Job seekers are suddenly seeing red.
And yellow, greens, and blues, too, all thanks to a new tool called the Color Career Counselor, brought to you by the folks at CareerBuilder.com. This new technology, powered by the Dewey Color System, aims to match people to jobs based on their color preference by giving users the option of selecting color combos from 3,375 different combinations. The colors you select are supposedly an indicator of what kinds of jobs will lead you to success.
If you’re like me and you have a lot of time to waste after the kids have gone to bed, this tool could be used in tandem with the stack of self-help books on your nightstand that give you more meaningless answers to the questions you face during a job search, like, “who am I,” and “why am I here?”
For example, according to the Color Counselor, if you pick blue, green, or brown combos, you’re a “dream-maker” who supports people through periods of crisis. Translation: you’re not only lazy, but you also annoy the hell out of people.
If you choose red, orange, or black, you’re labeled “an evaluator” who constantly examines details and delivers strong opinions on the better way to do things. Translation: you’re a obstinate, overbearing neurotic who also annoys the hell out of people.
Your brain is the best indicator of whether or not you will succeed at your job, not your kids’ box of crayons. And if the Big Guy From Risk Management greets you at your cube one day with handcuffs and a taser, odds are you probably picked the wrong job, not the wrong shade of pink.
But if you’ve got a few minutes to spare at night before the Ambien kicks in, this colorful application might be worth checking out.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Hilarious! I’m not familiar with this CareerBuilder feature, but your post caught my eye and had me rolling. The use of high-grade sarcasm to chip away at the armor of the “Color Preference - Career Preference Correlation Theory” is well worthwhile, and in this case very entertaining.
Mark
August 20th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
This is based on the “Lucher Color Preference System” initiated in the late 60s as a personality indicator and it is also how I learned I was really color blind. So with poor color recognition I don’t have a personality and now I have an explanation.
Supposedly there is a lot of research behind the assessment however with customized monitor settings and ink saturation on printed materials “true colors” are hard to judge.