Self Exploration

Researchers have found that people are more successful at their job tasks and find more personal satisfaction with their occupation if four personal factors match the occupational characteristics. In order to increase this match, career counselors have found that it is helpful for individuals to become aware of their personality, abilities, interests, values and past experiences. If you gain more self-awareness about these personal factors, it can “PAIVE the way” (pronounced pave) to success and satisfaction with your chosen occupation. Having a greater knowledge of yourself makes it easier to decide if the characteristics of a job are a good match for you.

This section on Self Exploration is designed to give you strategies and tools to get more information about your PAIVEs and to explain the role that each of these personal factors can play in your occupational choice. As outlined in the above diagram, the strategies and tools for Self Exploration include: formal inventories, self reflection and personal reactions to different experiences (such as, personal, work and school). In the self exploration sections we will give you access to these tools and strategies to get more information about your personality, abilities, interests, values and past experiences. There will be informal exercises as well a links to online inventories.

Inventories: Inventories are designed to help you identify your interests, skills, abilities, personality traits and or values. They may be referred to as questionnaires, personality tests, mental tests, psychological tests, etc. There is no correct answer to an inventory question. They are simply a reflection of what you know or believe about yourself. However, they are comprehensive by covering a large variety of activities and thoughts regarding your personal characteristics. Second, they provide information about you in comparison with others, i.e., how you are similar and different from other people that take these tests. They often compare your responses to individuals who reported a high level of satisfaction and success in careers. Third, they usually provide suggestions of alternate occupations that might be of interest to you outside your previous range of experience and knowledge. If done on the internet, they may have immediate links to Career Exploration web sites that describe those careers.

An inventory provides a place to start in the process of Career Exploration and research. In this way inventories are particularly helpful to those who say "I have no idea what career to pursue." Furthermore, they increase the career alternatives for those who are choosing a career based on limited exposure to career options.

As you can see, people who design inventories have spent a lot of time figuring out what questions are best for assisting people to learn about themselves. Tests that are administered and interpreted by career counselors have usually gone through a lot of thought and development. Thus, it makes sense to have a trained career counselor to help choose the right tests as well as understand the results of these inventories.

Assessments: Assessments refer to all instruments designed to test your abilities, aptitudes and skills. In short, these instruments give you a measure of what you are good at. Unlike inventories, there is one correct answer. As with inventories, they should be the result of extensive research on how people respond to these questions. In general, all assessment instruments are most valuable when interpreted by an experienced career counselor in the context of several personal factors.

Self Reflection: All your life you have been engaging in activities with the potential to inform you about your PAIVEs. The skills and abilities required for adult work have their seeds in childhood activities of play, household chores, school, etc. You may have been aware .of them or taken them for granted. The strategies of self reflection provide the opportunity to look back at those experiences and become more aware of what they can tell you about yourself. They include reflecting on the play activities you chose, hobbies, accomplishments and relating them to various types of work activities.

You also have the option here of talking to a counselor, friend or family member (if impartial) about your reactions to the information thereby assisting you in a Self Exploration. These “observers” should be asked to just listen to you and note changes in your mood, non-verbal reactions, and statements, to listen/watch for clues about what seems to be the choice that would probably make you happier or more satisfied.

To begin the self exploration process start where ever you wish:

Personality - Traditionally, personality is defined as ones consistent manner of behaving and responding to the world or events that is somewhat stable in a variety of situations. Personality is both how you behave as well as the feelings and thoughts that influence how you behave.

Abilities - Abilities are the things you are naturally good at. The things you have an aptitude for. They are the things you were able to do without a lot of effort and that you learned how to do relatively easily (when compared to other things you tried to do).

Interests - Interests are those things you like to do and are attracted to doing without anyone telling you. They are the things that hold your attention or arouse your curiosity.