Identifying Your Instinctive Process Can Help Inform Your Career Pivot
Choosing the right career path is one of the most important decisions a person can make, yet it is also one of the most challenging.
What happens if you spend all your time and effort getting qualified for a role you don’t care for?
For example, imagine being an emergency room nurse who can’t stand the rushed nature of clinical care. Imagine being an accountant who desperately wants to experiment and improvise.
If every day at your job feels like an uphill battle, you’re not alone. According to a Gallup poll, approximately half of those surveyed reported being only somewhat satisfied or not satisfied with their jobs.
So, what’s the best way to address this?
Many people rely on a career aptitude test or a career personality test to help them identify their ideal career fit. Popular options include the Meyers-Briggs and the Big Five. While these methods can provide useful insights, they often fall short of capturing the full picture of how someone approaches work and projects.
Common Career Challenges
Even if you’re fully qualified for the role, you may still feel like something is “off.” This disconnect often has little to do with skills or knowledge and more to do with how the work environment interacts with your natural instincts. Common challenges include:
- Feeling like work processes consistently clash with your natural way of doing things.
- Experiencing low motivation or disengagement, even in a role that looks good on paper.
- Frequent clashes with coworkers due to different working styles.
- Struggling with poor work-life balance because the role demands energy in ways that feel unsustainable.
- Navigating a toxic workplace culture that undermines productivity and morale.
These issues highlight why relying solely on a career aptitude test may not be enough. While such tests can confirm that you have the skills for a role, they don’t necessarily reveal whether the role is a natural fit for how you instinctively operate.
What Career Personality Tests Really Reveal
When people feel dissatisfied in their jobs, they often turn to a career personality test or similar assessments to try to find clarity. These tools can help identify interests, preferences, and strengths.
For example, a career test for adults might suggest roles that align with your stated likes and dislikes, while a career test for teens might highlight potential college majors or industries based on personality traits.
However, the limitation of these tests is that they primarily measure what you know or what you like. They don’t uncover your instinctual way of approaching tasks, solving problems, or managing projects.
This is why many people who take a career aptitude test or a career personality test still struggle to find lasting satisfaction in their careers. They may know what they enjoy, but they don’t fully understand how they naturally take action in the workplace.
How the Kolbe Assessment Is Different from Career Tests for Adults
The Kolbe assessment offers a unique perspective that sets it apart from a traditional career test for adults or a career test for teens. According to Kolbe-certified consultants, the Kolbe assessment measures the conative part of the brain, which is the instinctive way people take action and approach problem-solving.
Unlike other tests that focus on knowledge or feelings, Kolbe results never change because they reveal the core of how you naturally operate. Kolbe assessments identify four distinct Action Modes®, which describe how individuals instinctively approach work:
- Fact Finder: How you gather and share information.
- Follow Thru: How you organize and design systems.
- Quick Start: How you deal with risk and uncertainty.
- Implementor: How you handle space and tangibles.
Each person receives a unique four-digit Kolbe score that reflects their natural tendencies across these modes. This insight can be transformative because it explains why certain roles or environments feel energizing while others feel draining.
For example, someone who naturally takes action in Quick Start may thrive in entrepreneurial or fast-changing environments, while someone who takes action in Follow Thru may excel in structured, process-driven roles.
By understanding your Action Modes®, you gain clarity about the types of careers, projects, and work environments that align with your instincts. This goes far beyond what a career aptitude test or career personality test can provide.
Career-Oriented Kolbe Assessments
A Kolbe assessment can explain a lot about how you approach work, life, relationships, and academics. However, some only want to focus on finding the right profession.
Some Kolbe-certified consultants offer career-oriented consulting services that focus on workplace dynamics, identifying scenarios that cause strain, and using your Kolbe Action Modes® to define which situations you’re naturally wired to thrive in.
Here’s how the assessment breaks down:
- Take a job-related survey to identify your conative strengths.
- Receive 20 Best Bet Careers™ tailored to your results and interests.
- Explore 20 additional career options outside your main interest areas that could still be a strong fit.
- Review “Odds of Success” ratings across 1,200+ personally evaluated careers.
What parents and career-seekers love about this approach to Kolbe is how quickly they get answers. In approximately 90 minutes, you can gain meaningful insights about your career and what roles are an ideal fit. Plus, you’ll finally know why some work situations are a challenge while others feel easy.
Moving Beyond Traditional Career Tests
The truth is that no single career aptitude test can capture the full complexity of human motivation, instinct, and satisfaction. While career personality tests and similar tools are valuable, they are only part of the equation. To truly find the right career fit, it’s essential to understand not just what you like or what you know, but how you naturally take action.
The Kolbe assessment fills this gap by revealing your instinctive strengths through its Action Modes®. With this knowledge, you can make more informed decisions about your career path, avoid roles that clash with your natural instincts, and pursue opportunities that align with how you are wired to succeed.
