A Career Self Assessment Tool To Help You Explore Career Possibilities

Creating a Spectrum of Career Possibilities

This career self assessment exercise was developed by Career Coach, Marianne Craig and is a great way of working out how you can bring the career themes you have identified into your life.

What to do
Take a sheet of paper and hold it horizontally. Write one of your top career ideas as a heading. Draw a horizontal line across the middle of the page and mark it off evenly with 10 points.

Step One.

Starting at the right hand side and ask yourself…

‘If I were to bring this theme to life in my life and work in the fullest way possible, what would I be doing?’

If your theme was ‘dance’ your answer might be something like ‘work as a professional dancer, dance teacher or choreographer’. Or it could be ‘direct major dance productions at a London theatre’. Let yourself think big!

Step Two.

Then at the left hand end of your line write the answer to…

‘If I were to be or do the smallest thing related to this theme that would be meaningful to me, what would it be?’

So using the dance example, you might write ‘attend a dance class every week’ or ‘regularly go to dance and music events at our local theatre’.

Step Three.

Once you have got both ends in place, the career self assessment is completed by filling in the steps in between, gradually making a bigger and bigger commitment to your theme.

Step Four.

Then explore each one, asking yourself…

‘If this became a reality for me, how would I feel?’

Also check how well the themes match with the Career Identity you have already built up for yourself.

Repeat this exercise with the other top career themes you identified from your Career Ideas Log.

You should be able to narrow down to two or three career ideas which really excite you. They will lie somewhere on the spectrum where you feel you would be stretched but not overwhelmed.

Your Career Vision

As a final step in this self assessment, take some time to write out or draw a vision of what your life will be like if you make this career possibility a reality. Make the picture as detailed as you can.

- What will you be doing?

- Who will be with you?

- What are you feeling about it?

When you have created the career vision, make a final check. Ask yourself…

‘Will achieving this vision be worth the time and effort required?’

Moving On

If you said ‘yes’ to the last question, and you have got a strong vision that really excites you, you are ready to move on to research these ideas in a lot more detail. You know that these career ideas take account of what matters to you personally and so there will be an energy and commitment behind them.

This career self assessment exercise will lead you to two or three ideas which really inspire you and which you know are aligned with your personal Career Identity.