Identify Your Skills, Interests & Values

Your first and most important step is to reflect and learn more about yourself. Even if you know exactly what you want to do, it's helpful to write down your skills, interests and values. Areas of reflection to find a good fit include:

Skills—These are abilities and talents that you want to utilize in your work. There undoubtedly are additional skills that you're good at, but they are not what you want to do as a career or on the job.

Interests—Take note of not only what you like to do, but the type of environment you like to work in, people you want to work with, those you want to serve, etc.

Values—Having a career that is in line with your values is just as important as finding something you enjoy doing. Often people find that they love what they do, but are unhappy because the organization and/or environment they work in conflicts with their values.

The CDC offers two of the best known self–assessments for students, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Strong Interest Inventory. For a nominal fee, you can take one or both online. Afterwards, a confidential interpretation and discussion of the results with a career counselor is scheduled. Call our office today to schedule an appointment to see a career counselor and ask about self–assessments!

Myers–Briggs Type Indicator ($10 fee)—A paper–pencil inventory designed to assess your personality type and associated strengths and weaknesses. Careers that are particularly suited for each of the 16 types are emphasized.

Strong Interest Inventory ($15 fee)—A web–based questionnaire that compares your interests with the population in general and with people working in a large number of careers.

Also, check out our Self—Assessment Tip Sheet for more information about the MBTI and Strong, as well as Skills, Interest and Values worksheets so you can start working on your own.