Dear Jeremy,

As a Blue father, I really worry about my children taking their schooling seriously while preparing for a future career. That said, are there certain careers that are better fits than others for people with different personality “colors”. I have a Blue son, who is very my like me, a Blue daughter, and a Red daughter. Any insight that you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely, Dan

Dear Dan,

Thanks so much for your question. As a father myself, I certainly understand those types of concerns. We want the best for our children, and we want to be able to guide them and to make sure that they are given the best opportunities in life. I hope that my answer will be helpful to you.

As I begin, you’ll have to please forgive me, because I will need to be a little vague first, but then I will get more specific in terms of which colors are best suited for which types of careers.

So, the vague, short answer is that any of the Colors can do any job. That is really true. You don’t have to be a Red to be a CEO, for example. There are many Blue, White, and Yellow CEO’s in the world. Each Color will put a different spin on the same career and will simply do it a little differently than the next Color.

That said, however, there are different opportunities that each Color looks for in the types of careers that they pursue, and I think it is helpful to explain those dynamics so that you can help each of your children find something that fills the patterns that I am about to explain.

First off, I will begin with the Reds…

Reds typically look for careers that provide them with:

1. Leadership opportunities.
2. Opportunities for financial gain.
3. Things that challenge them/allow them to compete.

If they are to go into medicine, a Red might pursue a specialty such as brain surgery as opposed to opening a family practice for instance. If they were to pursue law, they might enjoy the challenge of the actual courtroom battle as opposed to something more paperwork-oriented, etc.

Now to the Blues…

Blues typically look for careers that provide them with:

1. The opportunity of working with people.
2. The opportunity of working with details/aesthetics.
3. Purpose and meaning.

A Blue might very much enjoy working as an M.D. working in a family practice where they can get to know people and take care of them over time. They could also be happy in the detail/people work involved in banking or accounting, or the aesthetics involved in architecture for instance.

As for Whites…

Whites typically look for careers that provide them with:

1. More of a technical and/or mechanical focus than perhaps a people-oriented focus (in some cases).
2. Opportunities for working independently.
3. Opportunities for using their logical minds.

To continue with the M.D. theme, I always tease Whites and tell them that they would make great anesthesiologists! 🙂

Seriously, though, they like independent work where they don’t feel like people are always looking over their shoulder. Think programming, also practicing law (but perhaps the type involving more written exchanges rather than heated courtroom battles), archeology, etc.

And finally, the Yellows…

Yellows look for careers that provide them with:

1. The opportunity to use their social skills.
2. Lots of variety with higher emphasis on using their creativity.
3. Short term, high-energy projects (as opposed to long term, slow-moving projects).

As a medical doctor, I would think of a Patch Adams type. Someone who is competent, yet personable and playful. Remember, any Color can do any job. Yellows are also good in “compliance” professions (think sales, marketing, advertising, etc.), and almost anything that allows them to lead with their social skills.

With your children, I would ask them what careers they are thinking about, and then have a fair discussion about what those types of professionals do on a day-to-day basis, and whether those daily duties play to that child’s strengths.

It might also be helpful to have them interview people in those roles and ask them whether their job affords them the opportunity to be competitive, or purposeful, or independent, or social, etc. After doing so, I believe that they will either be more – or (perhaps) less – excited about that particular career.

Thanks again for asking such a great question, Dan. I really hope my explanation is helpful to you.

Very best of living,

Jeremy

Jeremy Daniel (Core Color: Yellow) has been working with the Color Code since 1998 in various capacities from training in the field personally with Dr. Taylor Hartman to designing customized corporate solutions and new training programs for various industries.  To ask about Jeremy’s training or speaking services, please email and inquiry to jeremy@colorcodetraining.com.