William Bowen

MBI Paper

MFLL 199

The Myers Briggs personality test was a short process and did not take

long to answer the questions, it having possessed maybe fifty questions in

total. I felt that a lot of the questions that it asked were vague and lacked

context and were not a great identifier of a person’s character. I did find it

curious that I had guessed what type I would be matched with before taking

the test and was a little amused to find upon completing it that I had predicted

it accurately. It is quite flattering to have been given a fun title, “assertive

architect”, to sum up my assigned personality, along with a role as “analyst”.

As I muse upon these rewarded titles, I am drawn to wonder upon what

meaning this alliteration is supposed to have upon my life. As I am neither

assertive nor have any inclination towards the artistic and rather mundane life

of drawings and designing buildings as an architect, this test is left wanting of

deeper implications.

As for this class, I have found the advice and helpful feedback on my

resume to be quite helpful, as I had not fully understood how lacking mine had

been up to this point. This will surely prove useful in the future, and I will admit
my initial doubt as to the helpfulness of the practice interviews, but I found

those both very enjoyable and to have given me small openings into some

potential future employers. It is a strange and difficult thing to admit, but I have

found setting concrete goals for my future is a challenging task falling to the

bottom of my to-do list quite frequently as more immediately pressing matters

crop up in my life. My thirtieth birthday is nearly upon me, and I have had two

short careers in my twenties, one as an OTR truck driver and the other an

Emergency Medical Technician. I do not know what my future holds, but I am

enjoying taking these short few years to explore my interest in the German

language and customs as well as fully immersing myself in the learning

atmosphere of University yet again.

I feel as though my main barrier towards occupation has hardly been my

ability to interview, as I have been told I do very well in the interview process

and have never been denied an opportunity for employment after being

granted an interview with the company with which I was seeking employment.

The most impactful thing in this class to date for me personally has been the

wonderful assistance with enhancing my resume and helping my visibility with

potential employers. Another bit of advice which has enhanced my views of

the interview process in a meaningful way is the process by which the

applicant begins interviewing the company and the interviewer, thereby

controlling the flow of the interview itself and establishing immediate rapport

by showing interest in the company and the other person. I will never forget

this, and plan to come into every future interview with a list of questions and

conversation topics, along with a clear understanding of the company and its

goals, mission statements, and current projects.