Should I do a career assessment?

It’s perfectly normal—even beneficial—to reflect on your professional future. By analyzing your background, skills and aspirations, you can identify the best next steps on your ideal career path. Find out how a career assessment can help.

Gain a better understanding of your profile

Start by listing your training and work experience. This will help you reflect on your proudest achievements and the challenges you’ve faced. This exercise can help you discover insights like:

• I genuinely enjoy working in the field

• I struggle to adapt to quickly changing situations

• I find working with clients fulfilling in the short term but exhausting over extended projects

Identify your skills

After assessing your background, pinpoint the skills you want to develop further. For instance, if you enjoy fieldwork, you might realize that highlighting your organizational skills and strong interpersonal abilities could improve your career prospects.

Explore your options

Based on the skills you want to grow or the ones you’re less interested in, you can set short- and long-term goals. If you find that your current job doesn’t help you develop a specific skill, you might consider:

• Focusing on a different skill for the next few months, then reevaluating your progress

• Seeking experiences that enable you to move into a more suitable role within three years

• Going back to school to redirect your career

A career assessment is an opportunity for self-reflection and personal growth. Do you need help? Reach out to a human resource professional in your area.