Finding Direction during Job Loss

By Robert Lubin

The first advice offered to anyone faced with a career decision is to: know yourself. This self-understanding has two purposes: 

1. To understand enough about yourself to make intelligent career decisions. The most rewarding careers, in personal satisfaction and success, usually result from intelligent choices based on interests, skills, abilities and personality traits.  

2. To understand enough about yourself to enable you to communicate to a potential employer making a decision. During an interview, the potential employer needs to differentiate between you and other candidates. In order to assist the interviewer in understanding your unique qualifications you must be prepared to provide specific well-illustrated information. It’s impossible to convey the information if you don’t have a thorough grasp yourself. 

While it’s important to understand and concentrate on your assets, you need to be aware of your limitations and areas of weakness. These are not necessarily permanent characteristics. You most probably will grow and change throughout your career. The process of self-assessment should therefore be constant throughout your career life. 

Look at the following abridged exercise. It’s designed to enable you to look at yourself and background in a variety of ways. Occupational requirements vary and values are appreciated in relation to the nature of the work involved. The purpose of the exercise is to assist you in becoming analytical about yourself.  

Your guide in completing this self-assessment is to think of how your past actions have revealed your character and personality to others. If you are honest with yourself during the self-assessment you will begin to understand your career marketability and in your place in the job market.  

Abilities

Study the abilities categories and evaluate yourself on each according to the scale: 

1=definite, strong ability in this area

2=some ability

3=enough ability to get by with help from others

4=no ability at all  

Verbal-Persuasive Skills 

Writing

Verbally Communicating

Speaking to Groups

Persuading

Selling

Dramatizing (able to portray ideas/stories in a dramatic way)

Negotiating  

People-Related Skills 

Work as a team

Deal with public

Social ease (able to relate easily in social situations)

Teaching

Coaching

Counseling

Ability to confront others (able to deal with interpersonal conflict)  

Analytical Skills

Numerical abilities

Gather and analyze data

Problem-solving  

Creative Skills

Artistic ability

Imagination with things

Imagination with ideas 

Managerial Skills

Organization and Planning

Handling details

Orderliness

Making decisions

Supervising

Leadership

Mediating 
 

Accomplishments

List 6 things that you have done in your life that you thought were important and from which you experienced a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. They may be large or small, related or unrelated to a job situation. The emphasis should be on things that you really felt good about and which were achievements in your eyes.  

Achievement #1

Achievement #2

Achievement #3

Achievement #4

Achievement #5

Achievement #6 

Now consider what particular qualities you possessed which enable you to accomplish these particular tasks. Write the abilities used for each of the above accomplishments.  

Personal Characteristics

Personal characteristics are those intangible factors that often influence an employer’s decision over the specific skills and abilities required for a job. Rate yourself on the below abilities on a scale from: 

1=very strong

2=some strength

3=minimal strength   

  • Aggressive -do you often take the initiative?
  • Ambitious- do you plan your career advancement?
  • Conscientious-can you name some unpleasant task you have done because it had to be done but no one else would?
  • Decisive- are you able to make clear decisions under pressure?
  • Dependable-do you follow through without being checked by anyone?
  • Efficient- do you plan your time well?
  • Even-tempered- do you feel in control of yourself most of the time?
  • Enthusiastic- do you inspire others with your own interest?
  • Honest- do you pass along praise when credit belongs elsewhere?
  • Industrious- do you resist interruptions whenever possible?
  • Judicious- have you ever made a decision based on reason when it conflicted with your emotional interests?
  • Loyal- have you ever stayed in a situation because of a sense of responsibility even though something else was more tempting?
  • Observant- do you recall facts and figures accurately?
  • Open-minded- can you accept ideas contrary to your own?
  • Patience- are you able to train someone calmly when you need to explain procedures over and over?
  • Persistent- have you ever accomplished something despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles?
  • Resourceful- do you see what needs to be done and do it without being told?

 

Working with People

As social creatures, we all crave social interactions. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to test what extent and the capacity you want to work with people. 

Check any of the activities that are appealing to you:

Influence the attitudes, ideas of others

Motivate and inspire others

Instruct people in various ways

Supervise others in their work

Mediate between contending parties

Manage the work of others; be responsible for their output

Organize others-bring them together in cooperative efforts

Help people with personal problems

Provide service to people

Make decisions about others

Socialize with people regularly

Gather information through direct contact with others

Understand people and study behavior

Confronting others with difficult decisions

Investigate people by obtaining information about them 

  • Describe the personal qualities you would prefer in the people you work with:
  • Describe the personal qualities you prefer not to have in the people you work with:

 

Self-Awareness

Check if the following applies to you: 

I would like to be part of a working team

I enjoy having people come to me seeking my help or services

I prefer to seek out other people by going to them

I like a lot of contact with a small number of people

I enjoy brief contacts with a large number of people

I prefer to get to know a group of people through regular contact

I want to see different people every day that I work

I would like to work with the same people for a long period of time

I like to be able to regulate my own hours and decide when people can see me

I don’t mind being interrupted by people 

After completing self-exploration exercises either on your own or with professional guidance you should be able to feel comfortable about your job skills and representing yourself in the job market.  

Robert Lubin

[email protected]