ACTIVITIES

It will help organize your potential when looking for a career path, deciding on what to specialize in, what type of degree, certificate or program to take to enhance your present career.

 

Identifying Your Skill Set *

1. State your job (title)
2. Describe your job/role
3. List the tasks/assignments/duties involved

• Identify special requirements, certificates, knowledge required
• Identify your favorite task and your least favorite task to complete
• Identifying Your Transferable Skills* (DOLEW-Participant-Guide 2015)

Identifying Personal Motivators: CLAMS

 

Finding the right environment to suit your needs is very important in order to have meaning in your work. People who take a job just to make money are less likely to be satisfied, and enjoy an ideal balance between quality of life, personal values and their career/occupation.

 

Several motivators drive many of us at a time. These motivators often identify what is important to us, and then help shape our goals and desires. There are five common motivators known as CLAMS. This acronym stands for CHALLENGE, LOCATION, ADVANCEMENT, MONEY and SECURITY.

Challenge is what keeps many people engaged, invested and stimulated. It makes us use all our resources and inspires us to learn more and go farther.

Locationrefers to the actual environment and the distance between work and home. It can be a blended concept taking in where you work (physical location), your job environment (RAISEC themes) and the actual time it takes to travel from point A to B.

Advancement can be referring to status (climbing the “corporate” ladder), gaining recognition in their field (Academics…), learning new skill sets or a combination of these.

Money is our salary that we use to sustain our quality of life (pay bills, feed our families, provides entertainment…). We need a minimum amount to meet our daily and financial obligations.

Security refers to one’s job and how it relates to predictability in the future. Having job security means ongoing employment, meeting your basic needs, and hopefully, maintaining a quality of life for yourself and family.

Rank the motivators in order of importance, the first being the most important to you.. Take some time to write down what each of the motivators means to you.

• CHALLENGE
• LOCATION
• ADVANCEMENT
• MONEY
• SECURITY

Work Preferences- circle the one that best describes your preference.

 1. I enjoy working with:

          a. data (information, ideas, words, numbers)

          b. people

          c. things (machines, equipment, animals)

    2. I prefer working:

          a. indoors

          b. outdoors

          c. some inside and some outside

 3. I prefer working in:

           a. alone

           b. groups

           c. being part of a team but working autonomously

      4. I would like to work in a:

           a. large city

           b. medium size city

           c. town or suburban area

           d. small town or rural area

5. I prefer a job that involves:

           a. a lot of travel

           b. some travel

           c. no travel

      6. Are you more comfortable as a:

           a. team member

           b. team leader

           c. autonomous worker

Write 3-5 sentences for each of the following questions.

7. Where do you want your career to be in 5 years?

8. Which of your past jobs did you like least? Why?

9. Which jobs did you like best? Why?

10. What kind of job would you do if you could choose any job you wanted?

11. What kind of training would you like to have, if any?

12. Why did you choose your previous field of work?

13. Do you prefer to work day shift or night shift?

14. What type of employer culture will align with your personality? (e.g. corporate responsibility, virtual teams, authoritative structure, flat structure)

15. In what types of jobs do people with your personality regularly find success?

16. How will you, or your family, react to a job with long hours that will keep you away from home?

17. What kind of position will afford you the opportunity to work in an area that you are passionate about?

When you are finished, take all your TOP Preferences and write them down. Look for similarities and patterns in your answers. What type of job or career fits your answers? Does it agree with your dominate Holland theme(s)- RAISEC?

My ideal job would be _________________________.

Let’s look at Work Values.

Below is a list of work values. Decide what is most important and what is the least important to you when you work. Again, rate the work value using the numbers 1=Most Important, 2=  Somewhat Important, and 3= Least Important. When making a career choice, remember that what you value directly impacts your working conditions, feeling satisfied and meaning in your work.

Being Around Interesting People

Benefits

Blending of Family and Career

Clear Expectations

Clear Rules

Competition

Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

Flexible Work Schedule

Freedom from Pressure/Stress

Independence

Involvement in Decision-Making

Leisure Time

Mental Challenge

Power and Influence

Public Contact

Quality of Product

Recognition

Regular 40-hour Work Week

Salary

Security

Status and Prestige

Travel Opportunities

Variety and Change in WorkOther

Other activities:

• Make a vision board. Identifying your Passions can help discover possible career paths in which to look for jobs.
• Look at what your personal interests, activities and hobbies are.
• Try writing a mission statement- would you change the world, leave your family a legacy, invent something?
• Make a timeline on where you hope to be in 1 yr. 5 yr.10 yr and 25 yrs
• Imagine yourself receiving an award, being selected for a cherished position…

If you had unlimited resources, you could not fail, had a great support team at work and at home, what would you do?