EPT![[image loading]](http://sas-origin.onstreammedia.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/STRENGTHS/ky4hwohc9uq91tnwcgkkvw.jpg)
You'll likely see this floating around an office you work in at some point and time in your life
You go through a series of heavy handed, situation based questions about how you handle coworkers, stress, etc, allowing for shades of grey ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree which ultimately churns out your test results into five, neat little categories. If it sounds like I am overly critical of the book, it isn't meant to be too harsh; I've just never had much of an appetite for what I'll term corporate psychology. I see its value to the company, I've always just preferred to not volunteer any information I needn't without due reason.
That being said, given my change recent from a monolithic bastion of corporate ideologues to a relative mom and pop shop of a company, I determined that I didn't really have much to lose by way of doing the quiz. My former company likely employs more people to scrub toilets than my current company employs period. At my old employer, I would also actively manipulate test results with the former company, which would make you take various tests, generally math with some ethics questions, were you on your way to some type of promotion. Suffice it to say that I didn't come off as gregarious, or magnanimous enough to have my eyes on a spot too much further up the corporate ladder.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/LwySTq2.png)
My neatly organized strengths, which I will translate below
Input
In my own words, that I have a junk drawer mind. Things go in, and don't usually come out, but I keep information because I find it interesting for my own consideration.
Learner
This is pretty self-explanatory, they didn't stray far from the dictionary definition. I like learning and the process of becoming competent at a given task.
Intellection
I enjoy thinking, who knew?
Achiever
This one I didn't get, I've some supposed need to achieve something daily, no matter how menial. I feel like I would enjoy MMOs more if this were the case.
Analytical
I like patterns, objectivity and insist on people being able to back up their ideas in the work place.
On the whole these are pretty accurate, though the questions telegraphed their intentions so readily it was not hard to see where things were going. What I found most interesting was that not one of these characteristics were shared by one of the five or six other people who had sat down to take the test for me. Much more common were communication, or woo (which is a qualification, I feel fundamentally opposed to just by virtue of its naming convention), traits which fall much more in line with the pep and vigor I previously ascribed to corporate culture as a stereotype.
If I am not mistaken, this information was also provided to my manager in the interest of tailoring communication directed towards me in some way, shape or form. I can appreciate that if only for the fact that Bill Lumbergh style, "yeaaaah....," and, "the good, bad, good," style of delivering criticism have always annoyed the hell out of me while working.
For some time, I've been of the opinion if I messed up, let me own it, and you don't need to sandwich my mistake between two things I know I am doing well to begin with. I recognize that not everyone is of this ilk, and some are more sensitive than others, regardless a frank conversation about your preferences for feedback goes a long way. This preference is probably well in line with people who came out with similar qualifications as I did from this little exercise.
All in all I get the purpose of it all, even if the results were only discussed in your training class with people you may never well work with during your time with that company. One of the things most lacking in certain work environments is sensitivity to the preferences of your coworkers. This doesn't mean completely subjecting yourself to them of course, but if I know I need something from sales, I'll likely go talk to them directly and wade my way through a conversation about a sporting event I never watched to get what I want, where as for an analyst from our IT department, I'll send an IM, and be content that they'll get to it when they have a chance. Not that personality type is so cut and dry for each team, but stereotypes save time, and trust me once you move into the workforce if you've not already Sales is the most apt analogy to the jocks in any given educational environment.
I would do well to take some of the ideas about communicating with certain characteristics to heart, as lord knows I am not always the best at being accommodating of the preferences of those around me. I am also all too imperceptive with regards to how others see me in a work space, though I certainly have my own opinions on those around me. At my previous employer, I had a reputation as a rather cocky, aloof. While this stemmed from my preference to avoid perfunctory conversation, it did me no favors with regards to getting a few more dollars a paycheck.
All things to be taken into consideration as I continue on this journey that is my mid-twenties. Trial and error is the name of the game of success in my career, I am just hoping for fewer errors in the long run. Either way on wards and generally upwards. Thanks for the read, and to make it worth your while here is a picture of my dog Whiskey.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OuI42Zz.png)
![[image loading]](http://thedroidyourelookingfor.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/lebowski_time.jpg)
