Self-Assessment: Identifying Personal Values, Goals, and Skills for Career Success, Lecture notes of History

Download Self-Assessment: Identifying Personal Values, Goals, and Skills for Career Success and more Lecture notes History in PDF only on Docsity! Chapter 1 Know Thyself! Self-Assessment To know yourself is, of course, the task of a lifetime, but it is also an essential first step in exploring alternative careers. Self-assessment includes asking yourself: what are my most important values, goals, interests, and skills, particularly as they relale to work-the career field, the job function, the environment and people, and the lifestyle implica- tions? This self-knowledge will not only help you !o focus your exploration and job search and to narlow options, but it will also substantially increase your chances of getting a job. Employers find it hard to resist candidates who convey an understanding of and conviction about the march between themselves and the job. And once you're in the job, you'll perform with better resuls and geater pleasure. This chapter focuses on the intemal dimension: Wln un I at this point in my life? andWlnt does that suggest about my clnice of work and careers? The next hro chapters will consider the external dimension: How do I discover wln is out tlrcre that matches me? Tlne premise here is thatpeopleare happiest when their work isav@ation, that is, when they are doing jobs or usks that give them a sen se of purpose and meaning, and which they would choose !o do even if they did not get paid. This work may be paid or unpaid and of high or low status; it may take many forms and may well change over the course of a life and career. You may need Ae r I Ouside the Iwry Town to make compromises along the way for legitimate reasons; rhe rick is to hold the goal firmly in sight while compromising. Because we spend so much time in gainful employment, we mightas well aim for paying jobs that fulfill us, realizing at the same time that fulfrlling work is generally a necessary but not sufficient condition for a fulfilling life. You may find the diagram below helpful for thinking about the process of self-assessment. Typically, in this process you try !o ascertain your values and goals, interests and passions, and skills and capacities (especially those you most enjoy using or would like o develop). You then consider how they affect your preferences about various aspects of work. These include: (1) the work environrrnnt, i.e., the physical characteristics of the workplace, organization size, culture, the people- both clients and colleagues (theircharacteristics and the types ofrelation- ships you have with them); (2) the conditions and lifestyle implications of the work, e.g., stability, income and benefits, prestige, time commit- ments, flexibility; (3) the tasks andfinctions you will perform and the associaled work style; and (4) the substantive content-the organiza- tional mission or product/service, the field, or profession. Note that your Know Tftyselfl skills primarily affect your choice of tasks; interests, primarily your choice of substantive area and the organization's purpose, product, or service; and values, your preferences regarding work environment and lifestyle implications, as well as organizational mission. Some of you may have a clear sense of your values, interests, and skillsandeven ofpurpose or vocation, butthose of you who"glided" from college !o graduate school may not have needed to pay them much attention. Now is the time to begin clarifying your talents, passions, motivations, goals, and values. It will help to talk to your friends, spend some time by yourself thinking, and even notice your daydreams and fantasies. Homer Hagedorn, a consultant with Arthur D. Little, Inc. whose Ph.D. is in history, recalls "with the wisdom of hindsight" the many clues he ignored as a graduate student that academia was not for him: the "torture" of graduate school, the choice of a dissertation topic on management consulting, the visceral negative reaction he had to the atmosphere at the annual American Historical Association meeting. Pay attention to your intuitive responses, he urges.t To Finish or Not to Finish Before engaging in a structured self-assessment process, you may need to address the issue of whether or not to finish your Ph.D. This is ahighly personal and individual decision and can be a very complex and difficult one, so it is important to remember thal you are not alone. Here are a few guidelines for grappling with the issue. . Try lo seporale the "shoulds" from your own true voice' The "shoulds" come from a variety of sources, including parents and other family members, significant others, professors, mentors, peers, and people who advise you on the new career. You may in the end decide to heed some of the "shoulds," but make this a conscious choice, giving full weight to the "I want" as well. . Think not only about the substantive reasons for finishing or not, but also about how youwillfeel about "quitting." For some, it may be a source of lasting regret or a psychological burden; for others, it may be a long-overdue declaration of independence. Try to imagine how you will l. From a panel on Consulting Careers, held at OCS, March 18, 192. woRr ErvrRolvuEnrT People: Colleagues & clients S oc b b gic all O rganizatio wl : Size, structure Physicak Work space, confort, safety, aestlvtics rlEll) Substance, content, mission, or p rodtrc tl se m ice of o r ganizat ion I.IFESTTTEITPLICA- TTOIYS (E TgE WORK I rc one, benzfis, p restige, securiry, tavel, bahtrce with farnily and otller activities, aut onomy, flexib ility, p res s we, lpurs, contrude JOB AASKqlsKlIJ"s W ork style, futtction in organizotion or enfuqtor (e.9., nurkcting, sales, human resources, prductionl operat ions, ttunagenett, R &.D ) 12 Ouside the luory Tower - Change and Variety: Have work responsibilities that frequently change in content and setting; avoidance of routine. - Job stability andlor securiry: Have a predictable work routine over a long period and/or be assured ofkeeping my job and a reasonable salary. - RecognitionlPrestigelstatus: Be recognized for the quality of my work in some visible or public way; be accorded respect for my work by friends, family, and/or community. -Challenging problems: Have challenging and significant problems !o solve. -Career advancement: Have the opportunity to work hardbnd make rapid career advancemenl. - Physical challenge: Have a job thar makes pliysical demands rhat I would find rewarding. * ExcitementlAdventure: Experience a high degree of (or frequent) excitement in course of my work; have work duties thatinvolve frequent risk taking. -Wealth or Profit: Have a strong likelihood of accumulating large amounts of money or other material gain. _lndependence: Beable to worVthinlVact largely in accordance with my own priorities. - Moral fuffiltrnent: f'eet ttrat my work contributes significantly to, and/or is in accordance with, a set of moral standards important to me. - Location: Find a place to live that is conducive to my lifestyle and affords me the opportunity to do the things I enjoy most or provides a community where I can get involved. - Self-RealizationtEnjoyment: Do work that, allows realizing the full potential of my lalents and/or gives high personal satisfaction and enjoyment. Listhere the values (titles only) receiving arating of "4" (do not prioritize). Leave the *score" column blank at this point SCORE VALUES l . 2. 3. 4. .5. 7. 8. 9. 10. FINAL PRIORITVFD LISTING VALUES r _ Know Tlryself! 13 Now compareeachvalue, in turn, with each of the others, circling on the grid below the number of the most important value in each comparison. So, for example, to compare value #l with the others, move from left to right across the first double row. To hnd your scores, count the number of "l's'! circled, the number of "2's," and so on. This will give you the score for each value, which can be placed in the "score" column above. If two numbers have the sarne score, break the tie by looking at the grid to see how you compared those two numbers. On the basis of these scores, construct a fmal list ofvalues prioritized in this way. l l l l l l l l t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 5 ) f ) ) 6 7 8 9 1 0 6 6 6 6 7 8 9 1 0 7 7 7 8 9 1 0 8 8 9 1 0 9 10\ i I 2. J . 4. 5 . 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1,4 A&side the Iaont Tower Beyond the foregoing exercises, think specifically and broadly about the skills you have developed as a student and teacher/researcher. Go beyond the obvious ones-the analytical, research, investigative, communicadon, leaching, and discipline-related skills (such as com- puter, lab, languages, arts, and substantive experrise). Include abiliries such as the following, which were "brainstormed" by a group of graduate students considering nonacademic areers: learning quickly; synthesiz- ing information; problem solving; dealing with complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty; leadership/managerial or adminisrrative/planning/bud- geting skills; people skills, including the ability to motivate and counsel students, pe.rsuasion, tact, and political savvy; evaluation skills; and personal qualities such as self-motivation, self-discipline, initiative, creativity, focus, meticulousness, tamina, independence, and humor. Think also in terms of underlying or "tacit" skills.a To take one example, a host of implicit capacities undergirds teaching: translating and explaining difficult concepts; defining objectives of a course or lecture; formulating a strategy for achieving the objectives; locating, retrieving, and evaluating potential materials; abstracting, summarizing, and organizing those materials into an effective written and/or oral presentation; time management; "psyching out," motivating, and nurtur- ing students; evaluating performance; collaborating and cooperating. The botrom line is that you wanr to think in terms of transferable s/cil/s-i.e., skills that can be generalized and hence are valuable in many jobs and settings. In her new position as a fundraiser for an Ivy League university, Donna consolini has discovered the transferability of the skills she gained as a graduate student: "Running a business meeting in cincinnati is not unlike teaching a discussion section; writing reports and letters is easy because I like to write; researching financial and business information reminds me of how I felt beginning r.o research in a foreign language when I started in German years ago." s Similarly, Michael Yogg, Ph.D., now Senior Vice-president ar State Street Research, found his graduate training in hisrory m be highly relevant o his new carcer: 4. Bennett, Playing Hardbatl With Soft.Sk/fs, Chaprer 3. 5. Donna Consolini, lerrer to rhe author, April 10, 1992. Know Thyselfl 15 Four qualities distinguish every successful investment profes- sional: intellectual honesty, diligence, intelligence, and creativ- ity. Among these honesty is paramount. Scholarly naining develops all of these raits; it is the best way, to my mind, of developing apassion for intellectual honesty . . . . fE]ncountering evidence in the world of scholarship and facing the facts of the investment world are very similar intellectual and emotional experiences. The games are different but the rules are the same. Like the scholar, the investor seeks to discover value that others have missed, either by unearthing new facts or by rethinking old scenarios.6 And Karen Lech, whose technical expertise in molecular biology was a prerequisite for being hired as a patent agent at the Boston law firm Fish & Richardson, stresses the additional importance of the writing and teaching skills she developed in graduate school. She constantly applies these to writing patent applications and educating inventors and patent examiners. A final word on skills: do not sell yourself short in this area. As one GSAS student put it, "Harvard is the academic equivalent of Panis Island. The fact that Harvard Boot Camp demoralizes you does not mean you are not capable." 7 You may want to use the following skills list to help you identify and prioritize your skills. Circle all the skills that you have used in past and presentjobs or hobbies, in school or extracurricular activities, or at home. Look for patterns, especially whether these skills tend to relate to people, data, or things. Then select the ones you most enjoy using or want !o develop further, and list your top five to ten in order of importance. 6. The Regents of the University of the State of New York, Teaching and Beyond: Nonacademic Career Programsfor Pi.D.'s (Regents of the University of the Stare of New York, New York, NY, 1984),21-22. 7. Rob Scheinerman, letter to the author, June 5,1992. { I 41 : a*tc": i i6 Oulside the luory Tower ' skils E Administering a department of people, programs a specific activity A na ly z i ng and C las s ify in g quanti tative, stati stical, physical, and/or scientihc data humarVsocial situations classifying information into categories or people into programs Anticipating staying one step ahead of public moods able to sense what will be fashionable in consumer goods expecting a problem before it develops, seeing the first signs AtrditinglAccounting assessing the financial status of an organization C alculating andl or Risk M anage ment performing mathematical computations assessing risks of a contemplated activity C o I lab or at i ng I T e amw o r k attaining objectives throu gh group/team/commit tee processes C o nc e p tual iz i ng I Ab s t r a c t i n g parts of a system into a whole ideas from surface evens new spacial relationships non-observable physical phenomena concepts, interpretations C ons I r uc t ing andl or R e pai r ing mechanical apparatus, electronic equipment physical objects, furniture, etc. houses/buildings I 8. Adapted from a list from Radcliffe Career Services, based on Howard Figler's T/re Complete Job Search Handbook, with inpur frorn various standard sources, which are lisred in rhe Bibliography. Know'Ihyself! l7 Coordinating (see also organizing) numerous events involving different people great quantities of information activities in different physical locations events in time sequence C ource lingl Adv is ingl G r oup F ac il irailng helping or advising people individually, in groups, in various organi- zations with personal/emotional concerns, life development con- cerns (career, finances, education), and/or family matters Creating artistically (visual ars, performing arts, crafts, music, writing) new ideas for an organizalion new ways of solving mechanical problems ways of inventing new equipment" processes, materials \ Dealing with Pressure risks toward self, physical or otherwise, and/or risks toward others time pressure, deadlines complaints, abuse from others Dealing with Unknowns making decisions based on severely limited information making hypotheses about virtually unknown phenomena Decision Making about the use of money about alternative courses of action involving physical safety of others Delegating distributing tasks to others; giving responsibility to others D es ig ning andl or D rawing layous for printed media, purposes advertisements physical interiors of rooms buildings of all kinds public displays, or other commercial clothing exhibits commercial drawingfu hotography