Assessments Part 2: Values
Okay, so now you got some options for jobs and some more words to describe yourself. If not, go back to Part 1.
Next up are values. These are things that you value in a job. You will use the Values card sort* to categorize the various values under the 4 headings (Very important, somewhat important, etc.). Keep in mind that these values reflect what you want in your job specifically. After organizing the values into the 4 categories, select the top 5 that are most important for you to have in your work.
This exercise is helpful for identifying all of the things that you currently value in a job and then selecting the top 5 that you feel are most important to you. This second step can be a bit tricky, as it is not usually hard to think of things you want in a job, but what we value is defined by what we are willing give up.
Our values may also change over time and this is a good thing. If you ask your friends if they are the same person at 18 as they are at 25, 48, or 60, chances are the answer will be no. It is a serious medical condition if you are the same person at 48 as you are at 18! When I was younger, I was much more willing to accept jobs that required travel. In my thirties, I minimize it in order to better manage my health and work-life balance.
What is important is making decisions now however, and you must focus on where you are in life now, not in the future.
Once you have finished, let’s continue to Part 3: Personality
Tanya’s Story: When assessing her values, she identified her top 5 values as:
Work-Life Balance
Helping Society
Intellectual Stimulation
Change and Variety
Influence Others
A few things stood out during the Values Assessment. Though at first High Income came to mind (very few people aspire to low income), she realized that what she wanted was financial security and set this at $120,000+ per year. Having lived on a student budget for several years, she learned that the salary she needed to be content was not as high as she thought at 18 and if push came to shove, would not be the defining factor in her work as long as it was above $60,000 per year.
Tanya was also hesitant to leave “Helping Others” out of her top 5 values. When reflecting on past jobs and volunteer work, Tanya realized that she prefers to work behind the scenes and is not motivated to see change in individuals as much as she is in seeing larger systematic changes.
*Inspiration for the activity and attributions go to the University of Manitoba’s Career Services Department