Self-Assessment

Understanding
the Marketplace

Self-Assessment
What Is Your Passion?

Positioning
Yourself
Networking
Executing Your
Job Search
Interviewing

Why Its Important

Self-assessment is the first and possibly most important step in the career-development
process. Studies have demonstrated that you will be most happy and fulfilled in your
career if you choose a vocation that is based on your interests, motivators, and skills, in
that order.
MBAs often choose their careers based on what they are good at. However, the most
important question is: what is your passion?
You likely fall into one of three categories, all of which can benefit from self-assessment:
You have a clear idea of your goals.

Succeeding with Oers

and Negotiation

Graduation/
Job

You have an idea about a few industries or job functions you might consider.
You are a career switcher and are unsure where you best fit.
If youre in the first group and have a clear idea of your future career plans, youll use
self-assessment to help you link your skills, motivators, and interests to the job that
youre seeking.
If youre in one of the other two groups, self-assessment can help clarify one or even a
few directions that you might take.

The Johnson School Career Workbook

Activity 1: Understanding Your CareerLeader Results

Step 1

Step 3

Based on your CareerLeader results, write down your three main interests, your top three
motivators, and your top five abilities.

Make some notes about business cultures that are consistent with your values, skills,
and interests.
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Interests
1._ ________________________________________________________________________

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2._________________________________________________________________________

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3._________________________________________________________________________

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Motivators/Values
1._ ________________________________________________________________________
2._________________________________________________________________________

Step 4

3._________________________________________________________________________

Based on these results, what industries and job functions are you the most interested in
pursuing? Which resonate with you?
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Abilities
1._ ________________________________________________________________________

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2._________________________________________________________________________
3._________________________________________________________________________
4._________________________________________________________________________
5._________________________________________________________________________

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Step 2

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List five of your high-match careers.

1._ ________________________________________________________________________

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2._________________________________________________________________________

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3._________________________________________________________________________

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4._________________________________________________________________________
5._________________________________________________________________________

Activity 2: CareerLeader Triad Exercise

Form groups of three. You will all rotate rolesyou need one person to speak, one to coach,
and one to record.

Guidelines
Speaker: Answer the questions openly and honestly.
Coach: Challenge your classmate to push beyond whatever resistance he or she may have to
the exercise. Go outside and beyond the CareerLeader assessments if necessary.
Recorder: Write down the speakers comments as close to verbatim as possible; sometimes
language/vocabulary is subconscious and insightful.

Step 1: Core Business Interests

What are your three strongest business interests (per the Detailed Summary)? What are
your thoughts about why these came up as your strongest interests?
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How do you see your interests playing out in the profession you think/thought you
wanted to do?
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Step 2: Motivators/Work Reward Values

What are your three most highly valued work rewards (per the Detailed Summary)?
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Do these interests relate to the work you did before? Do they reflect your current
interests?
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In previous jobs, how were these met?

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Are there any additional interests that you want to include in your work?
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Most careers involve making trade-offs among different rewards. Which of your highly
valued rewards are you willing to defer for now? Why?
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The Johnson School Career Workbook

 Will any of the rewards you want be in conflict with others over the course of your career
(e.g., financial gain and lifestyle)? How do you plan to manage that tension?
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Step 4: CultureMatch

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Based on your CultureMatch results, reflect on the culture of the work environment
that you just came from. Do the results explain why you were happy/unhappy with the
culture there?
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Step 3: Abilities

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Review your abilities and reflect on your five greatest abilities. How do you see applying
them in your post-MBA position?
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Based on your results, in what types of corporate cultures will you be happiest/most
productive, in your future positions?
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Are there any inconsistencies or tensions between interests or abilities? (For example,
you have a weak interest in Creative Production but put a high estimate on your ability
to be creative. This is a great example of the difference between an interest and an
ability.) We can all do many things that we have little interest in doing.
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Step 5: Final Thoughts/Observations

Discuss with your triad group any high-match careers youre interested in, matches that
were surprising to you. What thoughts do your triad team members have for you?
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Activity 3: Introspective Questions for

Self-Assessment
Describe one or two of the most important experiences in your career. Why was this so
important to you?
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Activity 4: Job Envy vs. Job from Hell

(adapted from Discovering Your Career in Business)

Step 1

Imagine your ideal job. What features of this job make it so attractive? Why?
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Of your work experiences so far, what accomplishments are you most proud of and why?
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Describe the job in detail. (Where are you working? What is your day like? What are your
interactions like throughout the day? What are your major activities?)
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With whom have you enjoyed working and not. Why?

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Step 2

Recall or imagine a work situation that you find particularly distasteful.

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Think about the individual tasks of past jobs. Which did you find engaging and inspiring?
Which did you not?
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What tasks or circumstances would you dislike the most? Why? Be as specific as possible
about what you dislike about this job.
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The Johnson School Career Workbook

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Resources
Take CareerLeader and discuss results with a Career Management Center advisor.
Attend a Career Self-Assessment workshop.
Take the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and discuss results and their relevance to
career choices with a Career Management Center advisor.
Read Discovering Your Career in Business by Timothy Butler and James Waldroop and
complete the exercises in Chapter 3.
Do What You Are: Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality
Type by Paul Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger
Passion at Work by Lawler Kang
Find Work That Matters by Mark Albion