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Career Selection and Planning Guide
2nd edition: August 25, 2008

From your research of possible career options (which you conducted in the previous step) you determined that at least two or more occupations are worthy of further consideration as possible career goals.  In this step you will compare your selections - one at a time - to your personality style to determine which occupation best matches you.  This strategy should help you narrow down your options and make selecting a career goal easier.

Directions:

1. Print a copy of this checklist.  On your printed copy, check off each step as it is completed to keep a record of your progress through this exercise.

2. Complete each step in the order presented.  Note: for the hyperlinks found below to work, you must be viewing this checklist online.

Steps

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[1]  Print a copy of the Career Selector Guide (Form 4).

Use the link to the right to print a blank copy of this form.  Note that this form looks very similar to the Personality Style Profile (Form 1) that you completed earlier in this program.

MS Word  PDF

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[2]  Transfer your personality style data.

From your completed copy of the Personality Style Profile (Form 1), transfer verbatim your interests, skills, values and/or behavioral traits to the corresponding sections on your printed copy of the Career Selector Guide (Form 4).

Note: After transferring your personality style data, do not record any additional information on your printed copy of the Career Selector Guide (Form 4).

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[3]  Make photocopies of your edited Career Selector Guide (Form 4).

Note the number of occupations (see your Career Options Profiles (Form 3)) that received a "Yes" checkmark - occupations that you indicated are worthy of further consideration as possible career goals.  Make this many photocopies of your edited version of the Career Selector Guide (Form 4) - the version that you produced in Step 2 above.

For example, if you have 6 occupations that received a "Yes," checkmark, then make 6 copies of your edited copy of the Career Selector Guide (Form 4).

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[4]  Compare your personality style to your first "Yes" occupation.

1. Select one of your "Yes" occupations.

2. Record the job title of your selection on a printed photocopy of your edited Career Selector Guide (Form 4) - not on the original form.

3. Follow the directions on your printed copy of the Career Selector Guide to rate the desirability of each of the "Internal factors" as they relate to your occupation.  Record your answers under the "Ratings:" column.

4. Compare how well each of your interests match your occupation.  Record your answers under the "Ratings:" column.

5. (Optional) If you assessed your skills, values and/or behavioral traits, then compare each of these items to your occupation.  Record your answers under the "Ratings:" column.

6. Add together all the numbers listed under the "Ratings:" column and place the total score at the bottom of the form.

Very Important Note: Your total score is an indication of how well you believe the occupation matches your personality style.  If you use this strategy to evaluate only one occupation, then your score may not have much meaning.  However, if you evaluate two or more occupations then this strategy can help you determine which occupation best matches you.

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[5]  Compare your personality style to all remaining "Yes" occupations.

Using the above strategy and a new photocopy of your edited Career Selector Guide (Form 4) for each occupation, compare each of your remaining "Yes" occupations to your personality style and produce a total score for each occupation.

Complete this step before moving on to the next step!

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[6]  Select a career goal!

This is the moment of truth!  All of the work that you have completed so far in this program has been designed to get you to this point - the point where you can identify the occupation that you believe best matches your personality style.

Look at the occupation that received the highest total score.  You're looking at the occupation that you believe best matches your personality style.

Question: Do you want to select this occupation as your new career goal?

If your answer is yes, then move to Step 5: Develop a career plan to complete the program.

Question: If your answer is no, do you want to select any of the other occupations that you just evaluated?

If yes, then please move to Step 5: Develop a career plan to complete the program.

If no, then please return to Step 2: Identify possible career options and produce a list of new career options to evaluate and proceed from there.