4 Reason Why Self-Assessment Is Critical To Your Career Journey

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During most job interviews hiring managers will ask job seekers about their professional strengths and weaknesses.  

This behavioral interview question gives hiring managers a sense of a candidate’s self awareness. A candidate that can give a well thought out answer to both their strengths and weaknesses, while citing specific examples and action items, has an opportunity to really stand out.

However, this type of deep self-assessment isn’t just something you should use to perform well in a job interview. I believe self-assessment needs to be done on a regular basis.

From start to finish, career journeys are littered with ups and downs. In order to anticipate these ups and downs, and navigate through them, professionals need to use some form of self-assessment.

Here are a few reasons why self-assessment is going to be important throughout your career.

1) It’s The Ultimate Starting Point

“I don’t know what I want to do for a career.”

Whether it’s someone just starting out, or a professional unhappy in their career and looking to make a change, many people have said this phrase at some point in their lives. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but you also have to be willing to put in the work in order to find a career that will make you happy.

Self-assessment is a major part of that work. You need to be willing to look in the mirror and honestly assess what your strengths and weaknesses are. It’s also important to seek feedback from peers, colleagues, former supervisors, and mentors.

From this combination of self-assessment and feedback, you should be able to put together a list of your top six best skill sets and your top six weaknesses. At this point, you can start to get an idea of what careers may match your skill sets, or see if there’s a way to combine your skill sets with a passion and make a career out of it.

Professionals should also take a good look at their list of weaknesses and figure out which ones are the most crucial to address and make a plan for addressing those weaknesses.

2) It’s How You Market Yourself

Once you’ve determined what career you want to pursue, and made an interview bucket list of 10-20 companies, the challenge becomes marketing yourself.

You’re marketing yourself at all points of the job search process, including when you’re reaching out to recruiters, writing your disruptive cover letter, and ultimately interviewing for the job.

Having the skills to meet the job qualifications is great, but that’s not what’s going to help you stand out as a candidate. What helps you stand out is how you use those skills.

Focus on what you really do well, and how using those strengths will not only help you fulfill the job requirements, but add additional value to the company.

Are finances your strength? Do you have great concrete examples of how you saved or made past employers money? This is certainly a strength to focus on as you market yourself, and eventually work your way through the interview process.

Hiring managers select candidates based on multiple factors, but you need to especially hit on your strengths and specialties.

3) It’s How You Determine Your Working Styles

Beyond focusing on your professional strengths and weaknesses, professionals should frequently ask themselves “what am I like to work with?

At my company, Work It Daily, we have two quizzes that help professionals determine their workplace persona and communication style.

Workplace personas tell us how we like to execute tasks and do work on the job. There are eight workplace personas (visionary, builder, educator, optimizer, warrior, superconnector, mentor, researcher) and we're usually a combination of two or three of them. 

Communication style is how you communicate with your colleagues and superiors, and can also give you a good idea of how others perceive you. The four communication styles are commander, contemplator, empathizer, and or an energizer.

Understanding your communication style and workplace persona are another important form of self assessment that helps you market your value to the employer, and gives them a sense of how you may fit in the workplace.

4) It’s How You Plan Ahead

Just because you have a job, doesn’t mean that the self-assessment should stop. In fact, not doing regular self-assessment can hurt your career. Through the years your job responsibilities and the way you do your job will inevitably change, and you’ll change a little too.

Regular self-assessment will help you identify:

• When you need to upskill.
• Opportunities for career growth and promotion.
• When your passion for a job may be fading.

It’s not just about how your job changes, it’s about how you change as a professional. Understanding how those two factors work together will help you as you continue to chart your career journey.

Want to learn more about self-assessment?

Work It Daily is hosting Professional Self Assessment on Tuesday, Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. EST (7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. PST). During this online live event myself, and Work It Daily’s Head Professional Coach, Ariella Coombs, will help you:

• Understand your professional strengths & weaknesses
• Learn how to leverage your workplace persona
• Get insights on your communication style
• How to leverage everything you've learned in your 2021 career goals

Reserve your spot for only $10.