The importance of conducting a self–analysis

Before beginning your job search it is important to evaluate and understand your transferrable skills, strengths, weaknesses, values, priorities, interests and passions. A self-analysis exercise will help you to gain clarity and focus by exploring where you have been and creating a pathway to where you are going. Here we explore a few things you might want to consider to support you in conducting an effective self-analysis depending upon your situation.

Undertaking psychometric tests

A good starting point would be to undertake some psychometric tests where you will answer a number of questions and be provided with a report and your results. Psychometric tests involve a series of structured questions that provide a measurement of aspects of your personality. They can help to identify your strengths, weaknesses, motivations and possibly also suggest alternative careers suited to your personality characteristics.

Psychometric tests are objective and often used in the recruitment process by employers to assess whether your skills, knowledge and personality fit within the role and organisation. It can be useful to undertake these so that you can gain an understanding of what type of role and organisation you are best suited to. Most advanced and in-depth psychometric tests will carry a fee, however, there are some introductions to psychometric testing that are free to try which will cover the fundamentals and give you an overview of your personality type, such as http://www.psychometricinstitute.co.uk/Free-Personality-Test.asp

Creating your own essentials and desirables

Employers will often give you a list of essential and desirable criteria on a job description. You can treat your self-analysis in a similar way by writing your own list of essential and desirable criteria. By listing your essential and desirable criteria you can ensure that you conduct a focussed job search and only apply for suitable positions, for example:

Essentials:
I would like to work with business partners or work as a Manager (not per se of people) or a head of a department
Located within a 50mile radius of current location
Salary range between £xxxxx and £xxxxx
Full time hours

Desirables:
Flexi-time and opportunity to work from home 1 day a week
Bonus structure
Social company culture
On–site parking
Employee benefits/healthcare package
Internationally focused organization

Rank these in order and think about things you would need to sacrifice.

Analysing your transferable skills

Analysing your skills will help you identify what you want to do, and what you are able to do. It will help with your Career Development Plan, assist in identifying your transferrable skills, build your confidence and allow you to sell yourself and your skill set to potential employers in an interview.

Career Changing

Conducting a self-analysis will be particularly important if you are looking to change career, whether you have a direction in mind or if you are trying to generate ideas. Having the opportunity to assess your skills, knowledge and experience will be the best way to get the career change started and give you some solid foundations on which to build your new career.

Asking for feedback and input from your family, friends and professional network can be a useful way of generating ideas and assessing how people view you in your social and professional life.
Some questions you could ask include:

• What would you say my strengths are/what is unique about me?
• What advice would you give in terms of acquiring new skills related to my job?
• What possible behaviours do you believe I may have to change so that I may be more effective or efficient in my job?
• Do you have any suggestions for other opportunities/organisations where they look for candidates with these strengths?

You may be looking for a similar role to your last or current job, or perhaps you are looking for a promotion. A self-analysis exercise will ensure that you become conscious about the value you can bring to your new role and will assist you in communicating your unique selling points and marketing yourself throughout the application process. It can be beneficial to identify opportunities in your current work place which will enable you to use your strengths and skills. Keep an eye on opportunities which arise in the area of the business that interests you and align your goals with your company’s objectives.

Renovo is one of the UK’s leading providers of outplacement and career transition support. We work with both organisations and individuals to support all their career transition requirements. If you would like to understand how Renovo can help you please call 0800 612 2011 or email info@renovo.co.uk