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Identifying Yourself

Your Interests | Personality Characteristics | Personal and Work Values | Realistic Possibilities

Below are four inventories to help you assess who you are. Then you can match your characteristics to good-fitting careers. Don't forget to print out your results once you have completed the following inventories and then return to the Quick Goal Plan. These inventories will be helpful in setting your goals and making your time with an advisor (help you plan your classes) or counselor (career planning) more efficient and effective.

Don't forget to print out your results!

Your Interests

There are many ways to learn about your interests. In addition to talking with a counselor, a popular assessment interest inventory is The Strong Interest Inventory (SII). This inventory follows the principle that most people can be loosely categorized with respect to six types: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

Occupations and work environments can also be classified by the same categories. People who choose careers that match their own types are most likely to be both satisfied and successful. Your SII report can help you to understand more about yourself and how your individual skills and interests are related to your career choice.

Taking the SII will help you find the careers that best match your interests and abilities. You can stop by the PVCC Counseling Division in B-Building to schedule an appointment and take the Strong Interest Inventory.

Below is a simple interest inventory. Check the items that you enjoy. Which letter had the most items checked? What letter was second? Third?

You can compare your three letters to good-fitting careers at this site from Career.Missouri.Edu. At that page, scroll down until you see the horizontal list of all six types (each of the letters corresponds to a specific type). Click on the type that matches your first letter (the one with the most checks)

Other interesting sites:
Turning interests into careers:

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Personality Characteristics

Your personality and interests are additional information about yourself to help you better choose the best fitting career for you! Personality refers to preferences you may have for what you pay attention to (internal or external), how you intake and process information (either intuitively or through your senses), how you make decisions (logic or value-based), and how you express yourself (either planned or spontaneously). Once you know your preferences, then you can compare your results with matching career environments.

Once again, your PVCC Counseling Division can help you identify your personality characteristics using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This resource will show you how your personality preferences match typical characteristics of various work environments and careers. Stop by the Counseling Division in B-Building to schedule an appointment and take the Myers-Briggs.

Identifying Your Personal Preferences

Check the items under each letter that fit you most of the time.

Where do you focus your attention and energy? E or I

E
Attention focused outward: people, things, and action
Energized by being with -others
Talk it out
Multiple relationships
Like variety and action
Easy to know

I
Attention focused inward: concepts, ideas, feelings
Energized by being alone
Think it through
Close relationships
Like quiet for concentration
Hard to know

How do you gather information? How do you become aware? S or N

S
Memorize facts
Seek specific information
Interested in what is real
Here & now focus
Value what is practical
Down to Earth

N
Use imagination to go beyond facts
Seek quick insights
Interested in possibilities
Future focus
Value what is original
Head in clouds

How do you make decisions or make judgments? T or F

T
Does not show emotion readily
Tends to be firm-minded
Needs- to be treated fairly
Can get along w/o harmony
Likes to decide things logically
Why?

F
Aware of other people's feelings
Tends to be sympathetic
Needs occasional praise
Gets upset by conflicts
Personal values important
Who?

How do you relate to the outer world? J or P

J
Plan ahead
Work steadily toward goals
May decide things too quickly
Likes to finish a project
Wants to control events
Punctual

P
Adapt as you go
Workimpulsively w/bursts of energy
May have trouble making decisions
Likes to start many projects
Responds to the moment
Leisurely

Your type (which did you select (E or I), (S or N), (T or F), (J or P)?

Now, using your four-letter type, go to this grid to find out what career fits your type.

Other Interesting Links:

A wonderful web site containing information about many career and personality assessment tools online is Career Resources for Pre-College Students (the site is good for college students too!).

Other resources that may be helpful include:

Keirsey Temperament Sorter:

Personality and Skills Inventories:

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Personal and Work Values

Clarifying your values is crucial. Yet, to clarify your values, you first need to define your values. And to do that, you probably need to know what a value is!

A value is that which is important to you (more important than something else). It is prized and cherished. It is publicly affirmed, manifested and acted upon. Values must be chosen freely and from a set of alternatives. If done properly, values will be chosen after you have considered all the consequences. Finally, they must be performed consistently and repeatedly.

Values can be manifested (your action matches your belief), or they can be implicit (you value something but your action suggests that you value something else more!). An example of a manifested value is saying I value spending time with my family, and my action therefore, would be that I spend time with them. If I say I value spending time with my family, but I don't really spend time with them, then that value of family is only implicit (but it is not manifested). For example, if I say spending time with my family is more important than watching T.V., but I spend more time watching T.V. than I do with my family, then I am being incongruent. My stated values don't match my manifested values.

Proponents of healthy mental functioning would argue that if your actions don't match what you believe to be your important values, then you are more likely to be unhappy, dissatisfied, hurt, and confused.

A major component of job/career satisfaction will be to find work that matches your deepest values. If you do something that is not important to you, how happy will you be? EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, if you do something that you say is important to you, you will likely be very satisfied with your career and life, in general.

Everyone values something. You make choices everyday about many, many things. Every choice you make represents what you value and what is important to you. Like it or not, that is a fact. If you don't like something in your life, figure out what you are gaining from it. For example, if you don't like your current job, why do you stay? Because it is getting you something. Sometimes these things we get are needs (e.g., food!). The key, once again, is to be aware of what is MOST IMPORTANT to you, and to act on that (and not something that is less important to you!).

Here is an abbreviated list of Values from which to make a priority list. Rank from 1-12 the following values from highest to lowest priority.

Making a Difference --Knowing that the world is a better place because of the work you do.

Advancement--Having a job which offers good opportunity for promotion.

Expertise--Working in an occupation where, as you get better, others recognize your skill and begin to ask your advice as an expert.

Prestige--Doing work that others consider important; people will respect you and look up to you because of your occupation.

Influencing Others--Convincing or advising people to do the things you believe they should do, when you have no authority over them.

Variety--Doing many different types of tasks; using different skills in your work

Fast Pace--Working as fast as you can, to get as much work done in as short a time as possible; you might have deadlines, or be paid by the number of items completed.

Self-Structured--Being allowed to decide how to reach a goal and in what order to do your work; deciding what to do first and how fast or slow to work.

Flexible Hours--Being able to choose which hours you want to work, as long as the work gets done on time.

Intellectual Stimulation--Doing work that keeps your mind active and forces you to think about difficult concepts; learning about new things.

High Income--Choosing an occupation in which you could expect to earn more than 75% of the people who work in the United States. (In 1996, this meant $25,000 starting and $34,000 with experience.)

Job Security--Feeling safe that your job will always be there; knowing that there is little chance you will lose your job.

Time for Family/Self --Having enough time for yourself and your family; not working all the time.

Here is another web site that gives you (and, if applicable, your partner, group, company, etc.) an opportunity to ask insightful, thought-provoking questions to help you and others learn what is most important to you.

For a more in-depth look into your values, see: Work values inventory #1:

Don't forget to print out your results!

Realistic Possibilities

Does your goal plan match your reality? In other words, are you taking the appropriate steps (including classes) that match the skills and qualifications necessary for your chosen career.

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Print this page before exiting.

Please bring this page completed to your next advising and counseling appointment.

Once you are done with this Interests Inventory,
Your next step is to return to iGoal
to write out your goals.