Discover Where You Belong with a Workplace Personality Test

It starts early. Teachers and relatives ask what you want to be when you grow up. In high school, or sometimes even earlier, many and aptitude surveys. But no matter how often we ask ourselves as children, "What should I be when I grow up?" most of us have no idea what career path is likely to be a good fit until we’re nearing adulthood, and, by then, financial necessity can make the decision seem daunting.

Sometimes we even find ourselves in a career that doesn’t fulfil us and the need to pivot at mid-career, or even later, in life arises. It could be that we love our job, but our personality clashes with the workplace environment.

Adding to this pressure is the often-repeated statistic that we spend nearlyone-third of our lives working. During our prime working years, full-time workers spend over 70% of their waking hours working. If you want to be successful and happy in life—and who doesn’t?—it’s important to find work we enjoy and will do well.

So, if you don't happen to be one of those lucky few who has always known what you wanted to be when you grew up, then taking a workplace personality test can help you find possible career paths where you have the best chance of succeeding, and work environments where you’ll feel valued and supported.

Why Taking a Workplace Personality Test Makes Sense

Your personality says a lot about the type of worker you are and the type of working environment and industry that will allow you to thrive. Whether you're right-brained or left-brained, extroverted or introverted, your personality can shape your workplace relationships and career path.

In addition to a personality test, you might also want to consider taking one of the professional aptitude tests contained in Monster's curated cache of assessment tools. Here you'll find a workplace personality quiz tailored to answer a variety of questions, such as:

• Which careers require the skills I’m most confident in?
• What kinds of roles align with my interests?
• What sectors most closely mirror my personal values?

But what if none of the career options suggested to you by these workplace personality tests appeals to you? Then, it might be time to attempt some additional self-reflection. One way to tap into your core passions and values is to travel back to early childhood when—in between bites of peanut butter and jelly—you probably spent countless hours imagining what you might be when you grew up.

Before you started school and during the earliest years of elementary school, did you play dress up or create mini workspaces—a classroom in your basement, an auto repair shop, a restaurant, or a bank? When you entered role-playing digital environments, would you dream up things to be when you grow up? Taking a workplace personality test designed to tap into our earliest visions of ourselves as adults can be surprisingly useful as we navigate our grownup career paths.

What if you could turn your childhood dream of being an astronaut or an undercover detective into reality? What if, with a few tweaks and a fresh perspective, you could utilize the curiosity necessary for those jobs in an entirely different arena, such as medical or demographic research? Taking the quiz below can help you recognize patterns in your childhood aspirations and passions and consider how they might align with potential professions, sectors, and employers.

The Inner Child Workplace Personality Test

1. When you worked on group projects in school, what role did you tend to take on?

a) I was always the leader. I loved to delegate.

b) I'm a confident speaker, so I always volunteered to do most of the talking during presentations or debates.

c) I was usually the one who decided what platforms or applications we would use, and I was also a whiz at troubleshooting technical issues.

d) I liked to work on the research and writing portion of the project.

e) I loved creating the visual elements of any project or presentation.

f) I tended to go along with the majority and wait until someone gave me an assignment to begin my portion of the work.

2. When you were a kid, what did you like to do in your free time?

a) I spent every spare moment outside, riding bikes, playing sports, building forts, or walking in the woods.

b) I listened to music, made up songs and dance routines, played musical instruments, and sang my heart out.

c) When I wasn't gaming, I was coding, developing mods, or creating digital content and applications.

d) I used to dress up, pick out outfits for my dolls, and design and create my own costumes and clothes—anything related to clothes or fashion.

e) I loved to draw, create graphic illustrations or cartoons, or work on arts and crafts projects.

f) I built models and created environments from building sets, blocks, and other materials; and took things apart to put them back together.

3. What was your favorite subject in school?

a) History and social studies

b) Physical education/gym

c) Math and science

d) English language arts

e) Art

f) Music

4. What was your favorite extracurricular activity when you were in school?

a) Student government

b) Sports

c) Band, orchestra, chorus, or music lessons

d) Student newspaper or yearbook

e) Theater, drama club, and performing arts

f) Community service organizations

5. What is your favorite way to learn new things?

a) Under the guidance of a mentor or tutor, especially if I then have the opportunity to explain what I've learned to peers.

b) Attend a lecture and then discuss the topic in small peer groups.

c) Hands-on. I learn best by doing.

d) Create a reading list or conduct online research.

e) Watch a video or map out concepts in visual form.

f) I develop new skills faster when I'm on a team.

6. You and your friends decide to open a lemonade stand on a hot day. What's your favorite part?

a) Researching a local charity where we could donate some of the money we made.

b) Interacting with customers and talking to them about what size lemonade they should buy.

c) Making change and counting the money at the end of the day.

d) Finding recipes to make lemonade and maybe a few baked goods to sell along with it.

e) Making the posters and designing what the stand would look like.

f) Serving people and seeing them smile.

7. Which of the following class assignments sounds most fun or interesting to you?

a) Inventing a game.

b) Presenting a speech in front of the class.

c) Conducting an experiment or solving a complex math problem.

d) Researching and writing a paper.

e) Creating an art project.

f) A group project.

What aspects of sports, games, or performing did you enjoy most as a kid?

a) The excitement of competition.

b) Meeting and interacting with new people, including competitors.

c) Physical activity.

d) Learning from coaches and perfecting my skills.

e) Playing outdoor sports.

f) Working with teammates toward a common goal.

9. When you were growing up what kinds of family vacations did you enjoy most?

a) I liked going to amusement parks. I crave adventure and thrills.

b) Anywhere we could meet new people.

c) I preferred to stay at home.

d) I enjoyed (or always dreamed about) overseas travel to distant places so I could be immersed in new languages and cultures.

e) Cities filled with museums to explore.

f) Somewhere relaxing with peace, quiet, and solitude.

10. In what kind of environment do you do your best work?

a) I love to take deep dives into complex problems and topics, but I'm also good at thinking on my feet and coming up with workable solutions in the moment.

b) Outside. I'm great with gardening and building structures and landscapes. Sitting indoors all day sounds like a nightmare.

c) At my computer with music playing, one or more online chats in progress, and multiple windows open. I live online, and I'm an excellent multitasker.

d) For some projects I need complete silence.

e) I work best in visually stimulating or aesthetically pleasing environments.

f) In a shared workspace where I can brainstorm creative ideas with peers.

Making Sense of Your Workplace Personality Test Score

The questions in our Inner Child Workplace Personality Test are designed to spark your early memories of school and play. After all, as children, when thinking about what to be when you grow up, you're less likely to allow other people’s expectations or your own self-doubts to limit the possibilities.

The simplest way to interpret your test scores is as follows:

• If you found yourself answering "a" to most of the questions, you might want to consider a career in management.
• If you answered "b" for most questions, then a job in real estate sales or the travel industry—anything that keeps you out of the office and on the road—might be in order.
• Answering "c" for most questions points toward an interest in technology, engineering, and STEM.
• If most of your answers were "d" then research, writing, or academia might make sense.
• Were most of your answers "e"? If so, you might do well in fields like graphic arts, advertising, gaming design, or fashion,
• If you answered "f" to the bulk of the questions, then you are an excellent team player interested in the process, traits that align well with fields like manufacturing and retail.

Once you've determined broad areas of interest and landed on one or more industry sectors that you think might appeal to you, investigating one or more career cluster can help you determine what kind of skills and certifications you'll need to thrive in your chosen path. If further education is needed, you can start researching accredited programs, reading industry publications, and reviewing your networks to see if you can ask someone in the field for advice.

In addition to possible industries and professions, your answers can help you recognize workplace preferences and habits. Maybe you noticed that your answers reflect a tendency to do your best work in solitary situations, a propensity for leadership, or a desire for routine and predictability. Your responses can help to point you toward professions that are more autonomous or team-focused, career trajectories that aspire for management positions or specialized roles, or work environments that are on site, work from home, or hybrid.

But what if you found yourself torn between multiple answers? You like to be a leader sometimes, but you also like to work on technical tasks. Maybe you want a job where you can work from home the bulk of the time but still get to travel occasionally. While the answer key above can be helpful, as with any workplace personality quiz, it’s best used as a way to begin researching more deeply into a few sectors and ruling out others.

How To Use a Personality Test for Work Environment Fit

In addition to pinpointing possible sectors and roles, taking a personality test can help you determine which workplace environment makes sense for you. For example, would you thrive in an open workspace, home office, or a fast-paced setting like a hospital emergency department or research laboratory? Or you may crave a job that keeps you on the move, such as in international sales or long-haul trucking.

Rather than look for the one "best" personality test for workplace suitability, consider taking several and looking for patterns. If you dread group projects and prefer individual athletic endeavors to team sports, then you should be looking for roles that allow for more autonomy.

If you are someone who sometimes works best in solitude, but also enjoys peer collaboration on occasion, then a hybrid role may allow you to balance solitary effort with teamwork. The best way to use a personality test when job hunting is to think about how your interests, work habits, and values align with each role, workplace environment, and the individual employer you consider.

Discovering and Aligning Your Core Values

A workplace personality test can help clarify your core values, ensuring they align with potential career paths and employers. If you value autonomy, it might suggest entrepreneurial roles or freelance opportunities.

If community impact is essential to you, it may highlight careers in social work, education, healthcare, or nonprofit organizations. If solving problems and improving products and processes is important to you, then you might find a career in engineering or design satisfying.

Why You Shouldn’t Dismiss Your Childhood Career Dreams

When you were a kid, you probably did a lot of pretending. Maybe you played dress up, taking on the role of a princess or prince, rock star, professional athlete, doctor, teacher, police officer, or firefighter.

It's easy to dismiss these early experiences as "silly kid's stuff," but what if they point to possible career paths? Sometimes, what you wanted to be when you were a kid can be telling.

is that summer you built a treehouse or a soapbox derby car with your parents or siblings.

What you enjoyed doing as a kid, what you used to dream about being before the self-doubt and "reality checks" of growing up started making those dreams and hobbies seem unrealistic or childish, could point you toward a career in fashion merchandising, sales, architecture, engineering, or automotive repair.

Whether you're tapping into your inner child or taking a more traditional workplace personality test, these types of self-assessments can help steer you toward a wealth of career options and industries ready to offer you years of success. Still uncertain about whether the career path you're currently leaning toward will bring you a lifetime of fulfillment? Don’t stress about it too much: Today’s youngest job seekers are likely to change careers at least five times before retirement!

Find Roles That Match Your Workplace Personality

Use what you've learned from the from the workplace personality test to find your next role. Go ahead and join Monster for free today and start getting job alerts on open roles that match your strengths. You could even be found first by recruiters looking for qualified candidates like you.