Career transition can be a challenging time. One of the most important aspects of career transition is to be clear about who you are, what you want to do next and where your skills and interests lie.
Being clear about your strengths and values ensures that the next steps you take will be the right ones and you will not compromise yourself with taking a role that does not match your aspirations and meet your expectations.
Understanding what motivates you and is meaningful at work will ensure that you are effective and satisfied following the career transition, especially if the job responsibilities and company culture align with your preferences.
There are many facets to personal assessment for your next career transition or move which range from culture, values, motivation as well as work values, skills and personality traits. You will need to identify
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Which work values are important for you
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What your greatest strengths are
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Which personality traits you need to consideration
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Where your competencies lie
Career coaches use a range of assessment tools including self-report documents for personal appraisal and to help you gain a greater understanding of their life and career values, career interests, skills and competencies and personality traits.
Values are the motivators that make you get up in the morning and head off to work. They can be related to remuneration, independence, managerial styles, benefits, security etc. The values should be those which resonate with the greatest importance to you and ones that you would miss if you did not have in your next role.
You discover your career interests in a different ways, using an on line profiler, using a paper based exercises or doing a card sort. The idea is to find out which areas of interest you would like to work in and which actual job families and roles would suit you best. You will have far more job satisfaction if you work in an environment that suits your work interests.
Skills and competencies include your basic skills to complex skills and include those that are transferable from job to job along with those that are specific to technical roles. There are generic skills which include communication, time management, etc and more complex skills which involve knowledge and experience and are learnt. Using a combination of these skills together with your interests and values, you can discover what occupations would suit you best.
Finally, there is your personality. Everyone is unique and it is important to remember that most people can do almost anything; however, some people are happier and better at doing things than others even if they have the same background, knowledge, skills and abilities. Personality traits can be telling and make a significant difference to your performance in a role. There maybe times when patience is required and someone with a decisive nature may be unsuited to a role where decisions take time to come to fruition. This would lead to frustration, disenchantment and even boredom and would not be conducive to a productive and happy work-life.
Lynn is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, a member of the CDI and qualified to administer level A & B psychometric tools to support career transition when appropriate. She is a competent career practitioner and holds a PgDip in Adult Guidance and Assessment. She is also the author of two recently published books, Get That Job and Can’t Get That Job. Contact Lynn for a discussion on how to work through your career transition.