CAREER PATHFINDERS: Alexandria VA, Arlington VA, Washington DC, MD. What Am I Best At? Discover Your Natural Career Strengths.

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Your Talent Profile

Your natural talent profile is a big piece of the puzzle needed to reveal what career paths fit you best.

Below is a small sample of the Aptitude Testing Program offered by Pathfinders.

Tribal™ Personality Group

Introverted Tribal™ - An introverted "tribal" is a personality type that prefers to be a member or part of a company, i.e., modern day "tribe". They do their best work in the quiet part of the company, working alone most of the day with some people interaction. They see the world on the same "wavelength" as most people. Feel rewarded by being recognized for their ability to provide a valuable service in support of the company/team mission and goals; working through and with people behind the scenes. Get identity from being part of a group as a project engineer, financier, manager, administrator, technical writer. Often say in describing themselves, "I'm proud to be a supporting member of the company/team." Famous introverted tribals: President Harry Truman, Radar O'Reilly (from MASH).

Extroverted Tribal™ - An extroverted "tribal" is a personality type that prefers to be fully engaged in "out-front" tribal activities (in the action-oriented part of the company) working largely through and with other people most of the day. They see the world on the same wavelength as most people. Feel rewarded by being recognized for their ability to provide a valuable service in representing the company/team mission and goals, where they can be seen and heard daily. Get identity from being the representative, host, or contact person of the group/company. Often say in describing themselves, "I'm proud to lead, host, entertain, manage, promote, or market the company/team." Famous extroverted tribals: President George W. Bush, Oprah, Brittany Spears.

Maestro™ Personality Group

Introverted Maestro™ - An introverted "maestro" is a personality type that prefers to be an expert or master of their profession (usually as a soloist) and does their best work inside their head most of the day. They see the world in a unique and personal way. Feel rewarded by being respected for their expertise and sought out for their mastery in a highly specialized area. Often blur the line between work and play in pursuit of a life's work or passion. Get identity from what they do rather than who they're with. Often say in describing themselves, "I am an artist, scientist, pioneer, inventor." Famous introverted maestros: Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, John Lenon, Virginia Woolfe.

Extroverted Maestro™ - An extroverted "maestro" is a personality type that prefers to be an expert or master of their profession and do their best work in front of or with people (individuals or groups) most of the day. They see the world in a unique and personal way. Feel rewarded by being respected for their mastery of performance and ability to communicate expert knowledge in a specialized subject area. Have a playful, entrepreneurial, and passionate spirit. Get identity from what they do rather than who they're with, communicating their wisdom. Often say in describing themselves, "I am a performer, professor, coach, consultant, leader, visionary." Famous extroverted maestros: President Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King Jr., Robin Williams.

Spatial - Tangible - Non-spatial Orientation

This ability indicates how you perceive, understand, and orient yourself toward the world around you. It is measured on a continuum from spatial to non-spatial, with the tangible orientation being in the center of the scale. People that have a strong spatial orientation can easily see the world as "things" and can naturally visualize 3-Dimensional reality in their minds-eye like an architect, chiropractor, dentist, and all types of engineers. On the opposite end of the spatial scale are non-spatially oriented people, who naturally live in the world of "ideas" and concepts, and usually have little proclivity and interest in the world of objects. Non-spatial people feel at home as a poet, philosopher, social scientist, psychologist, CEO, lawyer, or economist. People that fall in the middle of the scale are oriented toward a "tangible" relationship with the world, like operations managers, police officers, social workers, and high school teachers.

Problem Solving

Diagnostic Reasoning Diagnostic reasoning is a problem-solving talent to "leap" to accurate conclusions by seeing a relationship between bits of information that are not obviously related. This ability is a special gift to solve problems in situations where not all the information is apparent or where a step-by-step analysis is not practical or possible. Scientists and inventors use it to pioneer new theories, dream up new models of reality, and make practical inventions. Other careers that require a high score in this ability include emergency medicine, courtroom law, counseling, inventing, research and development, negotiating, college teaching, stand-up comedy, and film critiquing.

Analytical/Logical Reasoning Analytical/Logical reasoning is a problem-solving ability to quickly and accurately "order" given information and reach conclusions through rigorous step-by-step analysis. This is a special gift to solve problems where logical patterns, sequences, given variables, flow of people/ideas/things, need to be quickly organized, categorized, synthesized, simplified, linked together, edited, and made easy to understand. This ability is essential in fields like engineering, computer programming, law, operations research, mathematics, physics, strategic planning, financial planning, writing, editing, and organizing people, ideas, and things.

Rate of Idea Flow™

Idea flow is your mind's speed of generating ideas. In simpler terms, rate of ideation in humans is like clock rate (e.g., 2.4GHz) is to computer processing speed. People with a higher rate of idea flow have a mind like the comedian Billy Crystal, they never seem to run out of ideas. Career fields that use high idea flow include comedy, sales, marketing presentation, advertising, training, imaginative writing and improvisational arts like jazz music. People with a lower rate of idea flow have a mind to be concentrated for longer periods of time, much like a dentist, brain surgeon, accountant, banker, financial analyst, engineer, programmer, and corporate business managers.

Personality Temperament

Intuition (N) and Sensing (S) Perception Intuition and Sensing are preferences for perceiving information into your internal reality map from the "outside" world and environment around you. In gathering information, intuitive perceivers prefer to see and understand the world in terms of "what's possible" and face life yearning for inspiration, are most brilliant at dreaming of future possibilities, inventing, initiating, with little interest in implementation or living life as it is in the present. Sensing perceivers prefer to experience the world through their five senses, face life desiring enjoyment of sensate and immediate pleasures. Sensing perceivers are by nature brilliant at observing their physical surroundings (seeing, hearing, feeling), masters of realism and practicality, driven to experience "what is" in the present moment, with little interest in theories, abstractions, imagining future possibilities, or conceptualizing new ways of doing things in the far away distant future.

Feeling (F) and Thinking (T) Judgement Feeling and Thinking are preferences for making judgements or decisions. Feeling personalities weigh their decisions against their inner "subjective" values, feelings, and ideals. They are more concerned with being agreeable, where thinkers are concerned with being logical or true in the decision making. Feeling based judgement is best received in the world of people contact, where feelings matter, as well as in aesthetic professions like the visual arts and cooking. Thinking personalities base their decisions on "objectivity" and logical facts, and are more concerned with making choices that hold water, i.e., that can be substantiated by proven principals, truths, efficiency, critical analysis, and established rules. Thinkers excel in the realm of data, information, and things, where impersonal decision making is most needed.

Cultivate the Innate

In the book, Uncommon Genius, Denise Shekerjian studied how great ideas are born by interviewing 40 winners of the MacArthur Award, also known as the "Genius Award." In her research she found a common practice among these exceptionally creative people, she states;

"The trick to creativity, if there is a single useful thing to say about it, is to identify your own peculiar talent and then settle down to work with it for a good long time. The trick is to recognize it, to honor it, to work with it. The is where creativity starts . . . the cultivation of aptitude, far more than coincidence or inspiration, is responsible for most creative breakthroughs."

The above collection of talent and aptitude descriptions is a small sample part of a sophisticated career testing program developed by Nicholas Lore of Rockport Institute, an innovator, best selling author, and creator of an international award-winning career-counseling network. The above combination of talents is a Rockport Institute copyright, used with permission. The terms Tribal™, Maestro™, and Idea Flow™ are Rockport Institute trademarks, used with permission.

>> Sample Talent Profiles
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>> HumanZ Being: Part 1
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>> HumanZ Being: Part 2
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Any human being is really good at certain things. The problem is that the things you're good at come naturally. And since most people are pretty modest instead of an arrogant s.o.b. like me, what comes naturally, you don't see as a special skill. It's just you. It's what you've always done.

~Stephen Jay Gould, Evolutionary Biologist