The Myers-Briggs Company Blog Central

Developing a Career Development Plan


A common misconception many employees have is that career development stops when they finish school and set out on their career path. At CPP, we know this simply isn’t true. Continued improvement in one’s career as well as maintaining a healthy personal life are essential for staying motivated and engaged.

In this multi-part blog series on cppblogcentral.com, Catherine Rains, M.S., CPP’s Solutions Consultant takes us on a journey of applying the MBTI® and Strong tools in your career and personal life and paving the way for you to create your own career development plan, including writing a career mission statement. The exercise below can you be used as a starting point or as part of your overall career development plan template for bringing together clients’ or students’ MBTI and Strong results to reveal how their interests and personality fit together to describe where they want to focus their search and/or professional development.


Exercise Instructions for Your Clients or Students

Step 1: The middle two letters of your four-letter MBTI type describe what you most value, and represent the core of who you are. Check the two-letter combination below that matches your MBTI preferences and circle the description beside it:
  • ST    Getting it right, accuracy, precision, efficiency, pragmatic use of details
  • SF    Providing practical service to others, making people’s lives better in concrete ways
  • NF    Making a meaningful difference in people’s lives, helping people to fulfill their potential
  • NT    Developing global systems, mastering knowledge, high standards of competence

Step 2: Each of the six Strong General Occupational Themes (GOTs) also describes a primary motivator or a value that is important to you. Check the Theme or Themes below as indicated by your Strong Interest Inventory® (Strong) Profile and circle the statement beside each one:

  • Realistic (R):    Using hands-on skills to produce tangible results
  • Investigative (I):    Analyzing information to probe questions of intellectual curiosity
  • Artistic (A):    Expressing one’s self in the creation of art or appreciation of beauty
  • Social (S):    Helping others know, grow, change, and get along for the betterment of humanity
  • Enterprising (E):    Persuading others of the merits of an idea or product; dedication to organizational goals
  • Conventional (C):    Organizing information and bringing order to data/things in order to make decisions

Step 3: Combine the statements you’ve circled (one from your MBTI preferences and two, or three from your Strong Theme code) into one sentence that answers these questions:

  • What is most important to you about work?
  • What do you value most about what you do?
  • What do you want to accomplish through your work?


Learn more about MBTI® and Strong:

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment has helped millions of people worldwide gain insights about themselves and how they interact with others—and improve how they communicate, learn, and work. It provides a powerful framework for building better relationships, driving positive change, harnessing innovation, and achieving excellence. The MBTI assessment makes Carl Jung's theory of psychological type both understandable and highly practical by helping individuals identify their preferences in four areas.

The Strong Interest Inventory® assessment is one of the world’s most widely respected and frequently used career planning tools. It has helped both academic and business organizations develop the brightest talent and has guided thousands of individuals—from high school and college students to midcareer workers seeking a change—in their search for a rich and fulfilling career.