Who am I?

Find the (work) environment that matches your personality

You can use the five personality traits to explain who you are and find or create a (work) environment that matches your personality. These traits are extraversion, friendliness, emotional stability, orderliness and openness.

1. Extraversion. Your score on this scale shows to what extent you desire contact with other people. Introverted people enjoy work where they can be very independent, do their own thing and investigate. Extraverts enjoy work where they interact with people and that challenges them. The work should not be boring.
2. Friendliness. This scale is also called altruism or agreeableness and shows to what extent you naturally follow your own self-interest or are attentive to the interests of others.  A lower score on this scale makes you more competitive, less amenable. People with a lower score on friendliness enjoy work where they can realise their own goals and ambitions. A higher score generally means that you are more social, mild and friendly. Friendly people enjoy work where they can mean something for others.
3. Emotional stability. In some versions, this scale is also called neuroticism. Are you naturally calm and not easily shaken (emotionally stable) or are you naturally more sensitive and easily worried? A high score on emotional stability is particularly useful in sectors and professions that come with risks and stress and great responsibility. People who score lower on emotional stability are useful in an environment where it is important to be alert and attentive.
4. Orderliness. This scale is also called diligence or conscientiousness. Are you someone who is naturally organised, always on time and who works structurally and systematically? Or are you someone who is more flexible and sometimes a bit chaotic? A high score on orderliness is particularly helpful in sectors and professions where accuracy is important and mistakes have unfortunate consequences. People who score lower on orderliness can be helpful in positions where flexibility is very important.
5. Openness. Openness refers to the degree to which you're open to new experiences. Are you naturally inventive, are you brimming with ideas and curious about how you can do things differently? Or are you more traditional and like to keep things the way they are? People who are open to new experiences can be helpful in positions where it is important to be inventive. People who score lower on openness are helpful in sectors where it's important that you work according to the existing rules and procedures.

Most people score very high or very low on one or two traits. On the other scales, they are somewhere in the middle. Read through the five traits and name someone who is a good example of a high or low score for each trait. Which of your friends or colleagues is very outgoing, who scores lowest on agreeableness (is very competitive), who is generally very well organised? When you do this per scale, you'll see that you can find an example of someone with a very high or low score for each scale. Most other people you know are somewhere between these two and have a more average score. On which scale or scales do you score high or low?