Appreciating Differences - Jack Falt - Ottawa area, Ontario, Canada

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Book Review by Jack Falt

Hartzler, Margaret, Using Type Theory in Career Counselling, Giatherburg, MD: Type Resources, 1990, 58 pp

This binder is a collection of worthwhile resources for those who are presenting to high school or college level young people, or for individual counselling of adults. The materials are intended for use by someone well experienced with Jung/Myers theory. In the mid 80s I used the materials in Keirsey’s Please Understand Me in my Grade 11 Personal Development and Career Planning course, and I had very limited knowledge about Type. I regret that I could not give the students what I now know about Type.

The material cautions the reader about using it to limit a person in anyway. Every job will cluster around several types as the main ones in that job, but there are also a few representatives of each of the remaining 16 types as well. The other main problem is that for some individuals it is not easy to determine their True Type.

For those with the luxury of having lots of time to work thoroughly with a group through the career selection process other materials would need to be included. The Tieger’s Do What You Are with its narratives on individuals in each of the 16 Types would help the material come alive.

The material is presented in four chapters. The first chapter lists a career development model based on Barbara Murry’s work and how its components relate to the four functions. It describes the three different MBTI® instrument reports (now Steps 1, 2 and 3).  It encourages you to also use the concepts of Temperament, and Type Dynamics and Development. It also cautions the instructor to be aware of his or her own biases due to his or her own Type.

Chapter Two discusses how Type Dynamics fits into the career development process. The Dominant function tasks will need little supervision while the fourth function will need additional coaching to see that no details are overlooked. The eight preferences are then described in detail as to how each relates to the overall process of choosing a career.

Chapter Three consists of reproducible masters to be used as exercises to work through the career decision making model. It covers the tasks of the four functions. Then it has the individual rate his or her ability and the abilities needed in specific jobs. It concludes with a job quality card sort exercise.

Chapter Four also has reproducible masters, a set for each of the 16 Types (2 pages each). The material in them is based on self reports of individuals of that specific Type. It gives a summary of what they looked for in careers. It also looked at the Type career literature and lists points on what the preferred job would involve and what organization traits would be preferable. It then gives a list of the main careers that individuals of this Type have been in. A footnote lists references.

Overall this material is well worthwhile.  Even though the material is dated, it is still sound. However, in the 10 intervening years there are many new Type and career resources that also should be included in its bibliography. It does focus only on the career aspect and thus does not have general material to help people understand basic Type theory. It would be helpful to have some exercises that divides the group into opposite preferences so they have a better grasp of the Type concepts. Unfortunately, the usual situation in schools is that the instructor has very limited time to cover a lot of ideas. This material has the advantage of covering just the basics and it could be done in a relatively few periods. Having some time between sessions would allow students or clients to do the necessary research to prepare for the next session.

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List of Articles by Jack Falt