By Mona Abdel-Halim

Succeeding in today’s world can sometimes mean thinking out of the box. You’ve read plenty of articles that provide tips and information on how to successfully interview for a job. Typically, the author will tell you to dress appropriately, be on time, bring extra resumes, make good eye contact, and take notes.Granted, all of these are great tips that, if followed, will lead to a successful interview. However, there’s a new tool for your interview tool belt: identify and understand your personality type to ensure clear communication.

This isn’t a bunch of psychobabble — having the ability to understand your interviewer’s personality, as well as your own, will enable you to fashion your responses to the interviewers’ preferences.

An interviewer’s questions can sometimes provide you with clues to their personality type within the Myers-Briggs® framework. Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a test designed to measure how people perceive the world and make decisions.

Personality preferences are based on the interaction of four dichotomies: extraversion/introversion; sensing/intuition; thinking/feeling; and judging/perceiving. An individual’s type preferences are represented by one of sixteen four-letter types that describe the combinations of preferences. An example of this would be ESTJ: extroversion, sensing, thinking, and judging.

So what are the clues in an interviewer’s questions that will help you determine what type of response to give? First you need to understand what each dichotomy means:

Introversion/Extraversion (I/E)
The extravert’s focus is placed outwardly toward people and objects, while the introvert’s focus is placed inwardly toward concepts and ideas.

Sample interview questions  
1. How would you handle an unhappy customer? (extraversion)
2. What steps would you take to ensure customers are satisfied? (introversion)

Sensing/Intuition (S/N)
Sensing individuals prefer tangible and concrete information, while intuitive individuals prefer big picture information that is futuristic in thinking, abstract, and is derived from insight and perspective.

Sample interview questions
1. Give an example of a work situation where you did not succeed? (sensing)
2. How would you feel if you failed at an assignment? What would you do differently? (intuition)

Thinking/Feeling (T/F)
Think of these dichotomies as objective versus subjective. Thinkers are more objective. They tend to prefer to look at logical consequences. Feelers are subjective; they tend to consider what is more important to them and to those affected.

Sample interview questions
1. Give an example of how you demonstrated the skills required for this position? (thinking)
2. Describe a project that you undertook and tell me how you learned from it about your own performance? (feeling)

Judging/Perceiving (J/P)
Judgers are individuals who prefer a more planned out and rigid way of living, while perceivers are individuals who prefer a spontaneous and flexible lifestyle.

Sample interview questions
1. Give examples of what you plan to do in your first 90 days on the job? (judging)
2. What do you see yourself doing in the next 5 years? (perceiving)

Myers Briggs Type Indicator is the most popular personality assessment tool. At Resunate, we’re taking it a step further with our new integration of the Myers-Briggs® assessment. Job seekers can now indicate their four-letter type or take the assessment to be given job-specific tips on how to position yourself to get an edge on the competition.

The communication process is riddled with misunderstandings and differences, and understanding your personality and the personality of others will help eliminate those frequent communication miscues.

Do you know your personality type? How has knowing your type help you in your career?

Mona Abdel-Halim is the co-founder of, the world’s only search engine optimizing resume builder. You can find Mona and Resunate on Facebook and Twitter.

Read more posts on Come Recommended »