Case Studies Charles (29yrs) was a successful City Economist, whose results clearly showed that he was not motivated to make money for rich companies. He felt that he was prostituting himself daily when he went to work, and he was heading for a breakdown. He knew that he had no interest in the subject matter and that his values clashed with the culture in which he worked. Charles's situation was further complicated by his wife's desire that he should remain a highly paid city type and maintain their lifestyle. Career change does not always involve a completely new start. Charles's aptitude and personality were well matched to figure-work, and to a position as a professional expert adviser, but his interests and values pointed to his working for a more social, voluntary sector body, in Third World Development Economics. When last in contact, Charles had (sadly) left his wife but was happily working in South America for a Development Consultancy!
Claire (26yrs), an Oxford graduate who had trained as a Barrister, emerged through psychometric testing as having a very poor Verbal Reasoning. She had worked very hard and had passed her examinations in Law, but had never felt it had come naturally. Her Aptitude Profile was quite a revelation, but actually also a relief; it provided some explanation. Discussion revealed that she had been led to believe that she was good with words as a result of early precocity in English lessons. Claire had found the teacher truly inspiring, and her success in the subject had, it seemed, been more due to motivation, hard work, and to a highly creative and sensitive personality, than to any natural verbal ability. She came from a highly academic family, who had encouraged reading from an early age, and who had pushed her toward Oxford and Law. Two years after the assessment, Claire was half way through a degree in Architecture and already winning student prizes. She felt fulfilled and competent, because she was finally building on more natural perceptual/visual strengths, as well as more fully addressing her creative and sensitive qualities.
David (31yrs) had 'fallen into' IT at a time when all graduates saw this as a growing and lucrative field. He was in a training/programming role and earning very well but hating every minute. His colleagues read IT magazines for fun and lived and breathed the work. David felt that he had little in common with them. He was really interested in people and had enjoyed dealing with and training clients in software, and he had always been fascinated with his uncle's business in HR consultancy. We discussed change management, and the human factors side of IT and ergonomics which would have capitalised on experience to date, but David decided to go the whole hog and retrain in Occupational Psychology (he is now happily applying his knowledge in the corporate arena in which he already had experience).
James (17yrs) was fed up with school and not enjoying his A levels. He did not want to go to University and was not working and being disruptive at school. Psychometric assessment showed that he was interested in social sciences and media, and the only school subject he was enjoying was Politics (because he liked the teacher who was positive and encouraging rather than 'moany'). James was clearly a questioning, intelligent, sensitive, young person, very interested in 'people as people'. It was clear that fear of failure was holding him back and he was not putting in the effort in order to have the potential excuse, 'Well, I didn't really try!' James recognised this behaviour and had from the results the best possible guarantee that if he put in his best effort he would be as much of a star as other (famous) family members. It was agreed that he should change his attitude and aim high too; he is now knuckling down and well on course for reading P.P.E. at Oxford!
Mary (41yrs) had always been superwoman, managing a high-powered job and family. She had an excellent track record when she secured a position as International Marketing Director of a National Public Sector Board. Mary had prided herself on her aggressive, dynamic, 'can do' style, and was surprised to find some resistance from others in her new role. She thought she must have been being paranoid when it began to seem that others were being obstructive, telling her about meetings after the event, excluding her and withholding vital information. Gradually, it became increasingly difficult to do her job properly, but she attributed signs of stress to 'an early menopause'. One day, she woke up an emotional wreck, unable to get up, dress, or perform everyday chores. She was on sick leave for one year, and finally took a severance package. Mary had been insufficiently self-aware to recognize the mismatch with her own style and that of a more bureaucratic and less commercial Public Sector body. She had upset colleagues with her poor emotional intelligence, insensitivity and aggressive, dictatorial manner. It was agreed that Mary did have the strong social, analytical and creative personality required in Marketing, but that she would be happier in a much smaller and more commercial organisation. She clearly saw from the test results and her experience that she had personal development needs regarding 'winning friends and influencing people', but that these would have been less of an issue had she been better matched to the organisation for which she worked.
Sarah (28yrs) had completed a degree in Environmental Science and had subsequently worked in an Environmental consultancy but had not enjoyed the front line sales element and report writing. She had switched to an in house role in the public sector as an environmental manager but was frustrated by the inefficiency and lack of commitment to the cause. She was depressed and having relationship problems as a result. She envied her sister who was 'going somewhere' and earning a large salary as a PA in the City. Sarah showed as very rule-abiding and as valuing tangible results and rewards (confirmation and validation of success); she was very 'black or white' and a perfectionist in her style and she had had enough of being a martyr. It was agreed that she should retrain in Accountancy, the prospect of which she found very inspiring.
