Elsewhere in this Applications section, we have seen a number of ways in which DISC can be used to help in business-oriented matters, mostly relating in some way to either the recruitment or assessment of staff. Outside this corporate arena, however, DISC also has possibilities in terms of personal development. The clearest example of this is in helping with an individual's career development. In this section we will look briefly at the ways in which the DISC technique can help a person decide on a career path. Before continuing, it is important to note that there are a multitude of factors that must affect the decisions a person takes about their career. DISC alone cannot provide a definitive conclusion, but it is able to provide guidance in deciding whether a particular career path is suited to an individual or not. We should also point out that DISC results tend to be less reliable for young people under the age of twenty or so, because before this age the personal style tends to be in something of a state of flux. The precise age at which the behavioural type reaches a stable form will vary from individual to individual, of course. In its simplest terms, using DISC for career development is a very similar process to that seen in recruitment or assessment scenarios. A person's DISC profile series is compared against an ideal Job Profile for a particular career, and the closeness of the match between the two styles will give an indication of how well that individual's style is suited to the career area in question. While this is an appropriate method if a decision is being made between two or three possible career directions, it becomes inappropriate if a person has no clear idea of the type of career they might be interested in. This situation might apply, for example, to students leaving college or university. In this case, a library of Job Profiles is needed, representing a wide variety of different job styles in different career areas. Comparisons of this kind, incorporating hundreds of possible matches, are impractical for manual DISC systems, but functions to perform this kind of matching are sometimes provided by computerised DISC applications (as for example Discus). This can be a very effective means of raising new career ideas that a person might not have considered. Once a career decision has been made, DISC can also help in preparing application letters and curricula vitae or resumés. DISC profiles help to highlight the particular areas of strength within a person's behaviour, and these can be included in applications. Because so many organisations use DISC, it may even be plausible to include a full printed DISC report with a job application. |