Does your job fit you well? Is it too tight around the waist or baggy at the knees? Does it hang loosely on you and feel like it should be worn by someone else or does it fit like a tailored-made suit or a pair of comfortable shoes?

We spend more time with our jobs than at any other, single activity. Our thrity-five plus years of working with people on job fit issues has taught us that no one is in a job that fits perfectly, but that a good job fit can reduce stress, increase a sense of fulfillment, elevate energy, improve productivity, and even improve family relationships. When people are in jobs that fit, they are the ones who gain the most, and when they are in jobs that do not fit well, they suffer the most.

Job fit can be enhanced through awareness, understanding, and developmental or proactive activity, and this should be why you are electing to complete this survey. The results will produce a document that you can use to assess your current job fit and needs for development. It can also be used to facilitate discussion about job fit and your development with your manager or a trusted advisor.

This survey draws upon the philosophy of SIMA® (System for Identifying Motivated Abilities®), which is a technique that identifies a person’s significant motivations. This system involves recollection of a number of achievements the person enjoyed doing and believes were done well. Analysis of these achievements reveals a consistently recurring pattern that emerges in early years and stays consistent throughout life. This pattern is referred to as a MAP® (Motivated Abilities Pattern®).

These motivated patterns of success are enduring in that they emerge early in people’s lives and remain constant; irresistible in that they will try to express themselves whenever possible; and are a significant factor in feelings of success and satisfaction on the job.

Information on SIMA and its value can be obtained by reading the book, Managing Yourself, Managing Others, by Steven M. Darter. Click here to view the book.

Although completion of this survey will not yield a MAP, it should provide insight into your motivated strengths and how those strengths match up with your current job. The survey also provides an opportunity for you to target where you feel that you have needs for development.

Taking time to assess what gives you feelings of success and satisfaction, how you view your job, how you view your performance, and what you see as areas for development can be beneficial actions to take. Sharing the report with others and using it to focus your discussions can also be beneficial.

If you have already been having discussions with your manager or others around these kinds of topics, then completion of this survey may help to shape, expand, or enhance those conversations. If you haven’t been having such discussions, then consider this survey as a tool to help you to focus those conversations on that which is important to you.

If you do use this tool to facilitate discussions between you and your manager, then a desired outgrowth should be a developmental plan that takes into consideration insights into your motivated strengths, job fit, and needs for development.

It’s important to emphasize that this survey relies on your honesty, objectivity, and proficiency in self-analysis. Depending upon your strengths and your willingness to complete the exercises that are included with your report, this instrument can be quite helpful as you reflect on important issues related to your job fit and development and as you enter into discussion about those issues with your manager or a trusted advisor.

In general, people who have not gotten much from this tool have not completed the exercises that are included at the end of the report, and have not used it to engage their manager or a trusted advisor in a discussion about job fit and development.

The Job Fit and Development Review is a trademarks of People Management Steven M. Darter, LLC. Copyright 2002.

“SIMA®” (The System for Identifying Motivated Abilities) and “MAP®” (Motivated Abilities Pattern) are registered trademarks and “Achievement Interviewing^SM” is a registered service mark of SIMA International, Inc.