Understanding what you would enjoy or dislike doing without some knowledge about who you really are is key and the foundation of your job search. Not doing this fundamental work can result in a job that is a poor fit and can leads to major dissatisfaction in your working life.
Look at some of these tools to help with the task of understanding yourself better, many of which can be found online.
- The first step is self-reflection. This process helps you learn more about yourself. Start by making a list – what you like; what you don’t like; what you are good at and your areas of weakness. Having a solid understanding of yourself is key in finding work that is best suited for you and will provide you with a better chance of success and satisfaction in the long run. A self-discovery and career planning tool to use is 16personalities.com, this online assessment helps you to determine personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses.
- The Kiersey Temperament Sorter kiersey.com is the most widely used personality instrument in the world. It is a powerful 70 question personality instrument that helps individuals discover their personality type, which is extremely useful in the job search process.
- The University of Waterloo has a Career Development Manual, https://careerhub.uwaterloo.ca/ which breaks the job search process into six sections and has step-by-step instructions on how to complete the exercises provided. The first step focuses on self-assessment and covers personality, interests, values, skills and more.
- Quintcareers Testing Room https://www.livecareer.com/resources/jobs/search/career-assessment requires you to sign up, although it is free and all you need is an email address. You can take the assessments online and an overview of the results will be generated for free. If you would like a more in-depth explanation of your results, there is a fee. You will also find links to other assessment tools as well as helpful information on how to use them and the limitations they may have.
- There are also many books that can help with self-exploration that can be ordered online. One recommended book is “What Color is Your Parachute” – A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers written by Richard Bolles.
Always remember assessments are not crystal balls. When doing any kind of self-assessment exercise remember it is merely a tool for you to explore and if you do not agree with the results don’t worry. You are the expert on yourself and these tools are merely guides in the introspective process. Job Skills offers many great tools to help with the task of understanding yourself better.
The upcoming Skills and Accomplishments workshop on Nov 23 can assist you in assessing what can move you towards a job you’ll love!
