How can you help someone find the right role in an organization?

Written by Justin M. Deonarine, I/O Psychologist

We’re often asked how HR professionals can help employees find the role where they’ll be happier. Helping someone find their passion about can seem challenging but with a bit of self-exploration and awareness you will be off to a good start.

We like to begin with having the individual complete the MBTI assessment. What we’re most interested in is the middle two letters of their MBTI type. This is known as the “Function Pair”, and describes what each individual values the most (or who they are at their core). We’ve adapted a simple exercise you can use:

1. The individual will need a piece of paper and a pen/pencil.
2. Have the individual look at their function pair and write down the following details according to their function pair:
   • ST: Getting it right, accuracy, precision, efficiency, pragmatic use of details
   • SF: Providing practical service to others, making people’s lives better in concrete ways
   • NF: Making a meaningful difference in people’s lives, helping people to fulfill their potential
   • NT: Developing global systems, mastering knowledge, high standards of competence
3. Have the individual write down their answer to the questions below. In order to answer these questions, have them think about the hobbies and jobs that they enjoy. Make sure that they don’t spend too much time thinking about their answers, they should take 5 minutes in total for all of the questions.
   • What is most important to you about work?
   • What do you value most about what you do?
   • What do you want to accomplish through your work?
4. Sometimes people may draw blanks when trying to answer the above questions, and need some help getting started. They may find this article useful. Have them find their Function Pair in the chart to gather ideas.
5. Combine all of the information that they have gathered in the previous steps to form a statement that details their ideal job.

This statement will help both you and the individual by narrowing down the roles that they may want to explore further (as part of their career development). Of course, not every job will cover all of the preferences and interests that they have expressed in their ideal job statement, but there should have enough overlap to keep the individual engaged.

Activity originally from The Myers-Briggs Company