Personality profiling uses validated assessments to show how a job candidate is likely to behave, perform and fit a role. Michael Spremulli has done it for companies for over 20 years, and he is also a professional astrologer. He tells Jeremy Van Wert why he never mixes the two, how skills, motivation and mental horsepower predict fit, and what evidence-based astrology means to him.
ᛉKey takeaways
- Michael says personality profiling looks at skills, motivators and values, and cognitive ability, and that all three must line up for someone to succeed and stay in a role.
- He works only with employers and never meets the candidates, which he says keeps his reading of the data as unbiased as possible.
- Michael does not use astrology for hiring, because he says there is no data to support it for employee selection and you would need an accurate birth time.
- He describes vibrational astrology as a method built on research and data, and says it is a theory, not a proven fact.
- Michael frames astrology as a study of timing and cycles, and says the patterns in a chart show what can happen, not what must happen.
ᛃ Moments in this one
ᚠPersonality profiling and astrology: one expert, two worlds
Jeremy reads Michael's bio aloud: a corporate personality profiler with more than 20 years of experience, a portfolio of over 50,000 profiled candidates, and a professional astrologer with over 30 years in the field. Michael says he has a foot in both worlds. For years he kept the astrology from his corporate clients for fear of judgment.
He has been interested in astrology since 1994. What drew him in was vibrational astrology, which he describes as evidence-based, meaning data and science back it up. As a data-science person by training, he says that is what made it click for him.
In his view, interpreting a chart and interpreting a personality assessment are the same kind of work with a different tool. He also says that modern assessments, from Myers-Briggs to the Enneagram, trace their roots back to some form of astrology.
ᚢFrom therapist to corporate personality profiler
Michael did not set out to be a profiler or an astrologer. He earned a graduate degree in psychology and worked in various clinical settings, including hospitals and a little private practice. Nine weeks into one client's treatment, he says, the client was repeating the same story, and Michael audibly yawned. The client noticed, and Michael decided it was time to retool.
He says he learned that being a therapist took more patience than he had, and he does not intend to knock the profession. Looking back, he asked himself what he enjoyed and what he was good at. The answer was the intellectual and personality assessment courses, where he had a knack for recognizing patterns in the data.
ᚦThe wrong career: skills, motivation and mental horsepower
Jeremy points out that many people decide on a career early, spend five to ten years in it, and then feel unsure it suits them. Michael recalls an older figure that 77 percent of Americans were dissatisfied with their jobs, which he finds staggering given how much of adult life is spent at work.
His view is that skills, values and motivators, and cognitive ability must all line up. Skill alone does not keep someone in a role for the long haul, and motivation alone does not get a candidate there. He argues that the advice "you can be anything you want" should add that your skills and abilities have to be intact for it. If you suspect you are in the wrong career, Jeremy offers ADHD coaching for high achievers and individual therapy.
ᚨHow personality profiling helps employers hire
Michael works on the employer side, not as a career coach or recruiter. A bank might send him three finalists for a lending role. The candidates complete assessments, and Michael then reviews the data with the hiring managers and ranks the candidates from best to least fit.
He never interviews anyone, and almost all contact is by email. With no face, name, story or resume, he says, he can minimize bias, and his reading is compared with validated data sets. His north star is a question: if the job could speak, what would it say it needs? Some traits are neither good nor bad, he says, only right or wrong for a given role.
The employer makes the final decision. Michael says that most of the time they listen, and that he is just the data guy.
ᚱWhy Michael keeps astrology out of hiring
Michael says he does not blend astrology into assessments. He can't use it to select employees, he explains, because there is no data to support it for hiring, and because you would need an accurate birth time from a birth certificate, which you would not get from a candidate. Corporate clients get assessments only, and astrology clients are a separate group.
He sees the two as using the same skill: interpreting data and telling the story in plain language. In his astrology work he avoids heavy jargon, and he says he explains the dynamic behind each placement so clients can act on it.
ᚲWhat evidence-based astrology really means
Michael says astrology is about timing and cycles. People often ask him when something will change, and he compares the planets moving in the sky, called transits, against the planets in someone's birth chart. He also notes that there are over 80 systems of astrology, and describes vibrational astrology as the only one built from an evidence-based approach.
He explains that an evidence-based practice must meet two tests: the data supports the theory, and it works with real clients. If either fails, the idea is thrown out. He compares this to medicine and genetics research, and describes checking patterns across a database of over 90,000 charts of well-known people. He calls it a theory, not proof.
Most astrology, in his words, is hand-me-down astrology that gets repeated because that is how people were taught. He says sun-sign horoscopes are the junk food of astrology, and that astrology lost credibility partly because it fell out of favor with major religions and academia. In his view, computing power has since revived research.
ᚷThe ten planets and a live chart reading
Michael explains that each of the ten planets regulates one energy process, like notes in music: the sun focuses us in the here and now, the moon carries past emotions and habits, Mercury handles thought and communication, and Venus our attraction to beauty. Mars is action, Jupiter expansion, Saturn takes out what is not needed, and Pluto adds intensity.
He then reads Jeremy's chart, noting he is not doing a real session. He describes patterns he links to being a disruptor, to thinking big and to wanting to make things more beautiful. Jeremy says he spent most of his career in constrained environments and was a CEO before becoming an entrepreneur. You can read more on Jeremy's background as a therapist, MBA and former CEO.
Michael is careful to say these patterns show what can happen, not what has to, and that people keep free will. He also says that if you choose a path where the energy does not flow easily, it can be done but will be harder. Astrology is presented here as his personal framework, not scientific or professional advice.
ᚹWhere to find Michael Spremulli
Michael runs Blue Ridge Astrology, named for the Blue Ridge Mountains where he lives. He offers consultations and occasional classes, a free weekly astro alert, and daily forecasts on TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.
If this conversation has you thinking about fit, timing or your next move, you can talk it through with other curious people in the Mindful Mutiny community, which offers real conversation and live Fireside Chats.
Astrology is presented here as the guest's personal framework and is not scientific or professional advice.
ᚨ Questions people ask
What does a corporate personality profiler do?
Michael says he works for employers, not candidates. Applicants complete assessments, and he interprets the data with hiring managers to rank how well each candidate fits the role. He does not interview them.
Does Michael use astrology to hire people?
No. He says he does not blend astrology with assessments, because there is no data to support it for employee selection and a candidate's accurate birth time is not available. Corporate work uses assessments only.
What is vibrational astrology?
Michael describes it as an energy-based approach in which each planet regulates one energy process, rather than relying on archetypes. He says it is built on research and data, and he calls it a theory, not a proven fact.
What does evidence-based astrology mean?
Michael says an evidence-based practice must meet two criteria: the research supports the claim, and it works with clients. If either fails, the idea is discarded. This is his description of the method and not a scientific endorsement.
Why do so many people end up in the wrong career?
Michael says people often choose early, then find the work does not match their motivators or abilities. He argues that skills, values and cognitive ability all need to fit the role, which is why some jobs feel miserable even to hard workers.