# Personal Assessment and Job Decisions

It's important to be as careful and honest as possible when doing a skills analysis. This is because how people assess themselves has an impact on the type of jobs they choose. If you over-rate yourself, you may suffer some disappointments in the job hunt. If you underestimate your skills, you will not discover all the opportunities available to you.

### What type of person are you?

Are you into data, ideas, people, or things? Jobs usually consist of tasks in one or two of these four main categories. You will enjoy at least one of these categories more than the others, and your skills will tend to gather in one or two of these areas.

- Data tasks and skills usually involve working with information: facts, records, files, and numbers. Some of the jobs in this category include data entry staff, accountants, clerks, computer programmers, and data administrators.
- Ideas tasks and skills usually mean working with knowledge, creative thinking, theories, and discovery. Some of the jobs in this category include scientists, researchers, artists, planners, and philosophers.
- People tasks and skills usually involve working with people in interactive situations, such as customer service, teaching, managing, and selling. Some of the jobs in this category include retail, reception, doctors, nurses, and counsellors.
- Things tasks and skills usually mean working with machines, tools and materials to produce and repair objects. Some of the jobs in this category include cleaners, engineers, and laboratory technicians.

Making a decision about the type of job you are suited to is vital before you proceed on your job search. There's no point in doing management or reception work if people wind you up.

### Motivators

Your preferred skills will probably also be the things that motivate you. If you choose to work with people, this probably supports one of your basic beliefs about equity and efficiency, or a need to make people happy. If you prefer to work with things you may believe that practical skills are more important or rewarding than intellectual pursuits. Getting some congruence between who you are and what you do will help provide you with satisfaction in your job and in your life.

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