Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type

Do What You Are : Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type--Revised and Updated Edition Featuring E-careers for the 21st Century by Paul D. Tieger

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
[My review is on Bahasa (Indonesian) language. The review was originally intended for publication in an internal corporate newsletter. Since it is unpublished, I've decided to use it for this purpose instead.]

Kebanyakan dari kita memilih pekerjaan selama ada lowongan yang kosong dan kompensasi yang menarik tanpa terlalu memikirkan kesesuaian pribadi kita dengan tanggung-jawab dari pekerjaan tersebut. Akibatnya, banyak dari kita yang merasa kurang puas dengan pekerjaan yang kita lakukan dan berdampak pada kinerja dan aktualisasi diri yang tidak optimal dalam bekerja. Hal ini tidak hanya terjadi pada rekan kita yang fresh graduate dan baru memulai karirnya, namun juga menimpa tidak sedikit dari rekan kita yang sudah mencapai pertengahan karirnya.

Apabila kita masih membayangkan rumput pekarangan tetangga yang lebih hijau, maka tidak ada salahnya untuk membaca buku ini dan memutuskan sendiri apakah rumput tersebut memang benar-benar hijau. Selama lebih dari 10 tahun, buku karangan pasangan suami-istri Tieger ini telah membantu ribuan pembacanya dalam mencari pekerjaan yang sesuai dengan tipe kepribadian mereka. Paul dan Barbara menulis Do What You Are dengan berdasarkan pada metodologi Myers-Briggs yang dikembangkan oleh Isabel Briggs Myers dan ibunya, Katherine Myers, di tahun 1920an. Metodologi tersebut membagi kepribadian seseorang menjadi salah satu dari 16 macam tipe yang ditandai dengan kombinasi empat huruf.

Keempat huruf tersebut dapat ditentukan setelah pembaca menjawab beberapa pertanyaan awal yang telah disediakan. Selanjutnya pembaca dapat melihat gambaran dan penjelasan mengenai tipe tersebut dan biasanya mulai “menemukan” dirinya. Selanjutnya pembaca dapat mengetahui aspek-aspek apa saja dari pekerjaan yang berpengaruh positif serta dapat membahagiakan Anda dalam pekerjaan tersebut dan aspek-aspek lainnya yang berpengaruh sebaliknya terhadap diri Anda. Akhirnya Anda akan dapat menentukan karir dan jenis pekerjaan apa yang paling sesuai dengan tipe kepribadian Anda.

Buku ini telah berkembang dan pada edisi berikutnya mengulas mengenai bagaimana menjalin hubungan berdasarkan tipe kepribadian pasangan Anda -- Just Your Type: Create the Relationship You've Always Wanted Using the Secrets of Personality Type -- dan bagaimana mengasuh anak berdasarkan tipe kepribadian mereka -- Nurture by Nature: How to Raise Happy, Healthy, Responsible Children Through the Insights of Personality Type.

View all my reviews.

Mare Forum Maritime Indonesia 2008

Tonight, I got mentally exhausted, yet relieved. I just had my speaking engagement earlier this afternoon. Pfew!

Okay, about two weeks ago, I got a phone call from the organizer, one Mr. Jannis Kostoulas, the managing director of the Mare Forum. The Mare Forum are organizers of Mare Forum conferences, specializing in conference management, project development and policy marketing. They bring together policy makers and chief executives of an industry to have dialogue and debate so everybody can be on the same page in strategizing business and deciding on policies. Today's Mare Forum conference held in the Four Seasons Jakarta was discussing about the maritime industry, and was titled Maritime Indonesia 2008.

The conference was attended by some 140 guests (as told by the organizer), mostly from the shipping industry, both Indonesian and foreigners. There were three large groups as I had observed: shipowners, shipbrokers, and financiers. Other small groups were lawyers, analysts, journalists, and none from the government. Quite a dissapointment since a lot of the discussion needed the government's perspective as the policymaker. But their absence is understandable, since the policymakers would almost certainly be put in a hot seat. Nonetheless, the conference moved on ahead with minor delays on the schedule.

I was scheduled to present my case shortly after lunch. The topic of my presentation was regarding cabotage. Cabotage is a hot topic in the Indonesian shipping industry. It presents an opportunity for tilting the balance of the bargaining power toward the shippers and away from the charterers. I think the future landscape of the domestic maritime trade will be at the favor of the shippers due to implementation of the cabotage law. Of course, holding the premise that it will be implemented, and on time. My presentation have been archived by the Mare Forum here.

Why did I choose to present a topic on cabotage, much less on maritime trade? Well, I think the organizer felt strongly about the cabotage issue, and I happened to write an article about it on the Jakarta Post. They even admit to have invited me because of that article.

Overall, it was a good experience for me, a change of pace from my daily work in the cubicle pondering the state of my valuation (sigh). I met a lot of people here, and a fellow Indiana alumn (yeah, a small world after all).

Pegawai Virgo

[Sabtu pagi kok malah ngomongin kerjaan. Yah, iseng-iseng lah sekalian nunggu nyokap selese ngaji sebelum berangkat lagi ke sinshe lagi siang ini. Batuk akut gue udah berkurang drastis sih, ngga ada malah. Hebat tuh sinshe, ramuan herbalnya manjur gila! Padahal gue udah tiga kali ke dokter, beda semua, tiga-tiganya ngasih resep antibiotik, dan ga ada yang mempan. Akhirnya pake pengobatan alternatif dan sembuh (Insha Allah, gue ngga mau nge-jinx neh). Yah, rencananya sih ke sinshe mo ngambil ramuannya lagi, at least buat seminggu lagi deh, mungkin aja kan belum sembuh bener. Sekalian di-akupunktur lagi buat cedera pinggang gue dua minggu yang lalu. Itu juga mendingan banget sekarang, gue rekomendasi deh buat sinshe-nya.

Anyway, gue pernah dikirimin email nih ama temen kantor gue. Biasa lah, kan sering kedapetan tuh, either email kaleng, humor, gosip, game, berita, ato isengan kaya gini. Yah, boleh lah kita kupas dikit mengenai kinerja pegawai berdasarkan zodiaknya ini. Aslinya diambil dari blog Yunianto Tri Atmojo. Mari kita baca dulu.]

Dalam situasi yang tepat, Virgo akan suka bekerja. Mereka akan dapat menjadi pegawai ideal, dengan bahagia mau bekerja sampai malam dan memastikan semuanya berjalan sempurna. Jika anda mencari pegawai yang tidak keberatan untuk memulai segala sesuatunya dari posisi terendah, maka carilah pegawai Virgo.

Mereka tidak akan pernah mengeluh mengenai posisi. Mereka merasa cukup dengan pekerjaan dasar dan jujur. Tetapi perasaan cukup ini tidak selalu nampak. Mereka sangat cerewet dan cenderung mudah kuatir. Mereka cepat mengkritik mengenai cara melakukan sesuatu di kantor. Mereka adalah orang pertama yang akan segera menunjukkan sikap tidak setuju mengenai apa yang mereka anggap sikap extravagant atau kemalasan.

Mereka tidak suka menusuk, jujur dan tidak suka bertele-tele mengenai apa yang mereka anggap kurang benar. Biasanya hal ini akan ditumpahkan kepada mereka yang melakukan pekerjaan yang ’setengah matang’ atau orang yang tidak memperhatikan rekan kerja yang lain.

Anda harus terus-menerus meyakinkan mereka, tetapi hal ini hanya akan sedikit menahan keresahan mereka. Mereka sebenarnya menikmati untuk merasa kuatir, dan anda tidak akan bisa banyak melakukan sesuatu tentang hal ini. Anda cukup memberikan proyek detil dan membiarkan mereka bekerja sendiri. Anda tidak perlu mengawasi seorang Virgo dalam bekerja. Mereka akan mencari semua fakta sebelum mulai dan akan segera mengetahui semua kesalahannya ketika mereka selesai. Untuk menjaga kebetahan mereka bekerja, anda perlu memperhatikan kondisi lingkungan, agar tetap teduh dan rapi. Anda juga perlu memberikan tanda-tanda penghargaan, walaupun kecil untuk mereka.

Mereka tidak butuh sesuatu yang mewah, cukup untuk memberikan penghargaan kecil yang tidak perlu sampai membuat mereka memerah malu. Mungkin mereka akan menghela napas dan hanya mengatakan "Ah, nggak ada apa-apanya kok." Tetapi didalam hati mereka membutuhkan pujian kecil seperti ini.

[Sebentar, garis bawahi dulu situasi yang tepat. Oke, banyak benernya nih menurut gue sebagai pegawai berzodiak Virgo. Virgo kayanya terkenal perfeksionis ya? Di sini juga dibilang begitu, pegawai Virgo bersedia untuk menjadi workaholic demi "kesempurnaan" kerjaan. Asal instruksinya bener dan lengkap, pegawai Virgo sih udah bisa jalan sendiri. Cuman ya itu, karena perfeksionis jadi gampang panikan, constantly anxious. Kesannya kaya kerjaannya itu masih salah, masih bisa dibenerin lagi, masih ada yang kurang lah.. etc, etc. Tapi apa iya sih emang bawaan?

Terus, apresiasi kerja emang perlu banget sih. Sebagai pegawai Virgo, gue mengakui adanya harapan-harapan apresiasi kerja setelah ngerjain suatu proyek. Biasanya cukup dengan pujian kecil udah oke sih. Dan kayanya bos gue yang sekarang kaya gitu orangnya. Well, ngga ke gue doang sih, ke semuanya juga gitu. So, yah, oke sih nih "ramalan". Banyak kenanya. Anyway, nyokap dah dateng nih, berangkat dulu ya...]

Dragonfly's Thursday Industrie - Finance & Co.

About a month ago, a strange email landed on my inbox. An invitation from a guy named Andi, to be a host for the next Thursday Industrie event held at Dragonfly. Hmm.. must have known my email address from my business card (yeah, I got this habit of dropping my business cards in the glass bowls of various establishments I had visited, hey, you might get an invitation like this..).

A host in this event functions more as a person who invites his/her friends to come over, not as an emcee (a lot of people had asked me about it, so I guess I better explain it beforehand). As a token of gratuity, Dragonfly provides a table and a free bottle for the first round of drinks. Dragonfly regularly throw up this Thursday Industrie event for people working in a particular industry so they can mingle, network, and have fun. They rotate the industry periodically between several different industries such as finance, entertainment, public relations, music, fashion, etc.

So about two weeks ago, I accepted Andi's invitation after consulting with several of my co-workers (hey, I need to know if people would come to this event before I agreed for my name to be put as a host there). Andi turns out to be the "party officer" at Dragonfly, and he just sent me the invitation poster four days prior to the event. Luckily, I had told my friends and let them know ahead of time (it's not a weekend event, so chances for us finance people to come to a party mid-week is a bit slim, yeah right..).

So I emailed the invitation out, and lo and behold, another co-worker is also named as a host, Muti. She was surprised her name was even there, and quickly emailed tons of her friends to come for the event. It was put on Facebook as well.

So I came a bit earlier (hey, they told me the event started at 8 PM and when I came at 9.15 PM, no one had showed up at my table). As the night turned late, more people showed up. All in all, the two major groups attending the event were from Citi and Danareksa. Cool. You can take a look at the photo album here, courtesy of Nares.

Euphoria No More - Part 2

Today is a holiday, well, somewhat officially. The real holidays are tomorrow, the 1st and the 2nd, officially tagged as the Eid holidays. Today is just a "mandatory" leave (together with Friday, the 3rd) instituted by the government for the general public. Mandatory leave (or cuti bersama) in this case means that the leave will be applied to our yearly paid leave, with little option to get out of it (except for those working in certain industries such as F&B or tourism). I'm not trying to get out of it, by the way, as I welcome the opportunities to unwind from the daily work routines.

Talking about work. More than a year has passed since my promotion to the Equity Research Division. The fatigue that had set in is still there, but it is now somewhat manageable. Despite the fatigue, I gained more knowledge with each passing day. Macro stuff, sector bits, and model tricks are just some of them. However, the confusion that has enveloped me since then has not subsided. In my Friendster profile, I was wondering whether capital market is meant for me. Well, after more than two years dealing directly in a day-to-day basis with the market, I've begun to consider it as a long-term career field for me, not just a temporary aspiration.

Finance in general, is a very wide field, with the capital market to be just a subset of it. I would very much like to explore the other subsets of finance, emphasizing investment and economics. This was not suddenly came to me, though. After encountering the confusion of a new job and struggling for keeping my own standard, I've come to realization that there are still lots to learn. And unfortunately, baptism by fire can only do so much. Proper care and continuous nurturing are called for, which has been somewhat lacking as the time goes by. So, perhaps it is the time to stay foolish?

Euphoria No More - Part 1

It's almost 5 months since I was promoted to the Equity Research division. The euphoria was long gone and the fatigue has set in. I didn't get paid leave and won't get it until after the first anniversary of my placement as an employee (pegawai tetap). So, this is what happened:

• I got accepted as a Management Trainee (MT) on May 2006. I didn't get paid leave (cuti) since I wasn't considered as the company's employee. All of the MTs were, are, and probably will be treated this way. So, fine then.
• I got promoted as a Junior Analyst a year later, in 2007. According to the company's rule, an employee is not allowed to get paid leave until the first anniversary of the employee's first working day.
• The closest thing to a leave (unpaid, of course), would be the gap between my working period as an MT and as an employee, which is immediately after the one-year period and prior to my signing contract as an employee.
• Depending on each MT's individual bosses, one may not get to use that gap (1-10 working days max) and lose the opportunity to get the unpaid leave, effectively not getting any leave for the period of 2 years.

To make the story short, I was one among those MTs. And to add salt to the wound, all mandatory leave instituted by the government (such as extended Eid and Christmas day-offs) are to be applied to my paid leave days in the next year, on top of the mandatory leave for that year that is going to further reduce my quota, possibly putting me and other MTs in a paid leave "debt" situation.

The Week of Firsts

Wow.. a lot of things happened to me this week, my third week (or was it second since there were several days off two weeks ago) as a junior analyst. While last week marked my first email contact with a client as an analyst and my first visit to a shareholders meeting (of a bank), this week I experienced at least four new things:

1. Accompanied client for meetings with company managements. Truly a nerve wracking experience as the client is a fund manager and my boss said the client used to be an analyst himself. I didn't know the story of each company we met thoroughly, much less valuation of their stocks. Fortunately, my boss realized this and tried to cover for me most of the time. Pheww..
2. Visited companies for updates. Still related to the previous assignment, but this time visiting their headquarter directly instead of having a meeting in a hotel. The same client was asking very thorough questions, mostly on business model rather than valuation per se. I asked my senior colleague and they did say the client was most thorough.
3. Attended an investment forum. The 2nd Indonesia Investor Forum was held this week and I visited several company presentations. I learned more about various business models from different industries. I also networked with several people ranging from a researcher in a consulting company to a fund manager in a private equity shop.
4. Attended a public expose of a consumer product company. I met a senior analyst from another equity house and we discussed a lot about the profession and the industry. While the event was informative, I learned more from him about lots of things in just 30 minutes.

Initial euphoria seems to set in and I was having fun. Check back on me when I gotta do financial modeling and writing my first report, see what I have to say then.

I Got Promoted!

Wow, it really has been a year since I wrote anything online. Yeah, you read it right, I passed my Management Trainee program and got promoted as a Junior Analyst in the Equity Research Division. This is going to be a daunting adventure and very possibly going to determine my future career path. I guess everything do happen for a purpose. This is no exception.

DANG! I got so melodramatic there. At any rate, I'm going to sign the new contract next Monday and it officially begins. Because of the nature of the job, I will start writing again and possibly reactivate the dormant indrayudha.net. And since I've got a more reliable broadband connection for the past 2 months (somebody say 3G!), it might just happen like the old times. Oh, probably not just quite, I may have the connection now, but I need a more capable computer to handle it (blame it on Apple for delaying Leopard release to October, now I have to wait until then to buy a MacBook).

Oh, and last but not least, thank you for all of your support, prayer, guidance, and patience. It has been a fun and challenging year. I expect no less for the next ride, and I hope you can enjoy it with me.

I Got a Job!

Yes, that's right! I got a job! I just signed the contract this evening, and will start next week. And what's more, it's actually in the field that I wanted, money management and capital market. The company is PT Danareksa, and the position is management trainee. The commitment is for one year as a management trainee, and two more as a full employee (position to be assigned later). Therefore, I would put my job-search effort to rest until three years from now. What a relief...

I've been at it since I graduated almost exactly two years ago from IU. Thus far, I've managed to snatch several part-time jobs and an internship in-between. So, this position would be my first full-time, out-of-college job. And to my surprise, I got it back here in Indonesia! What's more, even though I tried all the available channels (job fairs, online postings, networks, and newspapers), the fact that I didn't get it from networking is surprising (I applied though a newspaper ad). It proved to me that I was wrong to have my prejudice against the "system", especially Indonesia's. I realize that the "system" is still far from perfect, but now I also realize that the "system" is undergoing positive changes that I just have to experience it for myself.

To all my friends and relatives, I would like to say thank you for all your prayers and continued support in various ways. You've all been helpful and kind, and my gratitude to you all for having accompanied me toward this new stage in my life. I truly appreciate it, and God bless you.

Washington DC - Day 94

This morning I attended a workshop seminar where Macromedia showed their latest installment, Studio 8. I received the e-mail invitation earlier this week from my boss, Graham, and decided to register and attend it. The room was packed, there were probably more than 200 people attended the event. Most of them were government and NGO employees, no doubt working with internet technologies and web implementations for their respective institutions.

Studio 8 hasn't been released yet, so the people attending were among the first to see Studio 8's capabilities. It is a powerful software, and even though it doesn't include Freehand (I never use it anyway), it includes Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Flash Paper among others. During half of the seminar, they demonstrated the new Flash improvements. It didn't really apply to me since I don't use Flash (no animation talent), so it was kinda boring. However, once the seminar resumed after a snack break, things were getting really interesting.

The chief software development showed us new features of Dreamweaver. It was great. The new Dreamweaver would provide more advanced support for CSS such as the ability to turn CSS on-and-off in mid-development, color each CSS box automatically, zoom in-and-out for more precise positioning, collapse codes for more portability, convert to XSLT for better RSS integration, and many more! It would've made my internship a lot easier. They also showed a new product called Flash Paper which would bring web multimedia to the masses. It's capable of converting almost any type of file into Flash SWF so developer can show documents directly on a given web page.

After the seminar, I walked into Borders store on the opposite block waiting for lunch time. Surprisingly, Borders scheduled a tour appearance of Josh Kelly that afternoon for his new album, Almost Honest. It was my first tour sighting so gotta include this in the blog. Honestly, I never heard about the guy, but his songs were very good. They're on the same genre as Mraz, Johnson, Mayer (what do you call that genre? I always refer to it as folk music since Yahoo categorizes them that way, and there're a lot of "J"s singers too like Josh, Jason, Jack, and John, go figure).

Washington DC - Day 4 (May 27, 2005)

I scheduled for an interview with Pat Taylor, a temp agency specializing in legal sector, this afternoon. I was referred to Pat Taylor by Salman, who had work for them since he came to DC in February. He got hired to a permanent position later in June by the client company.

The interview went well, and there was no test whatsoever unlike the other temp agencies. The interviewer seemed pleased, and she said she would try to find a suitable position for me. Eventually, I got no assignment from them. My guess is because I am a bit too "technical" for their openings, or because I didn't follow-through aggresively, or because they simply didn't have anything suitable for me. At least, I know from our correspondence that they tried, but for some reasons, it just didn't work out.

Later that afternoon though, I met up with Fari to pray together at the Indonesian Embassy (KBRI). I had forgotten how big the Embassy was. The Embassy building stands in stark contrast with the surrounding embassies. Not only it is large, but it has artistic Europen style, though the new extension is of modern design. The Minister of Forestry happened to be in DC, and he delivered the sermon that afternoon. I guess he was part of the President's entourage during the President's visit to the States that week.

Fari and I then had lunch in Malaysia Kopitiam, a Malaysian restaurant in downtown DC. Our server was in fact, an Indonesian, go figure. The food were delicious and filling, and it was a bargain given the price. I got myself Nasi Lemak, and if only they weren't out of Cendol, it would've been perfect.

We continued exploring DC and our destination was the National Air and Space Museum. I remembered visiting this place in '94 and I don't think it has changed a lot. Though, I have to admit that it seemed like an endless fun back then.

Washington DC - Day 2 (May 25, 2005)

Crap. I just found out last night that my internship didn't go through. CAIR just e-mailed me that I wasn't selected for the summer internship. Well, now what? Now, the plan could either be saved or let it fell through. I've traveled this far (3 hrs. flight but still), so I won't let it fell through. Today I set plans in motion, which over the next 6 weeks or so, would bring me through numerous job applications, several interviews, and a hell of a ride in between.

Still, the question beget, why Washington? After all, I could just stay in St. Louis and continued my job search there or at least until I got some sort of job offer before deciding to move out. Well, it didn't work. Externally, people would be unlikely to hire someone far away especially if it's just for entry-level positions. Internally, my motivation to keep this thing going was slowly dying out. There was nothing for me in St. Louis job-wise, so I better get back on track or it is time for me to go home.

I know, it still doesn't answer the question, why Washington? Well, Washington was on top of my list for a potential relocation city. Even before I graduated, it had been among the top three. The non-profit is one of the industry sectors I want to get involved in, and Washington is like the mecca of non-profits. I also flirted with the idea of working for public administration, so Washington is the logical choice.

I have visited Washington twice before, once in Summer 1994 and most recently on Summer 2002 (a road trip worthy of its own posting series). I like the city of Washington, DC. It's accessible and beautiful, it has good public transport system, and the city is moderately paced (not bustling like NYC, and not too laid-back like most cities I've been in). Boston and Chicago would probably the only other cities that rival Washington in that respect (I haven't been in Seattle so I don't know about it).

Well, I hope that answers the question, more about my adventure coming up.

[job-tip] Consider Relocation

[I got this idea of sharing some of my experiences, good and bad, in my job-hunting so other people don't have to make the same mistakes as I did. I hope the information will be useful for you, and you can comment to share your own should you want to.]

After I graduated last year, I got so confused between two geographical job-hunting strategies. One, I could relocate to a particular city and search for jobs there directly or - Two, I could search indirectly without relocating first. Obviously each has its own pros and cons. I chose the latter, and switched to the first only recently. I asked a lot of people for their opinion, and they almost evenly split in recommending one over the other to me. Since I did both, I knew which one is working and which one is not, at least in my case.

With the second choice, I could save money since I lived in a small city and there was less pressure in my part because I could stretch my saving for a longer period. Searching indirectly is very much doable by using the Internet. This option is obvious if I didn't have any preference to a particular city. Even though I do have a preference (if it's not apparent to you yet, I'm writing from DC), there were several reasons which prevented me from opting with the first choice from the get-go. Everyone situation is unique, and I think in most cases, they would choose the second option.

With the first choice, I hardly know anybody living in the new city at that time, and I was opening my option too wide by considering other places such as Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Clearly, there would be much pressure in my part since I could only stretch my saving for much lesser period. Unless you already received a job offer while you are still in college, the first option is the way to go, in my opinion. Recent grads will be hard-pressed in finding a job with relocation benefit since most positions open for them are entry-level. Plus, relocating will open other channels which were not available previously such as networking, classified ads, and temping.

In hindsight, I should have made the decision to relocate earlier. I realized that it'd be difficult to decide it immediately, but I should have given myself a timeframe which I had to adhere (say within three months or otherwise relocate after that period is reached). So, if you just graduate or will be graduating in the near future, consider relocation seriously and make necessary preparations so the decision can be made in a timely manner. The shorter you are out of job, the less psychological (and financial) pressure you will face.