Assess Your Next Steps

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To successfully navigate to your next job or career transition, you need to know yourself – your strengths, your interests, and your goals.

  • Are you ready to start a job search or career transition?
  • What do you want to do next?
  • What type of culture or environment do you seek?
  • What strengths and skills can you provide to a future employer?
  • Do you have an understanding of how others view your strengths, contributions, and value?

There are several different tools available to help you address these questions, and no one “best” tool. All offer insight that may be helpful to you.

 

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Self-Assessment Homework

During the onboarding process, you will attend an Orientation meeting.  During that meeting, you will learn about our self-assessment homework, which is required for a mentor assignment. It should be completed and sent to your mentor prior to your first meeting. However, don't worry, it's very straightforward!

Transferable Skills Assessment (WORD, PDF). Use this checklist to identify skills/areas of expertise. 

Self-Assessment Summary (WORD). Complete and send this document to your mentor prior to your first meeting.

Completing this process will:

  • Help clarify your goals and your value to employers (strengths/skills).
  • Help your Mentor get to know you better.

  • Help you write your resume and LinkedIn profile later, on your own or with the help of AI tools.

     

 

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Explore These Optional Assessments

Strengths and Skills Assessments

Hiring has become more skills focused. Understanding how your strengths and skills connect with future jobs, especially if you are considering a career change, is becoming even more essential. Here are several assessments that can help you to dig deeper into your skills and strengths: 

**CliftonStrengths (aka StrengthsFinder) - highly recommended

CliftonStrengths is a fee-based assessment that helps you understand your core strengths and how they interact to define your unique value. If you decide to take it, we recommend the online version (not the book version), and the lower cost option is just fine to start. Another option, the High 5 Assessment, is similar to CliftonStrengths and less expensive, but it is not as useful. Leverage your CliftonStrengths results using these guides: Quick Reference Guide, Translator for Resumes and LinkedIn, Career Development Guide. 

CareerOneStop Skills Matcher

Use CareerOneStop’s Skills Matcher to rate your expertise on 40 key workplace skills, then review a list of career options that are a match for your highest-rated skills. 

mySkillsmyFuture

Use CareerOneStop’s mySkillsmyFuture tool by entering your current or previous occupation. You’ll get a list of jobs that match, how much they pay, educational requirements, and job listings.

LinkedIn Career Explorer

LinkedIn’s Career Explorer tool works a bit differently. With this tool, you enter your current occupation and LinkedIn will then show you similar jobs, how your skills overlap with the skills required for the related jobs, and openings in your area. Here's a great article about how to use it and a bonus video too.

O*NET 

Use the Skills Search option to select from six major groups of skills and create a customized list of your skills. Then you’ll be able to view a list of occupations that use those skills and see how close a match you are to the job. Also check out My Next Move, a comprehensive site from O*NET that helps you to explore careers by keyword, browse careers listed by industry, or take a free interests assessment (what do you like to do?) to guide you to better-fit jobs.

 

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Other Optional Assessments

These assessments are not specifically career-related but may provide helpful insights about how you relate to others at work.

Career Dreamer from Grow with Google

Career paths aren’t always straightforward, but your unique life experiences are a superpower. They’re full of valuable skills that employers need. Career Dreamer helps you uncover those skills and explore new career possibilities in a simple, playful way. The platform also helps you take action on your findings.

Entrepreneurship Readiness

Frustrated job seekers often consider entrepreneurship, including freelancing and contracting, but it is a challenging path. This simple online quiz will help you reflect on whether you possess the necessary personality traits to launch a successful business. Learn more about career alternatives like consulting/entrepreneurship in the Learn section.

PrinciplesYou

PrinciplesYou helps you learn about yourself and better understand your relationships: with your employees, teammates, friends, and even your partner or spouse. 

VIA Character Strengths

This free assessment helps identify key strengths that are more broadly applicable beyond your career and can be especially helpful if you are in a career transition. Read this article for more information and access the list of 24 character strengths and the assessment here.

Values Assessments

What's important to you? How would your career and life be different if you were living your values? This clarification exercise has a simple framework for selecting your top values and an exercise to help you explore them. And here is another Values Assessment you can use. 

DARE Communication Style Assessment

The DARE Assessment can help you evaluate the communication styles you most often use with others. After you take it, these Decoders for DARE offer advice for how to situationally adjust or improve your communication style: Communication Styles, Strengths and Vulnerabilities, Summary Table

 

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Use AI to Help

The Japanese concept of Ikegai is defined as what gives a person a sense of purpose or meaning.

Try the prompt below to get AI to conduct an interview with you, helping to provide valuable insights. 

"Act as an Ikigai coach by asking me detailed questions about my life. Continue asking questions until you have a complete understanding of where my passions, proficiencies, and purpose intersect in a profitable way. Your goal is to develop a deep understanding of what I love to do and how I can make money at it."

 

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