Can Personality Testing Actually Help Predict Career Satisfaction?

For most of us, the pressure to find our dream job begins as early as we can remember. In elementary school we are asked what we want to be when we grow up. In middle school, we sometimes get to shadow our parents at work to see if we want to follow in their career footsteps. And by the time high school rolls around, we are expected to know what we want to do next – whether that’s going to college or joining the workforce right after graduation. 

That’s a lot to put on a child’s shoulders. And it’s a pressure that doesn’t just fade away after we get our first job. It often follows us into adulthood, impacting how we think and feel about ourselves. We grow up believing that our dream job should perfectly align with who we are at our core. But when we’re still trying to figure out who we are in the world, that expectation can feel incredibly overwhelming.

When people feel overwhelmed, they often start looking for answers. And when we start looking for answers about better understanding ourselves as humans, personality tests can provide a lot of insight. They can help us gain clarity about our strengths, motivations, likes and dislikes. It’s one of the reasons personality tests have become such a popular starting point for people trying to figure out which jobs might be a good fit for them. 

With so many people turning to personality tests for career insights, it raises the important question: can personality testing actually help predict career satisfaction?

The Connection Between Our Personality and Career Satisfaction

Our personality plays a big role in how we function and move through the world. It shapes our communication patterns, the ways we interact with others, the types of activities we enjoy, and what leaves us feeling satisfied. 

It’s important to remember that our personality doesn’t just shut off when our workday starts. It might be possible to mask certain traits and adapt for periods of time, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. It will likely be very draining and leave us feeling unhappy in our job. 

For example, someone who is very introverted might feel drained by a role that requires a lot of meetings or high-energy collaboration. They might be able to fake it at times, but eventually going against who they are at their core will catch up to them. By the time they get home from work, they probably won’t have energy for socializing or self-care. Over time, this can lead to burn out and career disatisfaction.

When our natural preferences don’t match our work environment, it becomes harder to feel engaged and fulfilled. And although our personality isn’t the only factor that shapes career satisfaction, it definitely plays a part. That’s why personality testing often feels supportive when thinking about the type of career someone might thrive in.

What Personality Tests Can Teach Us

Personality tests give us the chance to pause, reflect and learn more about ourselves. One of the most well-known personality assessments, the 16-type system developed by Myers and Briggs, guides us through a series of questions that help us learn about:

• Our energy style (Extraversion v Introversion)
• The way we process information (Sensing v Intuition)
• How we make decisions (Thinking v Feeling), and 
• The way we relate to structure in our lives (Judging v Perceiving). 

Another popular test, the Enneagram, makes us think about our motivations and fears. Regardless of which personality assessments we use, it’s likely we’ll learn something new about ourselves.

With the knowledge gained from personality testing, we might start to see some of our personal qualities in a new light. We can start using this newfound information to our advantage in many ways, because we will have a deeper understanding of ourselves. With this understanding, we can see which careers might feel most natural and fulfilling to us. Instead of aimlessly guessing, personality assessments give us the chance to make decisions based on self-awareness.

What personality testing showed me

I remember in one of my high school classes, I had to take the Myers and Briggs assessment as part of an assignment for graduation. It was meant to help guide us to think about careers that might fit our personality types. I was very determined to go to college and study psychology because I wanted to help people, so it felt incredibly reassuring to learn that I was an ISFJ (The Protector). It helped me to better understand why I felt so called to help others and gave me a bit of a confidence boost that I was heading in the right direction. For my classmates who didn’t know what they wanted to do after graduation, the Myers-Briggs gave them some new ideas to consider.

So, the insights we can gain from personality assessments can be incredibly useful in pursuing a career that feels meaningful to us.

Person-Job Fit Theory and Career Satisfaction

This all comes down to person-job fit, or how well who we are matches what our job actually asks of us. When that fit is strong, people are more likely to feel satisfied with their work because their day-to-day tasks line up with their preferences and strengths.

Research has repeatedly shown that good fit is linked with feeling more satisfied at work:

• Meta-analyses on person–environment and person–job fit find that people who feel well matched to their roles report higher job satisfaction and more positive work attitudes overall.​
• A recent literature review on person–job fit concludes that when work tasks align with an individual’s needs and preferences, employees are less likely to experience negative psychological impacts and more likely to feel satisfied with their jobs.​
• Studies of interest fit (how well your interests match your job) show that this kind of fit significantly predicts overall job satisfaction, and is especially powerful for how happy people feel with their broader career choices.​
• Research on person–vocation fit (how well you match a broader career field or profession, not just the specific tasks of a particular job) shows that better fit goes along with higher job and life satisfaction.

Personality assessments sit inside this bigger person-job-fit picture. Our traits shape how we communicate, solve problems, process information, recharge our energy and what we find meaningful, which are all ingredients of perceived fit. When personality insights are combined with what is known about person-job fit, they can help people make more realistic, satisfying career choices rather than relying on guesswork.

Don’t Forget the Limitations

Although personality assessments offer powerful insights, that doesn’t mean personality alone determines whether or not someone will love their job. Other variables can also influence how fulfilled we feel by our careers. Things like our coworkers, salary, opportunities for growth, work-life balance, and even commute time can all play a role in whether or not we feel satisfied by our jobs.

It’s also important to remember that people change as time goes on. So, what once felt like a perfect dream job might feel like a dead-end after a decade. And that’s perfectly normal! It’s human nature to evolve, so we can’t expect ourselves to have the same priorities when we’re growing. 

Acknowledging these limits doesn’t diminish the value of personality testing. It actually does quite the opposite, and helps us use the insights we gain more effectively. When we understand personality assessments for what they are, we can better use them as a guide without expecting them to be anything else. 

Using Personality Assessments to Your Advantage

When used intentionally, personality assessments – and especially career aptitude tests that are designed to support career decision-making – can play a big role in helping us make choices that lead to a more fulfilling career. They help us know what we need to thrive and how we can do our best work, which is a gift that not everyone has taken the time to figure out.

Here’s some things you can do with the knowledge you gain from personality assessments.

• Explore new career paths. There is a lot of information out there about what careers are good matches based on your strengths and personality traits. Maybe something you haven’t considered before will resonate.
• Create a work environment that fits your needs. Think about what your personality testing says about your needs for structure, deadlines, and independence. Ask for accommodations to help enable you to do the best work possible.
• Communicate better. Personality assessments can give you a better understanding of yourself and the language to be able to express yourself more authentically, whether that’s in interviews or interactions with coworkers or clients.
• Shape your daily structure. When you better understand your personality, you can make changes to your routine that better support your energy and productivity levels.
• Navigate career changes. If you’re realizing that you truly are burnt out at your job and need some change, personality assessments can be a great place to start thinking about where you want to go next. 

So, Can Personality Testing Predict Career Satisfaction?

Although it’s hard to say with 100% confidence that personality testing can predict career satisfaction, it can definitely give you a real starting point for making smarter career decisions. By helping us understand ourselves better, personality assessments can guide us towards careers that support our strengths. They provide insight, language, and clarity – which can all contribute to achieving a more satisfying career. And when it comes to building a meaningful and fulfilling career, understanding ourselves is one of the most powerful tools we can have!

If this has you wondering what roles might fit you best, Truity's Career Personality Profiler™ can give you a personalized map of careers that match your strengths and preferences. It's a practical way to move forward with confidence.