Values

Overwhelmed by too many career options? Considering your values might help you out!

A lot of times when we think of the phrase values, we think about our personal moral or ethical beliefs. But, in terms of making a career choice, when we use the word values, we’re talking more about personal priorities and preferences. (I like to operate under the assumption that anyone who might read this blog would choose a moral and legal career path!)

About.com’s Career Planning Section provides the following list of values and their corresponding definitions:

• Autonomy: receiving no or little supervision
• Helping Others: providing assistance to individuals or groups
• Prestige: having high standing
• Job Security: a high probability that one will remain employed
• Collaboration: working with others
• Helping Society: contributing to the betterment of the world
• Recognition: receiving attention for your work
• Compensation: receiving adequate pay
• Achievement: doing work that yields results
• Utilizing Your Skills and Background: using your education and work experience to do your job
• Leadership: supervising/managing others
• Creativity: using your own ideas
• Variety: doing different activities
• Challenge: performing tasks that are difficult
• Leisure: having adequate time away from work
• Recognition: receiving credit for achievements
• Artistic Expression: expressing one's artistic talents
• Influence: having the ability to affect people's opinions and ideas

Sometimes individuals can have value conflicts. Value conflicts arise when two or more values compete with each other. For example, the values of High Earnings and Leisure Time may conflict, as those professionals who have a higher salary may be required to work longer hours.

Values can serve as a good way to narrow down competing career choices. You may enjoy a variety of career related activities, but if these possibilities don’t provide you with things like adequate compensation or job security, it may be time to check out other options.

Self-Assessment and Decision Making

Last night I presented to a group of students pursuing their GED about career planning, namely self-assessment and decision making. I utilized a packet of handouts developed by Smith College's Career Development Office given to me by a colleague--the packet covered interests, skills, values, an experience log, the importance of support systems, and accomplishments. The accomplishments handout seemed to elicit the best response from the group, and it got me to thinking about using it every time we write a resume or interview for a job.

Think about it: most of us are really uncomfortable "bragging" about ourselves on a resume, never mind the interview. Does that come from a lack of self-confidence, or from lack of practice talking about ourselves that way? You can practice speaking highly of yourself till the cows come home, but believing it is a totally different thing. So then it becomes a confidence issue. Maybe a way to tackle that is thinking back on our life accomplishments (education, work, volunteering, helping out a friend, hobbies, etc.) and acknowledging what we gained from these accomplishments.

So I've got a challenge for you: make a list of 5 accomplishments you've experienced throughout your life. Then, list the skills you obtained from that achievement, as well as the characteristics or qualities that allowed you to complete those accomplishments. An example...

Accomplishment: Earning a 3.0 GPA for the semester
Skills: Communicating with my professor outside of class time to ask questions, time management, effective studying, working as part of a team in a study group, gathering and making sense of information for exams and papers, research skills, etc.
Characteristics: Dedicated, persevering, goal-oriented, disciplined, interpersonal skills (getting along with my study group members), self-motivated, etc.

Try this before you write your next resume or prepare for your next interview, and see if it helps to build your self-confidence. If nothing else, it'll give you something to talk about in the interview!