Tag: mbti

The (Myth) of 1 Page Resume

I cannot know for certain where the myth of the 1 page resume comes from, but if I had to guess, I’d say our high school teachers or career counselors. The premise is that a one-page resume is going to be concise enough that people aren’t going to assume you’re exaggerating your experience, and more importantly, short enough that someone will actually read it. It makes sense in that very precise context, but it’s certainly the vast minority when it comes to job seekers. When you don’t have any job experience, one page might even be a stretch. Most of what you can list is volunteer or internship positions, but generally its not physically possible to go longer than one page with extra curricular activities, hobbies, or other fillers.

Poets&Quants | The Worst (and Best) Things Students Say About ...
Peddler of the 1 page myth

Let’s take the extreme opposite of this and assume that you’re a 25 year senior executive that’s held many titles throughout your various companies. You better have a resume longer than one-page! (In later articles, I’m going to be digging a lot deeper into how to write a resume catering to your personality type).

The key to writing a resume is based on understanding 3 things: 1) what a hiring manager is looking for 2) what an applicant tracking system (ATS) is looking for and 3) what a recruiter who’s looking to place you at a client is looking for. You can and should elaborate where needed and for jobs like a Project Manager, expand where needed with bullet points and specific projects. Like I’ve mentioned before, the 3 C’s are Clarity, Concise-ness, and Cnot lying.

How to Create an ATS Resume - Jobscan Blog
Standard ATS Keyword Search

Consider also those who are contractors. They have worked 2 to 3 times as many roles as full-timers and will need space to add all their contracting roles. We can’t be asking them to chop that down to 1 page. Typically those are the resumes that go 4-6 pages without breaking a sweat.

My advice for someone just entering the job market from college or high school is to not try to make yourself look like someone you aren’t. If you need a little over a page, do it. If not, keep it right at 1 page.

What’s going to happen if you try to condense your resume down too far is that the interview will likely be a trainwreck.

“So it looks like you haven’t used Quickbooks before.”

“Oh no I have… I just didn’t know how to fit it in there…I have it on another resume…but I’ve definitely used it before, yes.”

Now you are backtracking and the manager can’t quite tell if you are dishonest or were lazy when you wrote your resume. Neither are going to lead to a job offer. However long you need to write out the specifics of each job and the duties contained within them, please take advantage and leave nothing out. The absolute tragedy of the 1 page resume is candidates missing out on a dream job because they had to choose between words, phrases, key terms, etc to keep the resume within this arbitrary limit.

Book of the Day

Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes.

I want to showcase what I’m about other than recruiting, resumes, and Myers-Briggs, so I am going to include a short plug for the latest book I’m reading/have read and include a link at the end of my articles. I will elaborate within my videos, but not here on the articles.

If you think somebody has some issues with their resume or needs some general counseling as the approach the job market, send them my way for a consultation.

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Repost –Corporate Communication and Personality Type (MBTI)

Communication, according to corporate consultants, is the #1 factor for any and all issues within the workplace. And they would be correct. However, the solutions that are typically employed are unable to solve the underlying issue– personality type amongst colleagues.

The 3 solutions implemented are:

  1. Increased communication, even “over communication”
  2. Clearer and more concise communication
  3. CC’ing a superior to accelerate response times

You can pick and choose the cases where these methods were effective, but an alternative may have longer lasting results.


Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Most are familiar with the Myers-Briggs Assessment that breaks down everyone into 1 of 16 personality types, designated by a 4-letter acronym (ex. ESFP, ENTJ, ISTJ, etc.). Each letter has a distinct opposite, as follows:


• E vs I (extroversion vs introversion)
• N vs T (intuition vs thinking)
• T vs F (thinking vs feeling)
• J vs P (judging vs perceiving)

The focus here is on the Judging vs Perceiving function that I believe is where most communication breaks down. Therefore, an increase in communication only exacerbates the problem instead of clearing it up.


Judgers have their minds made up about nearly everything. Things are black and white and there is a finality to their opinions on every topic. They tend to stick to deadlines and draw lines in the sand, remaining uncompromisingly rigid.


Perceivers weigh their options and never lock themselves into a concrete answer. New information could arrive at any moment that would negate their past beliefs. They see both sides of an argument and the pros/cons of nearly every form of action. They tend to be flexible with schedules and keep the door open to new ideas.


Example

Being as clear and concise as possible, you ask, “Can you come into the office on Monday?”
As a Judger (J), there is no possible way to misinterpret this question.
As a Perceiver (P), there are several responses and interpretations:
• “Mondays are tough for me, I might not be able to make it…”
• “What time?
• “It depends on my schedule”


This is infuriating for the Judger as the answer is clearly either Yes or No. The unclear response demands a longer conversation that to the (J) is not needed. To the (P), there is simply not enough information in the question to give the right answer. The Perceiver is frustrated with this question as it forces them to make an ill-informed decision.


Compromise

At the bare minimum, let’s compromise and start out with Yes/No and then the rationale.
• “Yes, depending on the time “
• “Yes, but only after 10am”
• “No, I am out of town that day”

Relating back to “clearer and more concise communication,” the above compromise is what should be implemented. Understand the type you are communicating with and proceed accordingly.

If you are restructuring your org chart, this is going to be the most useful way to decide how teams are put together, who leads them, and who makes the decisions.

In the following short articles, I will go over the 3 other functions of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and dig deeper into possible workplace solutions.

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Why Am I Getting Rejected – Job Interview and Awareness

There is a common post-interview plague that is tragically infecting job seekers. It is in regards to not understanding how the interview went and going as far as to say you “killed the interview.” From my experience in being the middleman in this process, those who claim the interview went amazingly well, don’t get the job. Those who said the interview was OK, or they “think it went alright” are the ones who usually get the role.

Lack of Awareness

There is a disconnect between what you perceive as building rapport and being jovial, and the true reality of the situation. Candidates will tell me they were joking and laughing and the conversation was very light-hearted, as trademark signs that the interview was going swimmingly. What’s happening is the laughter is the nervous kind, and the jokes were off-putting. The laid back nature of the interview is because they’ve already decided you aren’t a fit and they don’t need to get deeper into the details of the job. Generally, this is recurrent theme with these candidates and is something that can be reversed by focusing on MBTI and the way in which one interacts and perceives the world.

Myers- Briggs and Interview Style

We have to start by understanding ourselves. And the way we do that is by first reading, Please Understand Me by David Kiersey. Once we discover the way our specific type (out of 16) perceives and relates to others– in a way I guarantee most of us haven’t fully conceptualized– we can fix some of the recurring potholes we always stumble in.

I think I can offer one straightforward explanation as to why your type is affecting your interviews and potential job offers. If you are an Extrovert in general, you are going to get your energy from the outer world. If along with your extroverted-ness, you also have a preference for Feeling vs Thinking, you are going to internalize your outer world. So when you get the laughter and smiles and eye contact in the interview, you are going to say, “hey, I am doing pretty well here!”

Unfortunately, you may be reading the situation on a very superficial plane. Your S and T functions will come in handy here if you make a wholehearted effort to develop them. Learning to strengthen your Sensing (S) and Thinking (T) functions will help you pick up on physical clues that can alert you to points when the interview might be taking a wrong turn and you need to course correct.

Obviously, there are millions more words to be written on the finer points of using MBTI to help with JUST how to interview better and be more aware of our faults. Though our tendency is to find a way to externalize our blame onto the interviewer, we should first make certain the interviewee truly knows themselves.

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Workplace Motivation and Type: Bridging the Gap

A misunderstanding in regards to workplace motivation or “rallying the troops,” stems from personality type. A rousing speech, a pep talk, or a motivational meme will have starkly different results depending on an employee’s MBTI. Many articles and videos have been produced highlighting what I am going to write here. Nonetheless, it continues to be a roadblock many organization cannot navigate around.

Standard motivation

A quick list is useful to get a high level overview of which types are internally motivated and which need a polite nudge to get moving. Internally motivated types are: ENFJ, INTJ, ENTJ, ENTP, ISTJ, ESTJ, ESTP. Externally motivated types are: INFJ, INFP, ENFP, INTP, ISTP, ISFP, ESFP. Take a look at the hyperlink above to get a further analysis of each individual’s motivational posture.

Also, for managers or aspiring managers, take the assessment and know what you are working with.

The reason we have to focus on type as an imperative to great management is to recognize that, guaranteed, a percentage of your office isn’t going to process your motivational tactics the way you want them to. This is why company’s that dominate their industries use MBTI to build the strongest and most dynamic teams. For example, let’s look at Ray Dalio and his company, Bridgewater Associates. In his book, Principles, he talks about his implementation of “Radical Transparency” within Bridgewater and how it completely transformed the corporate culture. Along with the internal app that allowed each employee to view another’s profile, at every desk was a card that listed out MBTI, DiSC, and other personality assessments. This way, that vaunted communication issue could be greatly reduced.

bi graphics ray dalio principles final

When you know who you are dealing with and how they interpret and interact with their environment, you can avoid pitfalls before you step in them. That email you are about to send? That zoom meeting you are about to attend? That project you are going to lead? Well, now you know how how to approach everybody. And there’s no way you would argue against having more information about those you work with 8-10 hours per day. Work is already stressful enough–let’s do what we can make it increasingly more pleasant.

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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What Managers Get Wrong – Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for Great Teams

What managers get wrong about developing and using talent correctly, is not utilizing the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to bring out the absolute best in each individual. Educators, HR managers, and corporate recruiters have moved away from evaluating people’s innate nature and DNA-level talents in favor of surface-level assessments like the DiSC profile and StrengthsFinder (now called CliftonStrengths).

Speaking with certified MBTI individuals has shed some light on what’s happened in the last decade. MBTI is deemed too complex and requires a deeper discussion about psychology, temperament, and sometimes abstract concepts to fully wrap your head around its application to the business world. Thus, management has implemented broader assessments to get a general consensus about individuals. I would argue most assessments today are simply MBTI-lite and have poached the best concepts of it to make it more digestible to the masses.

Understanding MBTI was a radical shift in my understanding of team dynamics, communication, and individual values. I realized that the reason we have conflict in our work environments can be traced back to PERSONALITY TYPE, rather than our current go-to’s which are blaming intelligence, work ethic, or motivation. This does not address the underlying problem, thus managers are unable to solve inter-office disputes.

Undeniably, people have different innate abilities that make them better suited for certain roles and careers. They also have different ways of communicating and interpreting information. In previous articles I discussed how communication, the centerpiece for all workplace conflict, is largely based on MBTI type over anything else. In subsequent videos and articles, I will address in further detail the ways managers can use “typing” to get the absolute best out of their team.

Please do take a look at some of these YT channels that truly influenced me and my understanding of myself and others. You will find something here that you like.

Love Who

Lijo

Frank James

IDRLabs

To message me directly, find me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-arrigo/

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Youtube Channel

Welcome to the channel

To supplement the written portion of this site, I will be adding my Youtube videos as well. Topics are going to include recruiting, resume review, navigating the job market, and applying MBTI (see below) to the world of hiring and corporate communication.

A Food Gift Guide For Every Myers-Briggs Personality Type // Mouth.com