Know Thyself: Internal & External

Career self-assessment is extremely valuable, providing you with two types of benefits that I'll refer to as internal and external.

Internal benefits directly pertain to you. By assessing factors such as your previous work experience, skills, personality, goals, motivations, and values, you can decide what type of job or career suits you, and not waste your time applying for jobs that are not right for you. This in turn means that you minimize the risk that you'll experience the misery of going daily to a job that you dislike.

External benefits pertain to you and to the person/employer that you want to hire you. That is, career self-assessment allows you to know yourself well enough to convert the information into a sales pitch to an interviewer about why you're the best candidate for their vacancy, which will help you land the job you want. Employers want to know not only who you are and what you do, but how this will benefit them.

How does this work? The most obvious – and easiest – thing to sell is that which is concrete, so when you look at a job description, consider how your various skills and previous work experience will meet the employer's needs. First, think in terms of specific requirements listed on the job description (e.g., "They need someone who starts IVs, and I have two years of experience in starting IVs"). But don't forget the transferable skills that may be useful for the job, but which are not on the job description (e.g., fluency in a second language, experience in conflict resolution).

Next comes the more abstract world of personality, goals, motivations, and values. Having assessed these can not only help you to sell your soft skills, but will help you to show how you are a fit with the attitudes, beliefs, and values of the work environment, that is, how you fit the corporate culture.

Suppose a job requires a team player. Illustrate with an anecdote how the collaborative form of work appeals to you personally, perhaps because you find that it's the best way to learn from the experience or insight of others, or because you enjoy the lively interaction that comes from sharing ideas. Or maybe the role requires someone who works independently and without supervision? Again, tell an anecdote, and connect it to one of your motivations, e.g., illustrate how you're a self-starter who likes to have responsibility for projects, or who seeks added duties in order to learn new things. Perhaps the job post mentions that leadership abilities are desirable. In addition to giving information about your previous charge or team leader experience, or a preceptorship course that you have completed, you can describe how further developing your leadership skills is one of the things that you want to accomplish (e.g., in addition to obtaining a higher degree) in order to achieve your goal to one day hold a management role.

By knowing more about yourself, you'll be able to provide multidimensional answers to interviewers' questions, addressing an employer's practical needs in terms of skills and experience, as well as illustrating how you'll fit their corporate culture. And as an added bonus, you'll find it easier to craft an answer to a question people usually find difficult: "Why should we hire you?"

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