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Have you ever picked a job based on the fact you were good at it but later found it made you miserable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing your skills and matching them with a particular position. If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job's pay.

There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good fit. These areas can help you form questions for the interview process of any job, so you will hopefully know as soon as possible if it would be something you would like or not. Here are a few of those main areas:

1) Do you prefer working alone or with other people? There are isolating jobs that will drive an outgoing person nuts as well as intensely personal jobs that will make a loner uneasy. Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer. There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation.

2) How to you handle change? Most jobs these days have some element of change to them, but some are more than others. If you need stability in your life, you may need a job where the changes don't happen as often. Other people thrive on change and would be bored of the same daily routine.

3) Do you enjoy working with computers? I do see this as a kind of personality trait. There are people who can spend 40+ hours a week on a computer and be happy and there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day. Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well.

4) How much supervision do you like? Some people like having a lot of feedback, and others can get more done on their own. You need to figure out where you like to be on that scale.

5) What type of work environment do you enjoy? This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won't know immediately or a smaller setting where you'll be on a first-name basis with people fairly quickly.

6) How do you like to get paid? Some people are motivated by incentives while others feel too pressured to perform like they normally would. The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is what makes me think of this.

I hope these are a great starting point for you. I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love. It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for can change the course of your life for the better.

Learn more about this author, Patricia Gilliam.
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