Finding your best-fit career can have a substantial impact on your life. Having a job that you find rewarding and interesting, which makes your life more enjoyable, can improve not only one’s occupational work life, but also one’s home life.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) are two of the most dependable, scientifically proven, and effective assessments for personality type and career exploration. Although they are often utilized together, they have varying ways of concluding one’s best-fit careers. Knowing the differences between them and how they work together is essential to making educated decisions about careers, college pursuits, and professional development.

TAKE THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR CAREER TEST

TAKE THE STRONG INTEREST INVENTORY CAREER TEST

Comparing The Myers-Briggs and The Strong Interest Inventory

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

If we begin by looking at the Myers-Briggs, the important thing about it is that it is not exclusively about careers, in fact, at its core it is a personality assessment. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is based on the theories of Carl Jung, a psychologist, often referred to as the father of the field of study. It assesses how humans see their environment and make decisions, categorizing people into 16 personality types.

Although the Myers-Briggs is often used for career exploration, it differs from the Strong Interest Inventory in that it has numerous other applications. Such as:

  • Personality Assessing and Personality Development
  • Provides your MBTI Four-Letter Personality Type. Preferences between four of eight dichotomies:
    • Extroversion versus Introversion
    • Intuition versus Sensing
    • Feeling Versus Thinking
    • Judging Versus Perceiving
  • Aids in getting to know oneself.
  • Provides your strengths and weaknesses of your personality type
  • Provides one’s compatibility with others, including family relationships.

Other Areas, whereas the Myers-Briggs can be useful:

  • Organizational Development
  • Business Team Building
  • Human Resources
  • Communication
  • Leadership
  • Stress Management

The Myers-Briggs also serves as a mirror to yourself, allowing you to be more patient and gain a deeper understanding of who you are.  Additionally, via this assessment, you gain knowledge on how to recognize your stressors and how to deal with potential “blind spots” in your personality.

The MBTI with a focus on career exploration:

The only MBTI Standalone career assessment that does not work in conjunction with the Strong Interest Inventory is the popular MBTI Career Report.

When discovering one’s best-fit career, it uses your personality preferences to help you choose the career that will provide you with the best chance at long-term success. This is based on the premise that if you have a career in which you enjoy and feel satisfied, you are more likely to have greater work output, while also possibly staying with this career for the long term, leading to promotions.

With results depending upon your verified personality type, the MBTI Career Report includes:

  • Preferred Work Tasks
  • Preferred Work Environment
  • Occupational roadblocks you may encounter with suggested pathways to help you deal with potential challenges
  • Career strength development strategies
  • Most, Moderate, and Least Attractive Career families based on your personality type from The Myers-Briggs Career Report.
  • Comparison of less preferred careers for others who have the same personality type.
  • Comparison of the most preferred careers for others who have the same personality type.
  • Provides Job development blueprints based on your strengths and shortcomings.
  • Reviews your decision-making and communication behavior.

The Myers-Briggs Assessment reveals your personality type according to four pairs of polar opposite preferred cognitive characteristics. These are:

  • E-I – Extraversion versus Introversion
  • S-N – Sensing versus Intuition
  • T-F – Thinking versus Feeling
  • J-P – Judging versus Perceiving

After completing an MBTI Assessment, you are provided a four-letter personality type based on which side of each pair you fall, which is dependent upon how you answered the questions. For instance, an ESTJ favors Extravert, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging. This type of personality is known as a Decisive Extrovert.

With the MBTI Standalone Career Report, your career recommendations are based solely on your personality type preferences and not on your interest patterns, which is where the Strong Interest Inventory comes into play.

Strong Interest Inventory

By contrast, the Strong Interest Inventory focuses on career, college, and/or High School studies. Rather than using personality preferences, the Strong Interest Inventory measures your interests and interest patterns as well as your likes and dislikes, giving you your top careers, which give you the best chance of enjoying your job for the long term. In addition to career exploration. The Strong Interest Inventory College and High School Editions provide your main interests in varying college majors and high school curricula, as well as extracurricular activities that would suit you best.

Whether you are looking to choose college courses or find your true career path, the Strong Interest Inventory matches you with others who share those interests, and the careers they have excelled in.
When you take the Strong Interest Inventory test, you are asked questions about your interests, personal styles, and so on. Your answers are then assessed in four main sections:

General Occupation Themes (The RIASEC Hexagon):

One receives a two or three-letter interest “Theme Code” which is dependent upon interest preferences. For instance, a Theme Code of CIR would mean that you tend to lean towards Conventional, Investigative, and Realistic. The first letter in this case, Conventional, is the most prominent occupational theme, with Investigative being second, and Realistic third.

  • Realistic Theme: People who score high in the Realistic Theme prefer physical exertion and thrive when they function outdoors. Those who prefer Realistic careers also tend to be risk takers. These individuals who score high in The Realistic Code lean towards jobs that may include Electrician, Engineering Technician, and Law Enforcement Officer.
  • Investigative Theme: Investigative individuals are those who enjoy research and analysis while uncovering new facts and interpreting data. Investigative jobs include physicians, psychologists, veterinarians, and chiropractors.
  • Artistic Theme: Artistic individuals can enjoy a wide spectrum of creative expression, such as drama, music, and writing. The artistic individual can appreciate art by both participating in expressionism and spectating. The Artistic Theme is expressed as Visual Art and Design, Performing Arts, Culinary Arts, and Writing and Mass Communication. Artistic jobs include Graphic Designer, Architect, Musician, Artist, Broadcast Journalist, and Photographer.
  • Social Theme: Social Individuals enjoy aiding, structuring, and taking care of others. They prefer working in groups and sharing responsibilities, though with concise assigned work tasks for each member. Social jobs include Registered Nurse, Social Worker, School Teacher, Physical Therapist, and Minister.
  • Enterprising Theme: Enterprising Individuals tend to lean towards management and selling. They often want positions of power, whereas they can lead others. In addition to being risk takers, Enterprising individuals are also naturally competitive in nature. Enterprising jobs include Realtor, marketing manager, sales manager, and investment manager.
  • Conventional Theme: Conventional Individuals focus on filtering data, organizing, and accounting. They lean towards mathematics, data management, and computer programming. Conventional jobs include Accountant, Computer Systems Analyst, Paralegal, and Banker.

Basic Interest Scales 

The areas you are specifically interested in, such as law, marketing, healthcare, and teaching.

Occupational Scales 

These interests are then compared to others to find those with similar interests, and what their chosen career may be.

Personal Style Scales 

It’s not just what you do that matters, but how you do it. Personal scales look at your approach to work and the kind of environment that would best suit you.

These datasets provide insights into career paths, interests, your attitude to risk-taking, leadership style, how you fit into team environments, and more. It can be used to assess the most appropriate learning or work environments for you to thrive, as well as the subjects or careers that would best match your interests.

How do they differ?

Myers-Briggs is focused on personality, by deriving your specific type through the testing system. While the personality types the test reveals can be used to help identify potential career options, it is also used in a wide range of other assessments and life choices. Importantly, the test itself is focused on how you think, how you make choices, and how you interact with the world around you, and that is the basis for all the assessments built from Myers-Briggs test results.

Conversely, the Strong Interest Inventory is designed solely for identifying careers as well as college and High School curricula, and just that, but the biggest difference is in what it looks at.

While the Myers-Briggs looks at the way you prefer to relate to the world at large, the Strong Interest Inventory is based on what kind of things you actually enjoy doing. Your chosen interests are then compared to those of others with similar interests who report feeling fulfilled in particular occupations, with the hypothesis being that if an individual with similar interests to you is happy in a current career, then there is a high probability you would find that career to be enjoyable and fulfilling as well.

While both are forms of self-discovery tools, the Myers-Briggs relies on your own insight into your behavioral preferences, which will always be somewhat subjective. By contrast, the Strong Interest Inventory takes empirical data from your assessment to match your interests for career, college, and high school exploration and provides you with recommendations.

What can they do?

They may take very different approaches, but they both help guide you through career or study choices, helping you to find the right option for your future. Both are used very successfully, and can be used together for an even more detailed look at what type of career or study would work for you.

Myers-Briggs test results do have wider uses too; they can be used for personal development, understanding the best learning style to suit, especially useful for adult learners. Gaining an understanding of your personality type, its strengths and its weaknesses can help you learn to communicate better, avoid conflicts and help you better adapt to the team environment too.

The Strong Interest Inventory does not tell you something new about yourself, but it does tell you what other people who share your interests ended up doing for a living. In that context, it is a more limited test, but the focus on doing one thing exceptionally well has made it one of the most popular tools for finding out what your future should look like.

Which one is best?

This is a common question, but once you understand what each one does, there is no real answer. They do different things, and both have their place. You can describe the differences between them simply as this:

The Myers-Briggs tells you the kind of career your personality is suited for, while the Strong Interest Inventory tells you what career you would enjoy and gain satisfaction from.

It may seem like a subtle difference, but in practice, it can be a major one. If your personality is suited to a role you are not interested in, no matter how good you are at it, will you ever be happy in your career?  Additionally, the Myers-Briggs is not just about education and careers. It can be used to help you in many facets of life, whereas the Strong Interest Inventory is a tool built solely to find the best choices for your education and career.

The reality is that neither is best, and using both together can be incredibly useful in refining career or education choices, with the two approaches complementing each other and boosting the effectiveness of those outcomes.

Combining The MBTI and the Strong Interest Inventory

The MBTI and Strong Interest Inventory are available as a combination career and college assessment and report, whereas you can, in a sense, have the best of both worlds when it comes to finding the right career. This combination assessment uses both your personality type lens and your preferred interests to give you the best idea of what careers suit you. The Strong Interest Inventory and MBTI Combined Career Report is by far the most accurate career assessment, as it combines data from both assessments to give you the most concise career guidance.

TAKE THE MBTI AND STRONG INTEREST INVENTORY COMBINATION CAREER TEST

Finding the right path

If you want to find the college courses or career that match your interests, that will be rewarding long-term and help you find happiness in what you do, the Strong Interest Inventory is the answer. If you need to know more about your personality and the roles and environments that it is best suited to, then Myers-Briggs is the choice. For the most complete picture of both your interests and personality, and how these together affect career and educational choices, the Strong Interest Inventory and MBTI Combined Career Report is your best option.