Dear Doctor: How do I go about preparing for a job search?
A: What a great question! One of the first steps in any job search is to conduct a thorough self-assessment to become fully aware of what you have to offer a potential employer. Reflecting back on your work and educational history and thinking critically about each experience helps you to better understand the product (you) that you are selling to a potential employer. Such a look back also exposes where you might need to develop further experience or take on additional education. A self-assessment asks you to be intentional about answering some important questions, like:
What do you have that you bring to the job market? What skills? What experiences?
- What are you passionate about regarding the work that lays ahead for you?
- What essentials don’t you have at this time and what is your plan to address these deficiencies?
- Why do you want to work in this industry?
- What is it that you uniquely will bring to a job opening that will add value to your potential employer?
Accurate self-assessment considers all aspects of your life, both professional and personal, seeking to understand and to document critical dimensions of success like: effective communication, financial understanding, organizational skills, technological prowess, production experiences, international exposure, problem solving, leadership, and creativity.
The value of self-assessment is that it helps you to:
- Identify how what you have done or plan to do demonstrate valuable skills and learning;
- Create documentation that identifies your skill set, interests, and talents;
- Align your background with the understood job requirements;
- Demonstrate your potential to future employers; and
- Get you ready for an interview so you can talk factually and articulately about yourself.
Such active reflection identifies the next steps in your job search journey and greatly helps to prepare you for your next employment adventure!
