"My Work Style"

Looking for personalized advice on how to excel at work? Thinking about switching specialties but can't decide which one is right for you? Wondering if you should change professions altogether? The My Work Style area of MedHunters and HEALTHeCAREERS can help! My Work Style contains a free assessment tool called the ProStyle™ Survey. The survey was developed by NeoPsy Systems, a subsidiary of the Somerville Partners organizational psychology firm.

To learn more about ProStyle™, I completed the beta version of the test and interviewed Lauren Salamone, an advanced practice nurse who works at Somerville Partners.

What's Your Work Style?

This comprehensive survey analyzes 42 different personality attributes. The survey consists of 186 questions and takes 30 minutes to one hour to complete. Afterwards, you will receive a confidential report that assesses your personality and provides advice on which work environments would best suit you. ProStyle™ is the result of two years of development, and has undergone rigorous testing to ensure that the results are valid and reliable.

My personal report accurately described me as a "collaborative achiever" who values concrete accomplishments and enjoys working as part of a cohesive team. It also offered many insights into my work values, strengths, and shortcomings. The report included advice on how to make my current job match my work preferences, how to promote my strengths to current or potential employers, and further ideas on how to put my new-found knowledge to use.

Job seekers have the option of keeping their report confidential, or sharing it with potential employers.

One Test, Multiple Uses

Salamone promises that, in the future, the reports will become even more detailed and versatile. After enough healthcare professionals from different specialties have completed the survey, ProStyle™ can build a larger profile of the personality traits required for success in each specialty. Candidates can then gauge their likelihood of success in a given specialty by comparing their own results with that of the profile. Salamone says that three more types of reports are currently in the works. The first is a single specialty report that evaluates how well suited a person is to a given specialty. The second is a multi-specialty report that simultaneously evaluates a person's likelihood of success in five different specialties. The third is an employer's report which candidates can use to promote themselves to potential employers.

42 Is Better Than 16

Wondering if you'd prefer life in the obstetrics unit or the OR? You may soon be able to find the answer without trial and error! As an advanced practice nurse who has worked in 13 different specialties, Salamone is enormously excited about how ProStyle™ can help clarify career paths for healthcare professionals. She points out that nursing is not a single, homogenous occupation, and that the qualities needed to be a successful acute care nurse are not the same as those needed by an OR nurse. Salamone has tried to quantify those differences using the Myers-Briggs personality test, but found the test's 16 personality profiles were not enough to meet her needs. Since ProStyle™ works with 42 personality attributes, Somerville Partners Ltd. has already yielded some interesting results about how the requirements for success differs from one healthcare specialty to another, and will continue to refine their results over time. Since the average nurse works in five different specialties during his or her career, Salamone believes that My Work Style has the potential to help individuals find the specialty that will suit them best, and to help employers reduce employee dissatisfaction and turnover.

Whether you're in the midst of a career-related soul search or just plain curious, go to My Work Style, and give the ProStyle™ Survey a try!

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