Knowing Your Interests and Skills Leads to Meaningful Work

Posted byDebraPosted inUncategorized

In my blog post about Personal Branding I stated that it starts with knowing who you are. It is difficult to tell the world about your strengths and job preferences if you haven’t articulated those things for yourself.  In this post I will share a few of my favorite free resources for self-exploration.

Interests

For students or job seekers with less work experience, a great resource to help you understand your top work interests is the My Next Move Interest Profiler on the O*Net Online web site. By answering a few questions you will get a three letter code called a “Holland Code”. This will help you match your interests you jobs that might be a good fit.

For more experienced job seekers I recommend starting your self-assessment by making lists of interests including:

  • Work ideas
  • Business ideas
  • Topics you like to read about
  • Media consumption
  • Hobbies and leisure activities
  • Favorite products
  • Industries you are curious about
  • Problems or issues you want to solve
  • Things you enjoy teaching others
  • Ways in which people come to you for help

When you are brainstorming and writing these lists, try not to edit or judge your ideas. Just get the ideas on a page. You can edit later.

After you have a big list, cross out the ideas that no longer interest you. Put a star next to ideas for which you have been paid in the past. Underline ideas that you would like to explore further. Ideas that are both starred and underlined are probably worth exploring further.

Skills

The next thing you will inventory is skills. Before we take an inventory or create lists, I want to tell you about three types of skills.

  1. Motivated skills: These are skills in which you have a high proficiency and enjoy doing.
  2. Developmental skills: These are skills in which you have little proficiency, but you think you might enjoy doing in a work situation. These are the skills you would like to spend time and energy learning by taking a class or volunteering.
  3. Burnout skills: These are skills in which you have a high proficiency and you DO NOT enjoy doing. It is very important to identify these skills, because you do not want to spend time applying for or training for a job that involves skills you do not enjoy. A 2019 global poll conducted by Gallup uncovered that out of the world’s one billion full-time workers, only 15% of people are engaged at work. That means that an astronomical 85% of people are unhappy in their jobs. This may be, in part, because individuals do not take time to identify their burnout skills.

Career One Stop has a skills matcher inventory that can help you identify your motivated skills. You can also Google “skills inventory worksheet” and download a list of skills. The goal is to make a list of your top ten motivated, developmental and burnout skills. These lists will help you evaluate work ideas later.

Combine Skills And Interests

The next step is to make a list of your top 10 interests and motivated skills. Place them side by side and draw lines connecting ways that you might combine skills and interests in a work situation. Doing this with a friend or colleague is helpful, because they are able to see possibilities you might have overlooked.

After you have combined a few interests and skills use these keywords together to search for jobs in Indeed.com or Google Jobs. This is a great way to learn about different job titles. Read the job descriptions to determine if the job is a good fit for you. Also, continue to expand your list of skills and interests as you read through job descriptions. Make a list of job titles of interest as well.

Own It

With a list of interests, skills and job titles, you can create statements that will allow you to articulate your career needs. These statements are helpful when you are networking, sending emails or communicating your value in a resume, cover letter or LinkedIn profile. Finish the sentences below.

I am a person who is interested in:

I am a person who enjoys using these skills in a work situation:

I am a person who is interested in learning these skills:

Practice saying these statements out loud until they become natural. You want to bring your authentic self to work situations, so start by being authentic during your job search.

Learning about your interests and skills is not a task that can be done quickly. Be patient with yourself and have fun as you make lists of possibilities. Don’t worry about what you can or cannot do today. Keep an open mind and your results might surprise you. In my next blog post, we will continue to talk about self-exploration. I will tell you how to determine your top work values and personality preferences.

A great way to ensure the accuracy of interest and skills assessments is to talk with a Career Coach. Schedule a free consultation today!

Published by Debra

Debra Arviso is a career coach, career counselor, speaker and trainer. She has helped individuals and groups navigate the job search process and find meaningful careers in colleges, high schools, nonprofit organizations, corporations and jails. Debra is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. She is an advocate for underserved populations affected by trauma. She serves on the Advisory Committee of the California Career Development Association. Debra has a MS in Counseling with an Emphasis in College Counseling and Student Services from Cal State Northridge. She has a BS in Broadcast Journalism from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Backpacking, surfing, dancing, and adventure travel are a few of Debra’s passions. Her last adventure was hiking in the Amazon Rain Forest in Ecuador.

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