“Using the Myers Briggs Type
Indicator in Making Hiring
Decisions”
By Barbara Tunney, LCSW,
CSWM
and Bruce Friedman, PhD,
CSWM.
http://www.socialworkmanager.org/
Learning Goals
• Presenters will give a brief overview of the
Myers Briggs Type Indicator and how it is
traditionally used.
• Presenters will explain how the Myers Briggs
relates to a candidate’s fit with a specific job.
• Presenters will show how using the Myers
Briggs concepts can enhance the interview
process.
Prize Giveaway
• At the end of the course, a prize will be given to
the first person who can summarize the main
points of the presentation.
• The winner will receive a 3-hour on-line ethics
course worth $45. It can be used thru December
31, 2007. This prize is from the National
Network for Social Work Managers and Social
Work p.r.n.
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR MYERS BRIGGS PRESENTATION
October 26, 2006
NASW Texas
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Websites:
All of the websites have links to many other sites. This is a sample of a list generated
from entering Myers Briggs in the Google search box.
www.myersbriggs.org
Their mission is to continue the work of Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs
Myers in the field of psychological type, especially the ethical and accurate use of the
Myers Briggs Type Indicator.
www.teamtechnology.co.uk
This site contains a PowerPoint presentation explaining the basic concepts of the
Myers Briggs. There are many links to sites for the test and articles regarding many
aspects of uses for the test results.
www.personalitypathways.com The site contains an informal short test that helps
people verify their Myers Briggs personality type.
www.wikipedia.org A description of the history, type dynamics and further reading
resources, such as articles and news stories.
Books:
Berens, Linda V., etal, Quick Guide to the 16 Personality Types in Organizations:
Understanding Personality Differences in the Workplace. Huntington Beach, CA.:
Telos Publications, 2001.
Keirsey, David. Please Understand Me II. 3rd ed. Del Mar, CA.: Prometheus
Nemesis Books, 1998.
Martin, Charles R., Looking at Type and Careers. Gainesville, FL.: Center for
Applications of Psychological Type, 1995.
Tropman, John E. Supervision and Management in Nonprofits and Human Services.
Peosta, IA.: Eddie Bowers Publishing Co, Inc., 2006.
Overview of the Myers Briggs Type
Indicator (MBTI) and how it is
traditionally used
• The Myers Briggs Type Indicator comes
from Jungian psychology and was
developed by a mother and daughter team
during World War II in England.
• “Whatever the circumstances of your life,
the understanding of type can make your
perceptions clearer, your judgments
sounder and your life closer to your heart’s
desire”
Isabel Briggs Myers
According to Jung’s typology, all people can
be classified using three criteria, these
criteria are:
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Extroversion - Introversion
Sensing - Intuition
Thinking – Feeling
Isabel Briggs Myers added the fourth
criterion:
• Judging – Perceiving
• The first criterion defines the source
and direction of energy expression for
a person.
• The extrovert (E) has a source and
direction of energy expression mainly in
the external world while the introvert (I)
has a source of energy mainly in the
internal world.
• The second criterion defines the method of
information perception by a person.
• “Sensing” (S) means that a person believes
mainly information he or she receives directly
from the external world. “Intuition” (N) means
that a person believes mainly information he or
she receives from the internal or imaginative
world.
• The third criterion defines how the
person processes information.
• “Thinking” (T) means that a person makes
a decision mainly through logic. “Feeling”
(F) means that, as a rule, he or she makes
a decision based on emotion.
• The fourth criterion defines how a
person implements the information he
or she has processed.
• “Judging” (J) means that a person
organizes all his or her life events and acts
strictly according to this plan. “Perceiving”
(P) means that he or she is inclined to
improvise and seek alternatives.
• The different combinations of the criteria
determine a type. There may be sixteen types.
Every type has a name (or formula) according to
the combination of criteria. For example:
• ISTJ
• Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging
• ENFP
• Extrovert Intuitive Feeling Perceiving
• There are refinements within the types, as well,
which determine whether the 2nd or 3rd criterion
is dominant for that individual. For our purposes
we will not go into that much detail.
The Myers Briggs
• Indicates inborn preferences, in the same
way as right-handedness or lefthandedness.
• Is not predictive of behavior, as the person
has a choice of how to use preferences.
• Does not have a “lie scale” on the test, so
a person can slant his or her answers to
present a different profile.
The Myers Briggs is useful in:
• career counseling
• mental health counseling;
• increasing self-knowledge;
• helping assess one’s preferences & how those
can impact or help explain direction in career,
performance as a team member, & behavior in
his or her personal life, etc.
• Organizational Development consultation in
team-building or in analyzing productivity or
morale in an agency.
• Its application for job interviewing is to use
it collaboratively with the interviewee. The
Myers Briggs test is not approved for preemployment applicant testing for the
following reasons (among others):
• It would create bias.
• Informed consent would be difficult if
not impossible. (The interviewer can
assure the applicant that it will not
eliminate them from consideration,
but there could be no proof of this.)
• Psychometric testing is not how we
want to engage with applicants.
• It does not predict behavior or
competence. A person has his or her
inborn preferences, but the behavior
that emerges is situational.
How the Myers Briggs relates to a
candidate’s fit with a specific job:
• Since the Myers Briggs is not useful in
assessing the candidate, it can be used in
assessing the specific job duties and
expectations.
• If we turn the test “upside down” we can
administer the concepts behind the four criteria
to the job description. A job description is a
written list of duties. There are also
organizational culture and context to consider in
mutual assessment of job fit.
How using concepts from the Myers Briggs
can enhance the interviewing process:
• Agency will have already performed the
basic screening of credentials,
background, skills and experience.
• Interviewer can use the “expanded” job
description utilizing the concepts of Myers
Briggs to present the realities of the job
beyond the list of duties.
• Interviewer explains that he or she is looking at
the position from the perspective of the Myers
Briggs criteria in order to provide a platform for
discussion.
• Almost all jobs involve contradictory
preferences, e.g., ability to work autonomously
and in a team.
• Discussion can center around managing
preferences.
Examples of contradictory preferences
• An introvert is asked to do marketing and public
relations as well as writing for publication.
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An ENFP is expected to maintain an accurate
and detailed database of client resources as well
as organizing community groups.
Traditional Job Description Based
on Duties
“Long Term Care and Skilled Nursing Facility
Social Worker”
• Job objectives, job responsibilities and
qualifications required are a four-page document
with details of tasks and time-lines, such as:
• New assessments within 14 days
• Completes Medicaid certifications and recertifications according to schedule and time
frame provided by fiscal office
Interviewing beyond the job
description
1.Introvert – Extrovert aspects
• Interdisciplinary team care-planning and
staffing
• Interaction with patients and families
• Interaction with community
• In-service training with staff
2. Sensing-Intuition Aspects
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Assessing patients and families
Discharge planning
Documentation
Understanding staff perception of Social
Work role
• Agency “politics”
3. Thinking-Feeling Aspects
• Death and dying issues – helping clients
cope while you are coping
• Objectivity vs becoming numb
• “Compassion fatigue”
• Ethical issues
• Questioning agency’s policies and
practices
4. Judging-Perceiving Aspects
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Managing workload
Prioritizing tasks
Handling interruptions and emergencies
“Thinking on your feet” versus planning
ahead
• Dealing with change and the unknown
Summary
• Presenters will give a brief overview of the
Myers Briggs Type Indicator and how it is
traditionally used.
• Presenters will explain how the Myers Briggs
relates to a candidate’s fit with a specific job.
• Presenters will show how using the Myers
Briggs concepts can enhance the interview
process.