Career Test for the Soul

Introduction

Often in considering career options we focus too heavily on external issues, such as "how much money can I make" or on what others (e.g. my peers, family, boss, or organization) expect of me? But this is the wrong starting point. Before I worry about what others expect, or even at what I might be good at, I need to do some real soul searching and look at what I want.

Assessing what's inside

In the end, the only really satisfying career choices will come from first looking inside. "What is my inner voice telling me?" independent of what others think or expect, and "where does my energy flow naturally?" That's where I'll find personal meaning and growth, and working from that place is where I'm most likely to achieve success.

This "internal" self-assessment is essential for achieving any long-term career satisfaction, even if downsizing or other external factors have thrust a transition on you and time is of the essence. In fact, at no time is it more important to do serious soul-searching. Many tell us an initially unwanted transition forced them to break from old habits and mindsets and make some overdue positive changes. In retrospect, they were grateful it happened.

Taking charge

Typically, when we seek out a career aptitude test, we're again looking for external guidance. We don't know "what we really want" and we hope an outside expert can tell us what to do.

It's good to get an objective assessment of our abilities. But the first thing a really effective outside expert or career test will do is help us take charge of our own decision making and challenge us to ask, for example:

• What is really important to me?
• What uniquely personal life values do I want to achieve in my career?
• Where am I and where do I want to go in my life journey?
  

Only after going through such a process are we ready to consider the question "What am I good at?" in its proper context.

On the following pages, we offer three self-assessments to help you answer these questions. These are for your personal use. We are asking nothing from you and are collecting no personal information. The answers you provide can only be preserved only by printing the page or saving it on your computer.

The research basis

These assessments are from the book Your Soul at Work, which is based on years of front-line research in major corporations to identify what behaviors distinguish those who succeed from those who don't in multiple career specialties. For more background on these assessments and the research behind them, you can visit the Your Soul at Work web site where three complete chapters related to these specific topics have been posted.

Your Soul at Work includes a Career and Life Workbook that includes many more self-assessments such as the ones offered here. Taken together, they comprise a complete career planning process that has received rave reviews in both large and small organizations worldwide (U.S. Europe, Asia, Mexico etc.). If you find the exercises on this web site useful, you might want to buy the book and complete the entire program.

Continue to Step 1. Life Values Assessment

Career Test for the Soul  •   www.career-test.biz  •  based on Your Soul at Work
Copyright 2002, Nicholas Weiler