MBTI Type ISTJ

Company where the norms are clear
The culture is performance driven and where there is a place for everything and everything is in its place.
They prefer working with facts, details and the known, where the product or service is tangible rather than conceptual
There are clear lines of responsibility and a planning process.
They do not like to ‘wing it’ or take risks without being in possession of the facts and having thought things through so that they are clear.

An ISTJ tends to find career satisfaction with careers that have the following characteristics:

Uses technical skills to work with facts and details
Produces a real product or service
Are governed by rules and regulations
Provides an opportunity for long term security
Offers a stable and traditional work environment
Uses an organizational reporting structure
Requires a minimal amount of risk taking and limited change
Allows independent work to be completed in an adequate time frame
Provides an opportunity for greater responsibility and compensation through promotion and performance evaluation

When exploring career options, an ISTJ will often

Perform thorough research on currently available careers
Logically and realistically assess each career option
Need to intentionally consider options that would require change
Need to include their personal values as part of the selection criteria
Benefit from weighing out all their options to avoid making a hasty career decision

During their job search, an ISTJ will often:

Do thorough research on all prospective fields
Accept the job search process and length
Need to intentionally investigate jobs through avenues that they do not commonly use
Network with a small number of individuals that they feel personally connected to
Accurately prepares their job search documents
Need to include their achievements in their applications
Meet the job application deadline
Need an extra reminder to follow up with an employer through a thank you notDuring an interview, an ISTJ will often…
Use supporting evidence and examples to market their knowledge
Appear uninterested in a position due to their quiet disposition
Need to present their enthusiasm for the position

At work, the ISTJ will often:

At work, the ISTJ should be aware that they may:

Experience difficulty in adapting to unexpected events or unscheduled opportunities
Resist change and be reluctant to incorporate ideas that have not been tested
Need to intentionally stay open to innovative ideas in order to prevent rigidity
Focus on daily processes and neglect future needs and possibilities
Have an eye for what is wrong or incorrect and miss what has been done correctly
Need to remember the positive accomplishments of others
Have a difficult time turning down work or delegating tasks to coworkers
Focus on policies and procedures and become critical or judgmental if they feel unappreciated or unable to use their abilities
Miss good opportunities when relying too heavily on proven experiences and dismiss new, untested processes

On a team, the ISTJ will often:

Work on their assigned task until completion
Work best in a team when all members have designated tasks and each member completes their duties
Use logical ideas to influence their team members and solve problems through applying common sense
Dislike personal issues that get in the way of the task
Disclose little about their personal lives

On a team, the ISTJ should be aware that they may:

Be viewed as a ‘picky’ team member
Need to place more emphasis on understanding and building rapport with their team members
Become irritated when team members do not complete agreed upon tasks and do not cooperate with the group
Become frustrated when team members interrupt or are excessively talkative
Need to make a concentrated effort to provide their opinion in a timely manner and maintain a fun attitude
Be more effective by focusing on the development of their interpersonal skills

ISTJ generally enjoy and pursue leadership positions. As a leader, the ISTJ will often…

Be fair, consistent and have clear expectations
Focus on the organizational needs
Make decisions based on what they have learned through past experiences and gathering facts
Lean towards the traditional and hierarchical approach to leadership
Usually reward those who have consistently completed the assigned task and followed the rules

The ISTJ will often:

Communicate in a clear and straightforward manner
Take a no-nonsense approach to expressing themselves and providing direction
Break down complicated information into specific, detailed sections
Want to hear the information relating to expectations and procedures
Establish evidence as credible when it is logical, factual, accurate and organized
Listen to others and deal with conflict without being overwhelmed with emotion
Articulate their thoughts in conversations
Provide consequences or criticism when necessary

The ISTJ should be aware that they may need to:

Work on communicating and sharing information about themselves and their viewpoint
Communicate and build relationships with their friends, family and co-workers
Make a conscious effort to observe the feelings of other people when providing feedback
Vocalize their appreciation of other peoples’ accomplishments

When it comes to decision making, the ISTJ will often…

Make sensible and logical decisions
Objectively gather and analyze the facts
Weigh information against their perception of what is realistic
Need to consider the impact their decisions have on people
Benefit from considering additional options and incorporating their values
Need to slow down their decision making process in order to consider all information

An ISTJ will often experience stress when…

When they are affected by stress, an ISTJ will often…

Pay even closer attention to the detail
Begin to form solutions to problematic situations based on their past experiences
Become overwhelmed with the amount of data obtained and lose control of all the details
Become impulsive or compulsively worry about the future
With great stress, abandon their typical approach and start to imagine all the negative possibilities through ‘catastrophizing’

Advice: An ISTJ can reduce stress by

Imagining the worst case scenario and planning accordingly
Looking to the big picture and putting their stress into perspective
Realistically determine what will matter in the future
Leaving the situation and trying something uncharacteristic in order to realign their perspective