Genetic testing has been around for a while, but DNA-based skill assessment doesn't get enough attention when it comes to career planning. This blog dives into the world of DNA-based skill discovery and why it will help you build a purpose-fueled career. 

What you will learn -

• • What is meant by Genetic Counselling
  • The 5 reasons why genetic counselling will help you tap into your career potential 
    1. Discover hidden talents and inherited gifts
    2. Fuel self-discovery by decoding your DNA
    3. Gain science-based understanding of your career possibilities and potential
    4. Create a conducive environment for sustained professional growth
    5. Evaluate your options and get real about your career choices

Planning for a successful and rewarding career can be an insightful yet challenging process in one’s journey. It begins during high school when you have to decide your areas of specialization that can possibly lead you to a career that is both stimulating as well as financially viable. This is just the beginning of your professional journey, and for most people, this phase is riddled with doubts, uncertainties, and confusion in the absence of a robust support system. 

Success, however, is defined by personal goals that you set for yourself to achieve your highest potential in life. For some people, success may look like an enviable bank account, while others may seek a sense of balance and autonomy when it comes to work. There are also other elements such as market conditions, technological shifts, and cultural advancements that may usher in unexpected changes to the labor economy and job markets. 

In recent years, there has been a rise in career counselling and skilling platforms, but only a fraction of young people seek these career-building resources to guide their professional and academic decisions. Career counselling also requires a solid understanding and context of the individual's inherent talents, strengths, and skills to guide them to choose a career path that aligns with their natural dispositions. 

This is where genetic testing for career selection can help individuals carve a path that is uniquely suited to their inherent talents and genetic gifts. Genetic testing offers a new understanding of career counselling through the lens of genetic makeup. An exciting area of work, genetic counselling goes above and beyond medical histories and offers limitless possibilities for professional and personal growth. 

What is Genetic Counselling? 

Genetic career counselling works with an individual's DNA sample to decode their inherent talents, physiological and psychological predispositions, natural gifts and talents, personality traits, educational and cognitive capabilities, and a lot more. The insights derived from in-depth genetic testing can be life-altering and can truly allow individuals to find clarity on how to choose the right career, given the expanse of possibilities and applications. Genetic counselling leverages career-specific insights drawn from DNA-based career tests and creates a guidance mechanism for career and professional success.  

Genetic counsellors are trained in the applications of genetic testing and skill discovery and can help individuals find their suitable career paths. This is not just for young students trying to choose their high school major. Any individual who is eager to create a fulfilling career or move to the next level in their professional journey can seek genetic testing and greatly benefit from it. 

Here are some of the ways genetic testing can elevate your career growth and help you make the best of your professional journey -

#1 Tap into unrealised strengths and talents

Most people go through life moving from one milestone to another. High school, college, post-graduation, failed startup, corporate job, freelancing; the journey looks different for everyone, but what makes the difference is how one chooses their next step and grows through the entire process. 

Genetic testing can offer individuals an opportunity to discover their inherent talents and natural gifts that are not yet explored. For people who have some awareness of their talents, genetic testing can help them gain confidence and pursue a path that nurtures their talent. Genetic counsellors can also help you explore different options and pathways to hone and develop your skills and talents in a more structured and goal-driven manner. 

DNA-based skill tests reveal a range of inherited strengths, including - 

• • Special talents such as sporting, elite performance, or athletic talent. Genetic testing can estimate your genetically determined aerobic capacity, muscle strength, endurance, flexibility, and other physiological capabilities that ascertain sports performance.
  • Music capabilities - Musical talent is 50 per cent heritable, including perfect pitch (the ability to discern and sing musical notes without a reference note) 
  • Cognitive and academic performance capabilities such as educational attainment, learning from errors, spatial reasoning, working memory, reading, mathematics, logical reasoning, and verbal abilities.

#2 Embark on a self-discovery journey 

Self-discovery is the long-term process of learning about your innermost thoughts, beliefs, emotions, patterns, coping mechanisms, personality traits, and understanding what makes you YOU. For most people, self-discovery is a happy accident triggered by life’s circumstances or when they are exposed to resources that enable and encourage them to go within. 

Genetic testing is ingrained in the concept of self-analysis and learning, in that it opens new windows of possibilities to discover parts of yourself that you didn’t know existed or that were previously hidden and difficult to define. DNA-based personality tests reveal in-depth information about your personality and behaviours, intellectual and emotional capacities, and help you name the characteristics that distinctly define you. 

You can get into the depths of your personality and dispositions by taking a genetic test and seeking genetic counselling from a certified expert. With almost all human personality traits having a significant genetic component, genetic testing can help individuals profoundly understand the workings of their minds. 

Some of the ways genetic testing can help you discover your SELF are -

• • Genetic testing can help you understand the major aspects of your personality, which can be aptly defined by the Big 5 Personality Model or OCEAN profile (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) 
  • Genetic testing can help you further dive into the sub traits that constitute these big 5 traits, some of them including perseverance, extraversion, sociability, flexibility, kindness, altruism, self-discipline, anxiousness, and many more.
  • It can even reveal information like your natural disposition for happiness, general intelligence, creativity, life satisfaction, and more. 

#3 Get real about your career and professional potential

It is true that genetics has a significant impact on your career choices, educational attainment, and cognitive abilities - factors that directly influence your performance in a chosen profession. If you are at a crossroads with your career, seeking genetic testing can help you deconstruct the fundamentals of your professional potential and realign your career aspirations with your natural affinities and interests. 

Genetic testing can help you objectively measure your potential by delineating a range of career-driving factors, including - 

• • Whether you seek autonomy in your work, a factor that drives entrepreneurial behaviour.
  • Risk-taking capacity and extraversion, both of which are associated with entrepreneurship.
  • Genetic testing can offer insights into your interest in different disciplines, such as pure sciences, mathematics, law enforcement, merchandising, sales, finance, and adventure/agrarian work.
  • One can also find out if they are genetically inclined towards success and educational attainment to further help them navigate their options (70 percent of a child’s success in school is attributable to genetics).
  • You can also find out your genetic proclivity towards work and job satisfaction. After all, 30 percent of the difference in overall job satisfaction between people is because of their genetics.

#4 Find the right environment to nurture inborn talents

While genetics helps individuals delve deep into their inherent talents, traits and strengths, it is important to expose yourself to the right environment and growth ecosystem to thrive in your career. After all, we cannot ignore or deny the gene-environment interaction that continuously informs our genetic makeup, and activates specific genes depending on the external environment or your lived experiences.

Genetic testing can tremendously help individuals seek and build the right environment for professional and personal growth by taking into account your genetics. Once the genetic testing reveals important information about your potential, the next step is to assess the pre-existing elements in your environment that are either helping or hindering your professional development. Genetic career counselling can guide you through this process and help you acquaint yourself with resources and opportunities that enhance your professional performance and overall happiness. 

#5 Navigate your options and choose the next step to elevate your career path

Genetic counsellors are equipped with an understanding of DNA and its applications in the professional growth of an individual. They also keep abreast with the advancements and new developments happening in career counselling and work regimes. This is where you can truly streamline your career decision-making. By seeking genetic testing, individuals can integrate their genetic gifts into their professional life, and inadvertently enhance their quality of life, both at work and otherwise. 

Genetic testing can guide you into making more aligned decisions about what comes next in your unique career path and move forward with a sense of confidence and purpose. Because it is rooted in evaluating genetic information, there is a sense of certainty that allows individuals to feel more at ease with their decisions, while also allowing them to see for themselves if it feels right. 

Accelerate your professional growth with Genleap

As the world’s first DNA-based patented* skill discovery, upskilling, and employability platform, Genleap brings to you a potent self-discovery and career tool that helps you unlock your inherited strengths and talents. Genleap works with a unique triangulation of three sciences - Genomics, Astromancy, and Psychometrics, to help individuals decode their SELF through an integrated lens while giving them the opportunity to fast-track professional growth. 

Genleap’s proprietary assessments and flagship product - GenDiscover take individuals on a life-altering self-discovery journey that empowers them with choice, confidence, and a sea of opportunities for unmatched success. Genleap offers a list of the top 99 career choices that can help you clearly see what is most suitable for you according to your genetic makeup and vice versa.