Your Values

What are values? Values are what you really care about, not only in your personal life, but also in a work situation. Identifying and understanding your values can help you to:

• determine personal and career goals;


• make decisions about your career and personal life;


• select the type of position and working environment that best matches your own needs and preferences;


• understand the type of people you most like to be with;


• use your time and energy wisely to achieve the best result.

Here are some internet sites that can help you to explore your values.

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Your Interests

What do you like to do? Think about experiences you have enjoyed - school, social, religious, sports, hobbies and work activities.

Interests, your likes, and dislikes, are an important part of career choice, and are related to values and often to skills and abilities. Most people who enjoy their work have some personal interest in what they are doing.

There are a number of ways to sort through your interests.

Identify and write down on paper all the activities that you currently like to do as well as what new activities you would like to do in the future. Keep in mind here that this does not mean that you have to be skilled at these activities, although you might be.

Use informal and formal printed self-assessment tools that focus on "interests". A common tool used and found in many career resource centers is the Strong Interest Inventory which helps individuals identify occupations in which they may find success. Check out printed career resources and the career centers for other tools to help you identify and clarify your interests.

Look at the on-line interest links to help you to determine your interests.

Your Skills & Abilities

Being aware of your skills, abilities and accomplishments is key to succeeding in today's job market. Your skills, abilities and accomplishments need to be highlighted if you are to market yourself effectively when you are looking for work.

Skills can be defined as the ability to do something well. Identifying your skills is an important part of making a realistic career decision. Very often, we are not aware of the skills we possess because they are so much a part of us. We also tend to underestimate our skills. For example, some people assume that because they lack paid work experience they do not have any marketable skills. All our past experiences - volunteer work, leisure activities, community involvement - need to be examined when identifying our skills.

Below are different kinds of skills that you need to be aware of.

Job-Related Skills
Job-related skills are knowledge-specific and are usually developed through specific education/training programs and experience. Job-related skills:

• are required for a particular job


• usually require some training or experience


• are often used for "screening" applicants

It is important for you to identify which specific job-related skills you already have and which ones you need to learn. This is an area you will need to revisit when you are establishing your career action plan.

Your career may change several times during your lifetime. If you are entering the job market or returning after an absence, you may need to take an entry level job. However, you can progress towards your long-term career goal by upgrading your skills through education and training. The skills, positive work habits and attitudes developed in entry level jobs, volunteer work and hobbies help you gain the competencies needed to take you one step closer to your "career goals". Examples of job-related skills include clerical skills, drafting, interior design, psychological testing, and welding.

Personal Management Skills and Personal Qualities
These skills and qualities are recognized as becoming increasingly important. The Conference Board of Canada has identified personal management skills as one of the key employability skills for finding, doing and keeping work.

Depending on your source, personal qualities and personal management skills may be grouped together or listed separately. Here they are grouped together.

These qualities and skills:

• describe your personality;
• may include words like honest, trustworthy, hard worker etc;
• allow you to adapt to new situations;
• may include words like positive attitude, open to new ideas, self-confident, well organized etc;
are transferable to new situations;

To help you assess your qualities or skills, link to the Skills Self-Assessment Sites.

Transferable Skills
Transferable skills are learned and developed through our life experiences through schooling, volunteer work, paid employment, and leisure activities. These skills can be used in and "transferred" to a variety of situations, such as work, family, or social settings.

Transferable skills:

• can be used in a variety of jobs;
• are often called "universal" skills;
• can transfer from one job to another;
• may include skill areas such as communication, leadership, management, etc.

To help you assess your transferable skills, link to the Skills Self-Assessment Sites.

Your Personal Style
Every individual is unique. Learning more about your personal style can help you understand where your special strengths are, and what kind of work you may enjoy.

Remember no single test or inventory can tell you how to run your life!! They are just one component of an overall career / life assessment.

There are a number of resources available on the Internet to further explore aspects of your personal style. Some are free, others are not. Here are a few personal style links we found.