Zoila Cedeno – Personality Assessment

According to the website 16Personalities.com, I was assessed to have the personality traits belonging to the Protagonist group. Apparently, only two percent of the population belongs to this group. Most of the people who are found to have this type of personality are frequently politicians, coaches, and teachers. People who are identified as Protagonists are often confident, charismatic, and good communicators. Some well-known Protagonists are former President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, and Ben Affleck.

As I read through the assessment I found myself agreeing with a large part of it. The characteristics that are used to describe a Protagonist are tolerant, reliable, altruistic, and natural-born leaders. I am someone who always values other people’s opinions. I don’t expect everyone to always agree with my perspective. I enjoy listening to other’s point of view and always see it as an opportunity to learn and, hopefully, gain a better understanding of whatever topic is being discussed. I also consider myself to be reliable. When I take on a project or task, I always make sure that I do whatever I need to do to complete it even if that means that I must put in extra hours or rearrange my schedule or plans. I feel that I am very instinctive, and this helps me to be able to read a person or a room and figure out a way to engage the people I am with. I also consider myself to be altruistic. I have mentored many people throughout my career. I have often provided employment opportunities to people without experience and helped them further their careers. Despite having a full schedule, I have often helped classmates with homework, projects, and test preparation. All these things were described as strengths.

I also agreed with the site’s analysis of what my weaknesses are perceived to be. I am overly idealistic. I always try to see the good in people. I always strive for perfection which means that I will edit and review a project more times than I should. I am a little indecisive and often second-guess or overanalyze my decisions. Always the peacemaker, always trying to get everyone on the same page to reach a consensus. I am always trying to fix something and often take on other people’s problems as if they were my own, especially in my personal life. My word is my bond. If I promise to do something, I will make sure that I make good on my word, no matter what.

The assessment also indicates that Protagonists choose careers that “…type cast their eyes towards anything that lets them do what they love most – helping other people!”. I feel this is absolutely true. One of the reasons why I love business management is that it provides you with the opportunity to create learning and growth opportunities for others. In my prior management position, I created an internship program that allowed students to join the organization and get hands-on work experience that they could use for school credit as well as list as work experience on their resume. I  provided them with reference letters that they could use in their job searches.  Some were offered full-time or part-time positions within the organization upon completing the internship. In my present role, I often find ways to streamline tasks or projects and then teach others within the organization to adopt them as new practices leading to the highest efficiency level possible.

While many of the personality traits of a Protagonist work well in a professional environment, I feel that might not be the same in my personal life. I have heard friends say that I can be perceived as intimidating and too professional, when in reality, I am extremely sensitive. Often this is something that goes unperceived because I always portray this image of confidence and strength. This means that when I am struggling with an issue, most times I am left to do it alone.

I feel that personality assessments can be a helpful tool and help simplify the hiring process. It can provide some insight into an individual’s personality traits, motivation, values, and work preferences. They can help an employer determine whether someone is the right fit for a specific job or role and eliminate any bias in the decision making process. However, it should not be the only measure by which a decision to hire a person should be made. Personality assessments are based on the responses that the person is selecting in the moment. Their responses can be influenced by their mood, nervousness, time constraints, cultural barriers, or a candidate can choose to tweak their responses to match whatever the organization or role requires. This can make the results of a personality assessment unreliable or inaccurate.

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