subject: Anatomy of a Self Assessment [print this page] Anatomy of a Self Assessment Anatomy of a Self Assessment
Introduction
Self Assessment is all about knowing yourself in order to make a well calculated decision regarding your future course of action with respect to career and/or professional growth. One of the biggest mistakes people make especially at the entry level is to hunt for opportunities aimlessly with no clear direction. This doesn't earn you anything than making you a job hopper, in a constant pursuit to job satisfaction.
In my opinion, there is nothing in the world that can magically tell you what career path you should take or what job will be beneficial for you. You are a better judge of what is better for you with respect to what you like, what you want, where do you want to be and what can take you to where you want to be. Therefore, the first step you need to take before starting your search for your dream job is to do some self assessment in order to measure yourself and to see where you stand.
Defining Self Assessment
It's a process, by which you gather information about your most important skills, interests, and personality traits and prioritizing these according to the level of importance.
Purpose of Self Assessment
The basic purpose of Self Assessment is to increase self awareness about your most important strengths and building upon these strengths to overcome your weakness. The process helps you highlight the areas which need improvement and what can be done to improve your weak areas. It increases your level of confidence in your decision making and helps you identify your key competitive advantage(s).
You need to be honest with yourself during self assessment otherwise it won't serve the purpose. The best time to start your self assessment is when you are pursuing your professional studies.
Following are some of the simple self assessment techniques that you can follow:
Your Vision:
Vision gives you a sense of direction, where you would want to be. So first thing first, create a vision, for example, I want to be the top HR consultant, I want to be the number physician in the country, I want to be a well developed professional in my field, etc. Without vision you won't be able to priorities your choices.
Identify Your Key Area of Interest:
In simple words, this will lead you to the achievement of your vision. Based on your likes and dislikes, you need to identify the area which interests you the most such as Marketing, Human Resources, Finance, Advertising, etc. But you should choose one primary area of interest because it will save you from midcareer confusion. It will in fact help you to keep clear and focused in career planning process.
Define Your Objectives:
You need to identify your long term and short term professional and personal objectives. These will turn, upon achieving these, into accomplishments of your career. It can decide the desired pace of your professional growth.
Identify Your Personality Traits:
You need to identify the elements that would motivate you, your attitude, and level of commitment, extraversion or introversion, etc.
Your Skills:
These are one of your competitive advantages and something which will set you apart in a crowded job market, for example, communication and interpersonal skills etc.
Conclusion
Self Assessment is an ongoing process and should be continue throughout your professional in particular. The objective is not to stand still but to keep improving. Your future shapes according to the results obtained from your self assessment so your future is always in your own hands.
