Amidst the expanding career choices and opportunities available today, a lot of the decision-making comes down to aligning one’s purpose and interests with viable career options. Genetic testing for career selection is a new-age tool for evaluating your career possibilities and creating new avenues for a fulfilling professional life. This blog discusses the applications of DNA-based skill discovery that can help you choose the right career path for focused growth.
What you will learn -
Career options can be difficult to navigate with the ever-expanding sea of opportunities that we have access to today. This is especially true for young students and working professionals who are still trying to find their place in the evolving job market. The changing socio-economic contexts and novel global challenges often foster doubts about academic and career choices, especially with the digitization of virtually everything and the technological transformation affecting practically every job.
In light of this, more people are turning towards skill and career aptitude tests to help them gain an objective understanding of their skills, inherent talents, and passions. One of the pivotal factors that determine our career and academic selection is our genes. In fact, our genetics impacts our interests in a diverse range of career choices, including sales and marketing, finance, creative professions such as music and art, sciences, and mathematics, among others.
DNA-based career aptitude assessments allow individuals to take a peek into their SELF, by decoding their inherited traits and strengths and discovering capabilities that allow them to achieve new milestones in their lives.
Our genetic makeup largely determines our core personality traits, cognitive and educational abilities, success, physiological, mental, and emotional predispositions, and even factors governing our work life. Several studies affirm this:
In addition to these findings, numerous twin studies and expansive research on genetic influence have established that genes impact almost every major pillar of human life, including emotional dispositions, mental and physiological strengths, risks, career options and academic inclinations, and behaviours.
Even though our genes carry important information that guides our actions and decisions in life, it is important to note that genes are only expressed in certain environments. Our genes are activated or 'turned on’ in an ideal set of external circumstances, including our physical environment like air and water quality, family and upbringing, social and economic status, and access to opportunities. The scientific study of epigenetics delves into the gene-environment interactions or the factors 'on top' of one's genetic makeup that determine gene expression through the course of their life.
In other words, genetics alone does not and can not precisely predict outcomes in an individual's life; their environment and lived experiences can change their gene expression and activate only specific genes while others remain dormant. This finding is powerful, in that it offers us an opportunity to look at genetics differently - not as a standalone factor that influences our lives, but as one that works in conjunction with the changing environment. This also implies that if one is aware of their genetic predispositions, they can leverage this knowledge to create ideal environments for enhanced personal and professional growth.
It can thus be tremendously helpful for parents to use this information about their children and help them nurture their talents and potential through concerted efforts.
While it is no surprise that genetics impacts our physiology, personality, mental and emotional states, it is fascinating to comprehend its influence on our academic and career choices. Genetic makeup can predispose individuals to certain academic and professional disciplines. Disciplines such as Mathematics, Music, Pure Sciences, Finance, Sales, Entrepreneurship, and Management have been observed to have genetic heritability.
In fact, 60 percent of the difference between people in occupational status is genetic. In other words, one's inclination to choose a high status vs low stakes job is largely determined by their genetic makeup. Our predisposition for liking sales is influenced 19 percent by genetics. Over 36 percent of the difference in whether one likes Finance, investment, and numbers is attributed to genetics. For merchandising, genetics accounted for 29 percent of the difference in people’s interest.
Interestingly, musical aptitude is highly heritable, when viewed through the lens of perfect pitch. So is sporting talent, given genetic factors determine 30 to 80 percent of the differences among people in traits associated with athletic performance. One cannot undermine the role of the environment in the development of talent, however, it is clear that genetic makeup can be the differentiating factor between great performers and those who are ‘gifted’ in their specific areas of practice.
In light of this, genetic testing for careers can prove helpful for individuals, especially those who are seeking a change in career path or are exploring their options. DNA-based skill assessments can be a boon for many, offering them the chance to decode their genetics and discover their inherited skills and talents. They can also be helpful for employers and businesses to find the right candidates for jobs that require a certain level of expertise or skillset.
Genetics also influences our work life, level of success in our careers/education, and development of talent throughout the course of our lives. Factors such as job satisfaction, job choice, work values, learning abilities and performance, and preference for autonomy at work, are all genetically influenced. In fact, achievement in school is mostly determined by genetics – with up to 70 percent of a child’s success determined by their genetic makeup while the remaining 30 percent is due to environmental factors.
A large amount of data and studies have proven that while there may not be a specific ‘career gene’ that determinedly affects our career choices, our genetic code has an indispensable role to play in our academic, career, and work decisions. This makes DNA-based skill assessments a powerful gateway to discovering one’s inherent talents, talents, and creative, emotional, and cognitive inclinations. A meticulous genetic skill analysis can unlock key insights into an individual’s vocational and academic interests, personality, aptitudes, career potential, and special gifts such as music and athletic acumen.
Genetic skill assessments are not simply limited to vocational or worldly interests. They can also help one dive deep into their inner realm by understanding their genetic inclinations to certain emotional states, behaviours, belief systems, moods, attitudes, and personality traits.
A thorough DNA-based skill assessment will help parents, students, and working professionals to objectively analyse their current level of skills, their unmet potential, and their innate drives, uncovering which can help them reach new heights in their personal and professional lives.
Moreover, for parents of young children, genetic skill assessments can help them know their child better while allowing them to create ideal environments and conditions for talent development. Genetic skill assessment can help them identify areas of strengths and weaknesses, and explore possibilities to hone their natural gifts. While one can go without genetic skill assessments and still have a potentially fulfilling career, these assessments can act as a catalyst for exponential growth in career paths. They can also help individuals initiate their self-discovery journey with confidence, helping them clearly gauge their shortcomings, strengths, and untapped potential.
Genleap is the world’s first DNA-based skill discovery platform that helps individuals discover their natural gifts and talents, and offers them the right environment to grow and achieve their highest potential. Genleap integrates the knowledge from three sciences - Genomics, Astromancy, and Psychometrics, to empower individuals with a rounded view of their SELF by decoding their past, present, and future.
With the objective of kickstarting and facilitating self-discovery for individuals, Genleap offers a detailed analysis of their personality traits, inclinations towards different career options and academic disciplines, skills, and strengths. Genomics offers the genetically encoded blueprint of your life, providing individuals a peek into their past. Psychometrics offers an objective measure of their current state of mind and emotions through the widely accepted Big 5 Personality test (the big 5 Ocean traits - Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism). Astromancy offers potential outcomes for the future based on an individual’s natal chart.
The self-discovery report is complemented with a list of the top 99 professions for the participants. Genleap has partnered with certified experts, career counsellors, educational institutions, ed-tech platforms, and upskilling partners, to expose individuals to a rich ecosystem of resources that help them realise their best version.