SELF - ASSESSMENTHOW CAN YOU BEST CONTRIBUTE? WHAT ROLE WILL YOU HAVE IN THIS PLAY?
Self-assessment is not about some touchy-feely exercise you did at summer camp a zillion years ago. It's about taking a good, hard look at your skills, interests and values and then drawing some conclusions about how and where you'd like to spend 40+ hours of your time each week.
Self-assessment can be broken down into four categories of exploration:
1. Know your skills: Students are often surprised to learn that they have developed a number of valuable skills beyond analytical thinking and writing. Alumni are often surprised to learn that the skills they have developed in one career field are valuable in other unrelated fields.
2. Know your interests: When you're browsing in a bookstore, what sections grab your attention? The Arts? Finance? The Mass Media your job. Social or political issues? Psychology? Don't ignore your choices -- they are the ones that are likely to keep you interested in your job.
3. What do you value? We all need to make money, but what keeps you motivated to work hard? Making a contribution to your community? Providing leadership? Learning new skills and constantly adding to your knowledge base? There are no "right" answers here, just preferences.
4. People and Environment: What motivates you? Do you prefer to work alone or to collaborate with others? Would you like to work for a small organization or a larger one? In the country, the suburbs or the city? Do you thrive when you receive regular feedback from your boss, or are you self-motivated? Again, there are no right or wrong answers -- just your own personal preferences and inclinations.
Assessment Instruments
The Office of Career Development has standardized assessment instruments available to help students identify career-related interests, abilities, values and other personality characteristics that might affect career decision-making. Available assessment instruments include the Strong Interest Inventory and the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator. All assessments are interpreted by a trained professional. It is our philosophy that assessment tests are only one tool for helping students identify majors and careers and should be used with additional assessment activities and discussion. We require students who take an assessment through the Office of Career Development to work with a career counselor before and after the assessment. These meetings keep misinterpretations to a minimum, assist the student in getting the most from the assessment and provide direction for making decisions.