Whether you’re a fresh graduate or a senior level executive, searching for a new job can be a challenging transition in your career. The good news is that you always have a better chance of succeeding when you put in the time and effort to understand yourself, your goals and your values. What you know about yourself and what makes you more productive affects your job search and how others perceive you. With that kind of awareness, you will be able to better position yourself for your dream career. The earlier you start the better. Akhtaboot highlights 5 things you need to know about yourself while looking for the perfect job.
Your Career Path
Choosing the right career path raises a lot of difficult questions: “Does the position pay well?”, “Is this the right move for me?” While there are no simple answers, maintaining the right attitude and approach can make choosing your career path much easier. When evaluating the directions you want to pursue, it is important to understand how your skills and interests match up with your potential careers, along with your personal and financial needs. Disregarding those factors could leave you jobless and unhappy. Before making any major decisions, always take the time to assess both the career path and your personal needs.
Your Skill Set
A skill set is the combination of abilities that allow you to perform a particular job. It can be anything from your ability to use certain software, to persuading customers to buy your product. It is important for you to be able to identify your skills as it is your competitive edge when approaching the job market. You need to match what you can do to the duties and responsibilities of the job you are applying for. Nowadays, you have to reinvent yourself to stay competitive. You need to turn your current skills into valuable assets. Instead of starting all over again, you can start by building on what you already know. The skills that you have been using in your past jobs can still be of value in your new career.
Your Values
Identifying your personal values will allow you to draw boundaries on what you consider acceptable behavior and what you don’t. For example, if you don’t value competition, but you work in a highly competitive environment, you might consider that environment toxic. In such situations, understanding your values can really help. Your personal values are a central part of who you are and who you want to be. By becoming more aware, you can use them as a guide to make the best career choice.
Your Past Achievements
Your past achievements are a testament of how you turned your skills and values into results. It is important to keep them in mind because you are most likely competing with other candidates who have had similar responsibilities as yours but might have achieved different results. When you speak about your accomplishments, you automatically demonstrate your unique abilities to turn your skills into valuable results. That’s why it is essential to take a lot of time to outline what kind of accomplishments you have achieved in the past, because ultimately, every employer needs people who can offer the highest value for the company.
Your Weaknesses
Understanding yourself does not only revolve around your selling points and what you are good at. You also need to acknowledge your areas of weakness. Maybe you can do the work, but because of inexperience, it might take you longer to master it. However, a smart employee will always look for ways to turn weaknesses into strengths, so when you are asked about your weaknesses, you should be able to acknowledge them and at the same time demonstrate how you will overcome these blind spots.
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