[Rusty8t8]

Heya



Im a 22 year old male, trying to work out my career path.

I graduated from a Sports Medicine degree in May 2010 and I got a job as a teaching assistant for this academic year. I do beleive I would be a good teacher, and being ISTJ, some parts of the job I will be great at. But a lot of the parts of being a teacher I am unsure suits my personality type. If I went into teaching it would be ICT, would of course would suit my personality type.

However my other option is the Police. General career advice says its great for an ISTJ which makes sense. I have applied to be a special constable. So I will do that and see if i like it. If I do I may apply to be a Community Support Officer for my 2nd year of full time work, then then make my decision having workied in both areas for a year.

My question is, is teaching bad for an ISTJ? Are there any police/teaching ISTJ's here who could give me an idea in what it is like.

P.s. I am from the UK.

[Wake]

ISTJ's like most SJ's like the sense of responsibility in an organized fashion and teaching gives you plenty of those 2. If you are passionate about that, then adopting the subject matter as a key to success shouldn't be difficult. Being a type 5 on the enneagram curiosity is the key motivator and you may get bored of the subjects, and decide to explore beyond the boundaries of your classes. Teaching is quite a skill, and mastery is a hefty goal.

Be aware you are a thinker not a feeler, and that can create lack of sensitivity for students who maybe delicate in the process of learning. Adaptation seems like something you will have to be familiar with. The type 5's ISTJ's I've seen here on the forums don't have an issue with adaption, generally. You should be aware of the social situation of the environment being a teaching assistant.

I don't know what ICT is but I understand secondary school is something equivalent to high school here in the U.S., and it could be a job you do when aspiring to be a professor at a university.

ISTJ's can be a pretty timid bunch. Considering that you are seriously considering a job that has such a physical nature you don't have that problem I take it. I don't know the most about what it takes to become a police officer, but serving the authorities and ensuring the justice and order of the people is something an ISTJ could really become motivated by. Seems like it could be a tedious job after a while if large issues aren't arising, that could be a draw back for you. Also it seems like the rule book only has so much exploration for you. Probably best to talk with a real police officer or read up on the daily life of an officer though.

Here in the US we don't seem to be employing more officers, but laying more off. Is the job market good over in the UK? (rhetorical)

It's good to note that we are individuals, not walking stereotypes of our personality typing, and each individual should understand their own strengths and weaknesses.

[Rusty8t8]

Thanks for the reply

Police wont be recruiting for a few years due to the current state of budget so I will not be rushing ahead into it!

ICT = Information and Communication Technology. So computors basically.

I will have a chat with some police officers and serve as a special constable for a while, see how I get on.

Any other advice would be great!

[Qadosh]

ICT = Information and Communication Technology. So computors basically

"computors"? Is this some special UK-only spelling of computer or did you just misspell it?

[Rusty8t8]

Missed that lol

Computer*

[petals of stone]

We are much more than our stereotype. And while the ISTJ description is quite good for making decisions on some aspects, I would discourage making decisions solely based on the ISTJ description.

Police and such job suit the ISTJ. It is an organized system where law is given the importance. It seems to be something that an ISTJ should enjoy. As protectors, we naturally fit the protecting nature of Police jobs.

However, even being an ICT teacher, I have heard that ISTJs enjoy similar subjects. Educating and teaching others is something we are good at as well. However, one of our weakness includes dealing with others in a tactful manner- especially students. We might be too strict/ rigid and may refuse to change our teaching style and may end up appearing too blunt to students for their liking. And we aren't a massive fan of continuous social interaction that will no doubt occur on the job.

I will say, it comes down to how much you can enjoy the job. Try envisioning your roles and your typical day in each job. Try envisioning the daily routine, daily problems and daily achievements you will have on each job. Once you have envisioned it, decide for yourself which one appeals more to you. The teacher or the police officer.

You should also consider carrer potential and job prospects. Salary, how much can you advance in a job, the amount of unemployment in the job/ the demand of the job, the amount of competition in getting a job and similar factors should be considered in your job.

Look at the above, compare and decide. Good luck.

[Coonsy]

I cannot speak to what the teaching aspect would be like, but I can give you a brief rundown on what it can be like to be a police officer (ETA: I was an officer here in California, things may be somewhat different where you are depending on policies in the UK, your specific location, etc, but most of it is generally going to be the same...unless you're in a rural area, where things will be a lot quieter), since I went that route thinking I would enjoy it....I didn't, and left after 1 1/2 years to pursue my master's degree.

The first 6-8 months as a police officer was great - I was learning to deal with all the different situations, learning how to testify in court, learning the penal code, and everything else that went into the job. After that timeframe, however, I had been there, done that...many, many times. Nothing was new anymore, yet you still had to worry that the idiot you've already dealt with 3 times that day may just decide to try to kill you this time. Eventually you begin to see that what you are doing has very little affect - you arrest someone, and literally an hour later you see them walking down the street because they made bail. You arrest the same people/same types of people day in and day out. You go to calls where they are begging for your presence, and once you get there, they are screaming at you to leave (but now you can't because you've got to deal with the situation). Once or twice a year you'll get a thank you from a citizen - but chances are, for every thank you that you get, you'll have someone hoping to sue you. You work your butt off for years to get the position you want, then it goes to someone else (which ended up being one of my primary reasons for leaving - I saw guys working 12+ years for a position, applying every single time it came up, and still not getting it).

Don't get me wrong, there are people who love the job - but it's not because of a sense of helping people - you have to on some level enjoy the power. If you don't, you'll begin to hate the job, which is exactly what happened to me. I did not enjoy hunting people down to see if they had some drugs hidden somewhere - I did not enjoy having to fight with people who didn't want me there in the first place.

I loved my coworkers - they were a great group, and I really, really miss working with them - but other than the pay and benefits, it was about the only aspect of the job I enjoyed by the time I left. You also have to be able to deal with the extreme ups and downs of your stress level - when you are handling a call or having a busy shift, you are in combat mode (adrenaline pumping) the entire time. Then you go home and have a crash, then have to jack yourself up for the next shift...even worse, a super quiet shift, and suddenly getting a hot call after hours of sitting in your car with drool running down your uniform you're so bored. Some people can deal with and even thrive on these ups and downs - I can handle one end or the other (generally up, generally down, or generally in the middle) but I could not deal with the extreme back and forth like that in such short periods of time...in fact, after I left I found out I had actually developed adrenal exhaustion.

Now, my spin is probably more negative than some other people's might be, but I've yet to meet a cop who couldn't wait to retire....after a few years, they are all working towards that retirement, and that seems to be the only reason they stick with it.

Just to add - I was very good at the job - extremely good in fact. My coworkers loved me, my superiors loved me, and I had a few DA's who were very happy with me as well...no one was happy when I left, and a few were downright pissed that I left...unfortunately, my coworkers were such a small part of my job, they didn't make up for all the "bad" at least for me.

So, if you're a "type A" and love getting confrontational with people for the sake of confrontation, you may very well love the job...if you're going into it for the challenge, interest, and to help out the greater good, your like for the job will die very quickly.