Are you and your job a match made in heaven? Or do you sometimes find yourself daydreaming about how it could be? Knowledge of your personality can give you some useful hints about how you prefer to face work related situations. Ask yourself the questions below to find out how you can reach a higher level of satisfaction towards your work.

1. Job satisfaction
When a job meets a person’s desires and abilities, it affects their performance, job satisfaction, enjoyment, and level of stress. This could relate to the physical environment as well as the organisational structure, how we like to be led, or whether we prefer to work in teams or not. Think of your ideal office…

• What would it look like?
• Would you prefer:
o an open-space or private environment?
o strict or flexible planning?
o team-based or individual decision making?

For example, extraverts are more drawn to group-oriented actions whereas introverts often are happy to work by themselves. What do you like? Take our free personality test to find out!

2. Conflict management
Conflict situations can be a great opportunity to learn about your own and others’ reactions, and to think of how it can relate to personality. A leading theory of conflict styles suggests five different ways of dealing with conflict: Competing; Collaborating; Compromising; Avoiding and Accommodating. Think of a recent conflict in your life. Which of the following was the most important to you…

• To win?
• To find a win-win solution?
• To reach common ground?
• To avoid dealing with the situation?
• To let the other person get their needs met?

For example, people who are dominant do often try to influence others to get their own needs met whereas people who like to go along with the flow tend to value a more collaborating style.

3. Public speaking
Does the thought of giving presentations, speaking to clients, negotiating, and going to interviews makes your blood run cold? Well, you’re not alone. A recent survey by the PersonaBubble team showed that 83 % of the sample are frightened by public speaking. However, these events are tricky to avoid if you’re looking for a successful career. So grab the bull by its horns and use the skills that come naturally with your personality. When giving a presentation, would you prefer to…

• Plan ahead and bring notes?
• Go with a flexible approach?
• Have an ongoing discussion as you go along?
• Save all questions to the end?

Did you answer yes to bullet points 1 and 4? Then you are likely to score high on Self-Control. Or did bullet points 2 and 3 appeal more to you? That is often the case with someone who prefers an unrestrained approach. What other strengths can you use next time you speak in public? Find out!

4. Coping with stress
A small portion of stress is often good and makes us perform better. But how can you handle the stress before it gets out of control? The trick is to identify our stress triggers as soon as they appear. Or even better, before they appear. What do you find stressful?

• Taking charge and independent decisions?
• Expectations of continual team interaction?
• Uncertain and ambiguous guidelines?
• Too much planning and lack of variety?

Our questionnaire has a section looking at how stable or reactive you are when coping with stressful situations, take the test to find out how you cope.

5. Group dynamics
Being part of a group could be very enjoyable, but sometimes also stressful and frustrating. So how could you get rid of awkward situations, sad faces and inefficient processes? Let your personalities guide you towards a more comfortable way of working together. If you were to decide, what would be your preferred levels of…

• Interaction?
• Structure?
• Discussion?
• Independence?
• Collaboration?

Why not invite your work mates to take the PersonaBubble test too. You can then compare your personalities and share what you discovered. This will give you a better chance to adapt to each others’ needs.