Job Search and “The Perfectionist”

"The Perfectionist" social style is number "one" of the nine Enneagram styles. The Perfectionist, which I will call "ones", get their energy by doing things right. Ones can be very critical. Ones have a hard time accepting errors and imperfections; they nit-pick details. They have an orientation towards correction. Others working with ones sense judgment and criticism.

Ones are not aware of their underlying aggression. Ones can have an irrational striving for order and "doing it right" at the expense of all else. Ones can have a lot of anger.

At their Best, Ones are ethical, reliable and productive. Healthy Ones are wise, fair and honest. Orderly and self-disciplined ones often delegate projects to others that they trust to “do it right”.

When Ones are unemployed they can have a lot of anxiety. They can get stuck in the past and not move ahead with a professional job search. Instead they spend an inordinate amount of time mentally rehashing past mistakes. After all, how could they be out of work when they were so conscientious and dedicated?

When I am dealing with a One, I get them focused on the future. I do some exercises like the 15 year or 40 year vision. We do some exercises to help them identify their “ideal job”. When I take them into the past it is to remember the accomplishments that they are most proud of. The Seven Stories Exercise™ helps them to identify the skills that motivate them. Since Ones are so focused on doing things right, everything right, they often can’t identify what they are best at.

The biggest issue, by far, is that Ones are not ready to do the search, because things are not “right”. If they wait until their search plan is complete and their resume is perfect, they will spend all of their time behind the computer working and not networking.

I have to get Ones to accept the fact that the job search process is an imperfect process. It is not predictable, in the sense, that you can identify a job opening, send in the perfect resume, have the perfect interview and land the ideal job. To their utter surprise, they meet someone at an association meeting, who takes a liking to them; they interview and land the job in spite of an imperfect resume and imperfect career plan.

Ones perform at their best when they understand why their way of doing things brings them success. Adding a small amount of flexibility into the mix, however, can result in even greater success and more satisfaction.