Quick Career Coach, step 2: Strengths, values, passions and priorities

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I am the only Career Invention Coach in South Africa certified with master coaches, trainers and authors Pam Slim and Michele Woodward. This blog series outlines my approach to career coaching and gives self-helpers ideas for how to use their innate talents and life experiences to do great things at work.

Once you’ve done your Life Plan (step 1), I suggest reviewing or assessing your strengths, values, passions and priorities. I coach clients through a variety of free and/or low-cost assessments in this phase but if you’d like to tackle it yourself, here are some ways to go about it:

 Review previous assessments – if you’ve had any previous evaluations (personality type indicators, performance appraisals, etc.), re-read them. What do they tell you? What resonates with you, and what doesn’t? Do they remind you of something you love to do or once wanted to pursue? Do they tell you about anything you dislike doing?
 Assess your personality type—I’m a fan of the Enneagram personality typing methodology and find most clients feel their ‘type’ really resonates with them. Your Enneagram type will offer useful insights into your innate strengths and the unique barriers that might stand in your way. You can take a free short version of the assessment at www.enneagraminstitute.com or, at the same site, pay US $10 to take the full version.
 Another free online assessment you might find useful is the VIA Survey of Character Strengths developed by Dr. Martin Seligman, director of the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center and the ‘father of positive psychology.’ This survey (one of many available at www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu, ranks you on 24 ‘character strengths,’ such as (my top five): curiosity and interest in the world; gratitude; appreciation of beauty and excellence; perspective/wisdom; and judgment/critical thinking/open-mindedness. Your strengths might include caution, kindness, bravery, fairness, leadership, humor, industry or many others.
 Take a Strengths Finder assessment on www.strengthsfinder.com. This tool, developed by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, covers 34 different strengths attributes and provides a thorough discussion of each strength and how it plays into a person’s make-up. I found this assessment captured me pretty accurately and most clients do too. You will need an access code to complete the assessment; it is available by buying the Strengths Finder 2.0 book.

I’d love to hear your feedback if you do this research on your own. If you’d like help, drop me an email (below) and I’d be delighted to assist.

Next topic in the Quick Career Coach series: Uncovering your personal brand.

Kristen Carter on Twitter

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