Personality Core Types, What's Yours?

I have had quite a few jobs in my career which means I've completed about 10-15 job applications and interviews. I can honestly say that my current company has the most extensive interviewing and hiring process I have ever encountered.

Application process:

• Two hour questionnaire with over 150 questions that range in subjects.

Interviewing process:

• Interview with the company recruiter who then asks more questions to try and get a feel of the type of person you are.
• A spelling test, yes you read that right, a spelling test of 50 words that you had to pass with a score of 100%. The recruiter than decides at the end of the interview whether she will send you to the second interview with the hiring manager at the company.

Second interview process:

• Take a set of five evaluations with even more questions, this time questions on personal opinions regarding the workplace and personal behaviors.
• Interview with the hiring manager and operations manager at the company.

Not even 15 minutes after I left the second interview I received a phone call with the job offer. I have to admit I was quite relieved since I had spent so much time trying to get this job.

Upon starting at my new job I was told I'd be seeing the company psychiatrist for the first six months so that she could put me in the correct department based on my "core type." Being that this is the first time I've ever experienced this at a job, my first question was, what the heck is a core type.

During my first meeting with the psychiatrist she went over the results of all of the exams I had to take before getting this job and what the purpose was. Apparently the purpose of the test was to place me in my two strongest categories of the four this company looks for. The four core types are organizer, commander, relator, and entertainer.

She went over my results as follows in order of high percentage to lowest:

1. Commander
2. Organizer
3. Relator
4. Entertainer (I had about 3% in me)

Upon looking over what each one meant, it was not only intriguing, but resonated with me and my experiences in the past.

Commander - True leader of the world. They are decisive, goal-directed, confident, and capable. They are driven to succeed, and don't mind taking other to the top with them. They know what it takes to achieve an outcome and they understand that there is power in cooperation. They are excellent delegators who never ask more of their people than they are willing to do themselves. They are honorable, helpful, considerate of others and highly motivated to seek out and get positive results that will allow everyone to win. They want to control their own destinies, but have no desire to control others. They believe that the best way to achieve their own goals is to help others to achieve their goals as well. They are independent, adventurous and love a challenge. They are conscientious, efficient, and capable, and can do just about anything they set their mind to. They seek to inspire and motivate, rather than to control.

Organizer - Reserved and careful, but not overly cautious or suspicious. They are keenly observant, noticing details that others usually miss. They enjoy attending to details and tend to be task focused rather than people focused, but are very loyal to those they consider close. They are perceptive, sensitive and alert to subtle changes in environment or mood, so they catch things before they get out of hand. They are serious and industrious at work, and serious and dependable at home. They can be counted on to do what they say they will do and to carry out projects to the very end. Though they don't usually show their feelings easily, they have a great depth of feeling. While they are strict on themselves, wanting to control their environment, insofar as is possible, they prefer to teach by example and reason rather than to control others.

Relator - Gentle, caring, considerate and compassionate. They genuinely care about people and work at making relationships effective. They see and anticipate the needs of other sand are ever willing to lend a helping hand or a sympathetic ear when needed. They express their own wants and needs, but will seldom make demands on others. They recognize that indecisiveness can be detrimental to them and to building healthy relationships and so, have generally learned decision making skills. They are great team players. They are ever willing to adjust themselves in the interest of harmony, but will not allow themselves to be abused. Happy, healthy relationships are central to their own happiness. They have no need and no desire to control others. Their aim and goal is one of mutually supportive and beneficial relationships.

Entertainer - Interesting, colorful, talkative, energetic and enthusiastic. They enjoy variety and the energy they get from new experiences. They have rich imaginations and can turn the most mundane of events into something interesting with their flair for entertaining and story-telling in dramatic and colorful ways. They are open and honest about their feelings and express themselves easily and comfortably. They are affectionate, demonstrative and completely delightful to be around. Their passion and genuine enjoyment of life is contagious. They see interactions as the spice of life. They truly enjoy being with people and don't mind being center stage, though they don't always need to be the center of attention. They have learned that they can be more effective by sharing the limelight. They have a knack for motivating others. They have no need to control others, preferring to inspire them...and at that, they are masters.

I'm sure those who know me on a deeper level can laugh at my low score in the entertainer section because I can be incredibly anti-social, unless it's with family. What surprised me was my low score as a relator. I honestly believe I am equally an organizer as a relator. Throughout my entire career I have always strived to have positive relationship with my coworkers to create a much more pleasant environment. However, as I had more sessions with the company psychiatrist it was discovered that throughout the years I've become very cold. Now this I couldn't deny. Gone were the days of my innocence in Corporate America due to the blindfold being taken off and having to deal with the cut-throat truths that engulfs it.

My relator began to diminish when I started to see how much less people wanted a pleasant work environment and how much more it was a survival of the fittest, and in the case of Corporate America, survival of the most conniving. It's an ugly truth to discover in many places of business, but I know it's not present in every single business. There are the select few who have managed to keep the peace and make it a great place to work.

I'm sure you are curious as to what you are categorized as, so I encourage you to take a test that will give you similar results as this is from a private company solely for my place of work. Here is the link for a free personality test that places you in 1 of 16 different personality types, but they all tie in to the 4 core types I have mentioned here.