting. They rarely contribute to positive thinking. Young people today are challenged in all sorts of ways that differ from 1985 when I graduated and entered the workplace. I am very sympathetic to the new challenges. I understand the frustrations and disappointments caused by:

a) the over-optimistic promises of the benefits of a university degree which justified the taking on of student debt,

b) the peer pressure and FoMO caused by the unrealistic and unsustainable 'have it all' lifestyle dreams sold by media and consumer goods companies,

c) the seeming impossibility of owning a home and attaining the living standards of an older generation. 

I can testify, if it is of any comfort, that life felt neither easy nor affordable for many of my generation at the same age. We felt lucky to have a job, and we did pretty much anything our employers asked of us: sometimes in ways that would be judged unacceptable today. Financial support from parents beyond the age of 21 was much less common. We had low expectations of a life outside of work, at least for most of our twenties. 

Were those days better or worse than for young people today? Who can say, but it is really not that relevant. 

The changes over the 40 years since that time are a result of many economic, political and cultural factors. These changes have redefined expectations about:

• living standards, 

• work-life balance,

• relationships with employers and flexible working arrangements

• ongoing parental support for many years into adulthood, and 

• the advantages (and affordability) of living independently. 

Despite such changes, one ancient truism is as applicable today as it has always been: 'you can't have it all.' 

Only you can determine your priorities and decide what trade-offs and sacrifices you are prepared to make in order to 'live your best life'.  

I emphasise the word 'your' because it helps to be realistic when managing expectations. Whatever dreams people try to sell you, and whatever others may expect of you, just make sure you are clear about your dreams and expectations.

MBTI questionnaires are designed to find where an individual sits on a continuum between each of four binary oppositions. It then assigns one of 16 four-character labels, e.g. ESTJ, INFP.. etc. 

In my experience, the key to interpreting MBTI meaningfully is to focus on those areas where a person does not sit near the centre of each of these polarised oppositions, i.e. where we lean strongly one way or the other. This is especially enlightening when you realise what it means for interactions with people that lean the opposite way. 

The labels are explained below. 

Extroversion   -   Introversion  (E-I)

This is about where you get your energy from and where you turn to for comfort, or when under pressure. 

When developing ideas or solving problems, do you prefer to start by:

• looking externally (E) to other people to generate energy and momentum, thinking out loud and testing ideas by bouncing them around, or 

• turning inwards (I), observing, reflecting calmly and privately to process and clarify your own thoughts without the distraction of interaction with other people?

Being an Introvert does not mean that you do not enjoy the company of other people. It often just means that you can find interacting with people quite exhausting. Introverts need to balance interactions with other people with plenty of time on their own to process and reflect.

Extroverts might accuse Introverts of being too reserved, or of not contributing to the group. 

Introverts might accuse Extroverts of being too loud or demanding to be the centre of attention.

Sensing   -   Intuition  (S-N)

This is about the preferred sources of evidence that you choose to rely on. 

Sensors (S) are highly observant. They either love or need data. They are pragmatic and like to draw certainty from clearly observable and recordable information. They like explicit facts and details. They prefer things to be described in a literal way. 

Intuitors (N) are more confident in their internal cognitive processes. They are more comfortable with uncertainty, contradictory sources of evidence and ambiguity. They prefer theorising and exploring ideas and implications through abstract concepts and by making 'big picture' connections. They are sceptical, critical and more likely to question data or challenge dominant views. They may often re-frame the question being asked. They often like to describe things in a more poetic or metaphorical way.

Sensors might accuse Intuitors of over-thinking things, of being unrealistic or of being dreamers. 

Intuitors might accuse Sensors of not seeing wider possibilities, or of accepting too easily the existing ways of doing things, or of not questioning the prevailing structures of knowledge and power.

Thinking   -   Feeling  (T-F)

Thinkers (T) prioritise the merits of an uncompromising, dispassionate, principled and objective 'truth'. They are more likely to be cruel to be kind, or to put the needs of the group above the needs of the individual. They value fairness and justice very highly. 

Feelers (F) are empathic and prefer the benefits of seeking harmony through reconciliation, negotiation, compromise and forgiveness. For feelers, when difficult conflicting choices have to be made, individual people (especially family and friends) are more important than principles.

Thinkers are often described as cool or cold; Feelers are described as warm. 

Judging   -   Perceiving  (J-P)

This is the binary that tends to confuse people. 

Judging (J) means a preference for making decisions, acting on them and getting closure. J's like to have matters settled. They like step-by-step plans and think timelines should be respected. They may not like surprises.

Perceiving (P)  means keeping one's options open to accommodate new information or developments. Ps are reluctant to close down options in case more optimal solutions might be found. They like flexible plans and thrive on the opportunity to improvise as circumstances change. 

Js might see Ps as over-thinking possibilities, or as being indecisive and unstructured. Ps can see Js as impatient or unimaginative. 

These MBTI preferences are positively described in more detail on this web-page. It is equally important to understand the negative aspects of our MBTI profile, i.e. how we tend to behave when we are under stress, or in environments that don't suit us. This web-page explains a bit about these negative aspects with some useful labelling of the 16 MBTI types.

In summary 

These preferences in our personality do not typically change very much over the course of our lives. They might become either more developed or suppressed by certain career choices or organisational cultures, so it is valuable for all of us to consider how well-suited our personalities are to our working environments. 

There is no simple and rigid way to map the points of alignment and friction between MBTI indicators and the eight nutrients and career choice preferences above, but hopefully you can start to see how they are relevant. The key is to be self-aware and to explore certain aspects of roles when researching or pursuing job opportunities.

There is no ideal career for each personality type. The better way to think about it is that there are compatible careers for you. Knowing your personality type will help you discover them.

The other important thing to note with all of these approaches is that the types (or roles, colours and animals used in other models) are non-judgemental, i.e. none of them are wholly good nor wholly bad. Nor is one better than another.  The point is that all of them are capable of manifesting positive and negative aspects in different situations. 

The more we can understand, accommodate and celebrate these differences in each other, the happier and more productive we will be.

Psychometric tools in a school context can be problematic. Using animals can be a more accessible way to promote discussions about personality types, especially for children.

There are many sources providing benefits to organisations and to individuals through a better understanding of our cognitive differences and personality types. I mention just three below: Insights Discovery, the Belbin Team Roles and the Margerison-Mcann model.  

If you are interested in exploring others, I suggest looking at the following two links which are explained in Appendix 2 below:

• National Careers Service questionnaires

• Skillsbuilder benchmark assessment

These links are also worth a look

• Comparison of the High 5 Test with the Clifton Strengths Test

• Morrisby career-matching 

To be clear, my purpose is not to provide expert insight, but simply to make young people aware that these are powerful tools of self-development that may be valuable to explore more deeply at the right time in each of our development journeys. 

Psychometric assessment of personality and motivation is not a one-time, fixed snapshot of who we are. Just as skills change over time, so can motivation and personality, especially with experience, and in different roles. 'Situation-specific behaviour' describes where we think/act differently in different contexts. For example, one may be chatty and outgoing with friends, but quiet and reserved in the workplace. This illustrates that any description of a person should be understood in context.

When we are young it can be really hard to identify our own values, strengths and weaknesses. The way we see ourselves may not be the way others see us. But this is where self-assessment measures that are linked specifically to the workplace can be really helpful.  Whatever you learn from such measures should be just the start of an opportunity to pause and reflect. This is the primary value of psychometric models, together with highlighting areas for learning and development.

I would encourage young people to explore psychometric models. It is best done in conjunction with a colleague, teacher, family member or friend, as it is in the process of discussing with others that much of the learning and self-awareness is created.  

There are plenty of self-assessment measures available online. They vary widely in their scientific credentials, but most at least afford the opportunity to reflect upon what you learn. Even if you disagree with the findings it can be helpful to think about why that is. There are several tools that can be accessed online for free, although you may be asked to allow the test developers to incorporate your anonymised data into the evaluation of their tool.

This web page merely scrapes the surface of the challenges faced by schools and young people in preparing for life. My intention is primarily to pique interest in a field which requires much more research, development and reform, and to encourage young people to explore aspects of their learning and career choices that they might not have thought about before.

There are plenty of stakeholders in the education sector who are campaigning on the related theme of 21st century skills. In particular they are rethinking assessment in order to recognise skills and talent more broadly, productively and equitably. 

Compared with when I left school in the 1980s, some good progress has been made, especially through careers education initiatives such as the Gatsby benchmarks established in 2013 which have raised the bar on pupil awareness of careers.

Sadly there is still much to be done to move beyond the constraints of our change-resistant educational model. It is a model that struggles to understand and to adapt to a social and economic world which is scarcely recognisable from the one in which the current model was originally designed. 

In the meantime, I hope my piece has prompted you to think more about developing self-awareness and about aligning your skills, stimuli and personality in your exploration of career choices.