Knowing Yourself: The Self-Assessment Process

Making good career decisions begins with knowing yourself. You must be brutally honest with yourself about your skills, interests, values, and personality. This section provides some simple tools to help in this evaluation as well as a list of resources that will assist you further. Here is an exercise to help you in this process: Take out four sheets of paper. Write "Skills" at the top of the first, "Interests" at the top of the second, "Values" at the top of the third, and "Personality" at the top of the fourth sheet. On those four sheets, answer the questions listed below.

Knowing Your Skills

• What can you do best?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What skills do you want to use on the job?
• What skills might you still need to acquire?

Knowing Your Interests

• What are you interested in doing?
• What tasks, jobs, academic courses, and other activities have you enjoyed the most?
• What kinds of people would you like to work with?
• What kinds of job settings would you enjoy?

Knowing Your Values

• What satisfaction do you seek from a career?
• In what ways must you be challenged and rewarded on the job?
• What types of work environments would you be happiest in?
• What do you value most? On the list below, circle the five things that matter most to you. Rank them on your paper 1 to 5, with 1 being most important. In the blank spaces, feel free to add anything not listed.

1. Beauty
2. Being loved
3. Civic duty
4. Commitment
5. Creativity
6. Excellence
7. Fame
8. Family
9. Freedom
10. Friendship
11. Happiness
12. Health
13. Helping others
14. Integrity
15. Learning
16. Love
17. Personal growth
18. Power
19. Recreation
20. Status
21. Success
22. Wealth
23. Wisdom/ intelligence
24. Work
25. Others: a.
26. Others: b.
27. Others: c.

Knowing Your Personality

• What personal qualities (e.g., patience, compassion, competitiveness) do you possess that will help on the job?
• What personal qualities (e.g., shyness, impatience, disorganized) do you possess that might cause problems on the job?
• How might your personal style influence your career choice?
• How might your personality affect how you get along with your supervisor and coworkers?