Salt Lake Community College students can take a quiz to learn more about themselves and their future professions.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, aka MBTI, is a popular assessment that uses the theories of German psychologist Carl Jung to evaluate how an individual perceives and then interacts with the physical world. Career advisors like Michelle Tuitupou believe the exam is a useful tool in helping SLCC students find careers that fit their personality.
“I would recommend the MBTI for major and career exploration,” she says. “[The MBTI] is an assessment or an indicator; as long as you answer the questions truthfully, you can tell that certain people gravitate to certain professions or majors.”
Through a combination of grants and donations, SLCC advisors administered more than 150 free MBTI tests last semester.
“I’m always hunting for funding for more free assessments,” Tuitupou says. “We’ve also been looking into perhaps requiring students to purchase assessments for certain classes … Personally, I think [the assessment] is better than a textbook.”
The MBTI measures four categories — sensation, intuition, feeling, and thinking — and how they vary in intensity between individuals. This is theorized to explain why individuals behave the way they do. The results give a person a specific personality type that career advisors can use as a method of career exploration.
Tuitupou believes anyone who is evaluating their career options, student or not, could greatly benefit from this test.
“[The MBTI] is open to the public,” she says. “In fact, anyone can take the assessment and have the interpretation done.”
While future grant money for free assessments has not yet been secured, Academic and Career Advising offers the MBTI for $25.
“I hate to tout myself, but this assessment is the cheapest in the state!” Tuitupou says.
Anyone interested in taking the MBTI can contact Academic and Career Advising for more information.
