Self Assessment
Career assessments are the process of identifying your individual skills, values, interest, and personality.
Value: Something intrinsically valuable or desirable (sought material). A value is anything to which a person gives worth, merit or usefulness. Values give direction, without them life becomes aimless – without commitment or meaning.
Interest: A feeling that accompanies or causes special attention to an object or class of objects. Extracurricular Activities, Athletics, Community Service, Greek Life, Music, Art.
Personality: The characteristics that distinguish an individual. A totality of an individual’s behavioral and emotional characteristics.
Skill: The ability to use one’s knowledge effectively and readily in execution or performance. A skill is simply any ability to do something whether it is recently acquired or ability you have had for years. Skills can be things you do only with great difficulty or they can be things you do effortlessly.
What Career Assessments Are...
- Tools or instruments which provide a systematic method of gathering information and aid in decision making
- Descriptions of people’s characteristics based on interest and personality traits
- Helpful in narrowing your career options
- Helpful in understanding your interaction and communications with others
- Measure how your interests and personality compare with people employed in various career fields
- Helpful in understanding which types of work environments compliment your personality and style
- Provide you with new directions or confirm what you already know
- Provide an excellent first step in the career exploration process
What career assessments Are Not...
- Tests which tell you what career to pursue
- Measurements of your abilities or aptitudes
- Should not keep you from considering any career or activity
- Should not be used as an excuse for doing or not doing anything
- Cannot give you everything you need to make an informed career decision
How the Career Planning Center Can Help
The Career Planning Center offers a variety of assessments, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the Campbell Interest and Skills Survey (CISS), Self Directed Search (SDS), to help students indentify interests, values, skills, and preferences.
The assessments and coaching are available free to Thomas More students and alumni. Contact the Career Planning Center for an appointment.
The Career Planning Center offers a career planning course called “Career Exploration” (GEC 270). This one-credit hour course is designed to help individuals understand and implement the process of effective career development. To determine if you should take this course, ask yourself which of the following apply to you:
- I cannot decide a major…
- I am unsure of my career direction…
- I have my major, but need to plan my career…
- I am looking for information about choosing an occupation…
- I do not know what skills I have or need…
- I want to know what careers match my interests…
- I need a one credit hour, pass-fall course…
If any of the above describe you, then register for GEC 270: Career Exploration.
To gain first hand knowledge and training in a particular career area, students should consider Cooperative Education (co-op). Co-op integrates on-campus study with off-campus employment relevant to the student's field of study. Students receive academic credit for these paid work experiences. Career-related work experience makes students more marketable to prospective employers. In particular, a student has a greater chance of employment upon graduation with the co-op employer. Students should also consider obtaining summer employment, internships, and volunteer or service learning experiences.
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