Job searching: take the time to analyse your personal values

All of us possess values both in our personal and working lives, but if anyone stopped to ask you what they are, would you know and do you understand the importance of how these impact each other?

Understanding your personal values is one of the essential job searching tools – besides your CV and the interview itself. These values will build the foundation of what you are looking for and will play a major part in the decisions to be made throughout the journey of finding a job.

This article’s purpose is to help you capture this information through self-analysis. Maybe for once you will stop in your tracks for a moment to take stock of your life and what you feel is important to you.

It may well come as a surprise to you that what you think are your important values can be sometimes quite different e.g. you may feel that money is high on your list of priorities, but what may be more important is the location of your place of employment in relation to your home and the impact this has with quality time spent with your family and friends.

This is why it is important to establish your values at the start of your job search. This should be repeated from time to time even if you are in employment as your priorities change as you become more mature and have experience of life.

Self-analysis: Establishing your personal values

A self-analysis can bring to the forefront a way of identifying your values and to find out if these are met from a work and personal life view point. Which of the following things do you really care about? Which ones are the most important to you?

• Achievement – To accomplish a range of important objectives and tasks

• Advancement/ Progression – To climb up the career ladder and reach the highest level possible

• Adventure/Excitement – To find excitement, take risks and discover new and fresh things to carry out

• Association – To enjoy working with others, being liked and accepted for who you are

• Freedom/Self-governing – To have the freedom to carry out work within your own schedule and not to be tied down with compliance and organisational rules

• Challenge – To look for continuing challenges and additional responsibilities to test skills and abilities to the limit

• Creativity – To express yourself in a creative way, and enjoy coming up with new and fresh ideas to address problems

• Family – To have quality time with your family, forming strong relationships and supporting/guiding the development of younger children within it

• Friendships – To have a circle of friends, enjoy the time you spend together and to be there for them in both good and bad times

• Happiness – To make others happy and be personally happy

• Integrity – To be honest and stand up for what you believe in

• Leadership – To communicate clearly and concisely when leading others so that they are able to implement your ideas and visions

• Location – To live where you want to live

• Money/Wealth – To be financially successful and self sufficient

• Passion/Drive – To be passionate about everything you do through pure drive and determination

• Recreation – To have a work/life balance in order to carry out hobbies and interests

• Self-expression – To have a positive attitude, acting the true and honest person you are and being consistent in your day to day life without restriction

• Service – To support and help others, taking the opportunity to contribute to their well-being and improving society

Analysing your most important values

Are you done collecting the values that are most important to you? Then you can analyse them on the basis of the following questions and categories.

• Values that are currently being satisfied in my work

• Values that are currently being satisfied in my personal life

• Values that are not being satisfied at work

• Values that are not being satisfied in my personal life

• Start to think of ways I can better meet my values in my work (brainstorm)

• Start to think of ways I can better meet my values in my personal life (brainstorm)

What to keep in mind when it comes to your personal values

As busy as our life might be, it is still important that we stop from time to time and think about those things which are close to our hearts and are part of our makeup as an individual.

This is why you should consider the following 3 statements when applying for positions the next time:

1. Do you initially feel that at least 50% of your values can be achieved in making an application for the position?

2. Are you happy to make compromises?

3. Do you feel a rush of excitement and challenge that shows that it feels right? – If so, then apply!!

Good luck with all that!

If you want to learn more about what to consider when looking for a job, read “Essential job searching tools” written by Paul H Brisk.

 
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