Make time to take a revealing career MOT

The vast majority of office employees (72%) rate being happy in their job as one of the most important factors in their work life, but in fact just 8% feel they’re in their dream role and more than 40% of us waste up to four hours a week fantasising about what we could be doing instead.

That’s why Pitman Training has launched a new, free app designed to help inspire and motivate the UK workforce. The Career MOT app asks you to create your own avatar, then take a quick test to see what professional skills and personal qualities you score highly in and what possible career options are available to you.

The app can tell you which personality type you are and matches your temperament and traits to particular careers. Alongside this, there is also a ‘warning sign’, which highlights areas you might want to consider developing.

Pitman invited the Director of the Yorkshire-based PA Hub, Marion Lowrence, to take the test and she came out as an INFJ (Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging) personality type. She comments: “When I got my result I was really surprised at just how accurate it was. One of the traits the app said I have is that I’m driven with a detailed perfectionist streak, which is very true.

“During my time working as a PA to the CEO of Yorkshire Universities I had to keep everything running to schedule as I had a lot of senior management diaries to juggle and manage, so being ruthlessly organised was essential.”

Asked if she felt other PAs would get the same result as her own, Marion said she believes that the majority of executive assistants would be rated as perfectionists, as they would be unlikely to be able to do a good job without displaying this personality trait. She adds: “I’d also expect something that relates to organisation and liking things kept in the right order, as it can rapidly derail a PA’s working day if they’re working without [the proper] systems in place.”

An online version of the app can be found at pitmancareermot.com/home.html.