The process of defining a satisfying and fulfilling career begins with self-assessment. Create a personal profile from the exercises below and reflect on your professional goals and dreams. Then, see a counselor to discuss the next steps of your career plan.
The goal is to identify the core components from the following areas that you need as part of your next step, which you can then develop into an “Elevator Speech”, and use as a filter to evaluate your options.
- Skills:
- General Skills Checklist
- Claiming Your Skill Sets
- Connecting Skill Categories and Skill Sets to Career Fields and Functions
- Interests
- Values
- Personality traits
It can also be helpful to distinguish between occupations or job titles, and career fields or industries. An occupation or job title is the actual job one holds, defined by the tasks performed on a regular basis. A career field or industry is defined by the overall setting and its area of subject knowledge or application. Similar occupations exist across a broad range of career fields. Knowledge of skills helps define the occupation. Interests, values and personality traits help define the career field or industry.
View our Online Self-Assessment Workshop
Additional Resources Offered by CWS
- Focus - Web-based self-assessment and career planning system
- CWS Recommended Resources
- Spotlight on Careers