Are You in the Right Job?

A hundred years ago, people had literally no say in what their life’s work was going to be. For most of the population, education was so scanty and illiteracy so widespread that the only jobs open to them were manual or unskilled laboring. Geographic factors also dictated how people should work. If you lived in the country, you worked on the land; if you lived by the sea, you probably had something to do with fishing; if you lived in a town, you took whatever pickings there were from its industry. This picture has been transformed in the 20th century, with greater personal mobility and educational opportunities for all, ensuring that an increasing number of people have some choice in how they spend their lives and how they earn their daily bread.

Psychologists have long realized, however, that people vary not only in intelligence but also in their aptitude for particular jobs. With this in mind, they have devised batteries of tests designed to sort out square pegs in round holes and make sure that people go to the jobs that fit them. Tests of this kind, for obvious reasons, are restricted in their use and must be administered only by properly trained experts, and for this reason are not suitable for inclusion in self-testing questionnaires. But there are factors other than simple aptitude that determine whether a person is in the right job or not. The following questionnaire has been developed to allow you to check this for yourself.

1. Do you watch the clock when you are working?

a. Constantly

b. At slack times

c. Never

2. When Monday morning comes, do you

a. Feel ready to go back to work?

b. Think longingly of being able to lie in the hospital with a broken leg?

c. Feel reluctant to start with, but fit into the work routine quite happily after an hour or so?

3. How do you feel at the end of a working day?

a. Dead tired and fit for nothing

b. Glad that you can start living

c. Sometimes tired, but usually pretty satisfied

4. Do you worry about your work?

a. Occasionally

b. Never

c. Often

5. Would you say that your job

a. Underuses your abilities?

b. Overstrains your abilities?

c. Makes you do things you never thought you could do before?

6. Which statement is true for you?

a. I am rarely bored with my work.

b. I am usually interested in my work, but there are patches of boredom.

c. I am bored most of the time I am working.

7. How much of your work time is spent making personal telephone calls or with other matters not connected with the job?

a. Very little

b. Some, especially at crisis times in my personal life

c. Quite a lot

8. Do you daydream about having a different job?

a. Very little

b. Not a different job, but a better position in the same kind of job

c. Yes

9. Would you say that you feel

a. Pretty capable most of the time?

b. Sometimes capable?

c. Panicky and incapable most of the time?

10. Do you find that

a. You like and respect your colleagues?

b. You dislike your colleagues?

c. You are indifferent to your colleagues?

11. Which statement is most true for you?

a. I do not want to learn more about my work.

b. I quite enjoyed learning my work when I first started.

c. I like to go on learning as much as possible about my work.

12. Indicate the qualities you think are your best points

a. Sympathy

b. Clear thinking

c. Calmness

d. Good memory

e. Concentration

f. Physical stamina

g. Inventiveness

h. Expertise

i. Charm

j. Humor

13. Now indicate the above qualities that are demanded by your job.

14. Which statement do you most agree with?

a. A job is only a way to make enough money to keep yourself alive.

b. A job is mainly a way of making money, but should be satisfying if possible.

c. A job is a whole way of life.

15. Do you work overtime?

a. Only when it is paid

b. Never

c. Often, even without pay

16. Have you been absent from work (other than for normal vacations or illness) in the last year?

a. Not at all

b. For a few days only

c. Frequently

17. Would you rate yourself as

a. Very ambitious?

b. Unambitious?

c. Mildly ambitious?

18. Do you think that your colleagues

a. Like you, enjoy your company and get on well with you in general?

b. Dislike you?

c. Do not dislike you but are not particularly friendly?

19. Do you talk about work

a. Only with your colleagues?

b. With friends and family?

c. Not if you can avoid it?

20. Do you suffer from minor or unexplained illnesses and vague pains?

a. Seldom

b. Not too often

c. Frequently

21. How did you choose your present job?

a. Your parents or teachers decided for you.

b. It was all you could find.

c. It seemed the right thing for you.

22. In a conflict between job and home, like an illness of a member of the family, which would win?

a. The family every time

b. The job every time

c. The family in a real emergency, but otherwise probably the job

23. Would you be happy to do the same job if it paid one-third less?

a. Yes

b. You would like to, but could not afford to

c. No

24. If you were laid off, which of these would you miss most?

a. The money

b. The work itself

c. The company of your colleagues

25. Would you ever take a day off from work just to have fun?

a. Yes

b. No

c. Possibly, if there was nothing too urgent for you to do at work

25. Do you feel unappreciated at work?

a. Occasionally

b. Often

c. Rarely

27. What do you most dislike about your job?

a. That your time is not your own

b. The boredom

c. That you cannot always do things the way you want

28. Do you keep your personal life separate from work? (Check with your partner on this one.)

a. Pretty strictly

b. Most of the time, but there is some overlap

c. Not at all

29. Would you advise a child of yours to take up the same kind of work you do?

a. Yes, if he had the ability and temperament.

b. No, you would warn him off.

c. You would not press it, but you would not discourage him, either.

30. If you won or suddenly inherited a large sum of money, would you

a. Stop work for the rest of your life?

b. Take up some kind of work that you have always wanted to do?

c. Decide to continue with the same work you do now?

SCORES

(Total your scores to find your analysis below.)

1. a. 1 b. 3 c. 5

2. a. 5 b. 1 c. 3

3. a. 3 b. 1 c. 5

4. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

5. a. 1 b. 3 c. 5

6. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

7. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

8. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

9. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

10. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

11. a. 1 b. 3 c. 5

12. and 13.: Score 5 each time the qualities match

14. a. 1 b. 3 c. 5

15. a. 3 b. 1 c. 5

16. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

17. a. 5 b. 1 c. 3

18. a. 5 b. 1 c. 3

19. a. 3 b. 5 c. 1

20. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

21. a. 3 b. 1 c. 5

22. a. 1 b. 5 c. 3

23. a. 5 b. 3 c. 1

24. a. 1 b. 5 c. 3

25. a. 1 b. 5 c. 3

26. a. 3 b. 1 c. 5

27. a. 3 b. 1 c. 5

28. a. 1 b. 3 c. 5

29. a. 5 b. 1 c. 3

30. a. 1 b. 3 c. 5

ANALYSIS

You will have finished with a score between 30 and 195--a considerable range. As a basic rule, the higher your score, the more contented you are in your job. But check the subsections below for a more detailed analysis.

30-50: Very low job satisfaction

A score in this range is low indeed, and there is no doubt that as far as your present job is concerned, you really are a square peg in a round hole. If you are over 50 years old, it may mean that you are disheartened about the job because you have not achieved the promotion you had hoped for. The only thing one can say here is to wish you well when the joyous day comes when you can retire. If you are a younger person, the best thing you can possibly do is to face up to the reality of your dissatisfaction, take your courage in both hands and look for a more enjoyable job elsewhere.

51-84: Low job satisfaction

You do not seem to be very happy in your present job. This may be because you are actually in the wrong job for you. On the other hand, it could be that it is jobs in general that you do not like. Perhaps you value your freedom so highly that you would resent the demands that most jobs put on you. Another possibility: Perhaps your true abilities are not really being used. Think carefully about this and see if it would not be possible for you to find something that suits you better. If it is simply that you dislike your present boss or colleagues, a change in the place rather than the kind of work could restore your satisfaction in your work. Perhaps new surroundings would give you a new start and cut down the misery of finding every day seeming like Monday.

85-144: Average job satisfaction

This is the good, solid, middle-of-the-road average. Like most people in modern society, you have probably found work that suits you fairly well. But it’s a safe bet that you feel you are not paid enough and it’s also probable that you could do somewhat better in another kind of job. On the other hand, the social aspects of work almost certainly appeal to you, so staying in a job where you like the people is as important to you as the use of your talents. You strike a balance between your job and your personal life, and probably enjoy both. You could well be successful in your present work, though you are not driven to success in the same way as the higher scorer. If you are talented and move quickly to promotion, you may dislike the pressure of a top job, but wait and see and give it a try if it happens.

145-175: High job satisfaction

Work is very important to you, and you show a high degree of job involvement and satisfaction. In fact, you probably gain much of your personal identity from your work. This attitude suggests that you would also do well in another job, and that should circumstances change your present career pattern, it’s pretty clear that you would respond to the challenge and be successful. Monday mornings are very likely your happiest time.

Over 175: Abnormal job satisfaction

Candidly, this score is too high for comfort. It could imply that work has become your god. Pause a while and think: Has it become too important to you? Are you neglecting everything else because of it? Might not your job be more genuinely satisfying if you were not so deeply immersed?

Reprinted from “Understanding Yourself,” by Dr. Christopher Evans (Phoebus Publishing Co./BPC Publishing Ltd.)