What is Self Evaluation?

Self-Evaluation is a process aimed at collecting and analyzing relevant information about a very complex subject i.e. YOU. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself. This involves knowing your Strengths and Weaknesses, try to find out the Opportunities, and Threats involved in pursuing the objective.

The first step involves locating your broad area of interest. In doing so, you will be better prepared to generate a list of career options in accordance with who you are as an individual. Depending on your selected career path, you will be able to embark upon the right educational arena. Ultimately, this process will aid your quest for a satisfying career path.

Many people make impulsive career choices based on the allure of money or because someone told them, they should go in a particular direction. After spending years in school, you may find yourself in a career that is found unfulfilling or less rewarding. Therefore, it is advisable that you should think about what you really want out of life, and out of your job. Well, everybody has different priorities, for some remuneration is more important, for some job satisfaction matters most. Unless and until you are clear what you really want from your job you will not be able to do justice to yourself.

¤ Interests

Identifying and acknowledging your interests will help you decide which occupations/stream of study/subjects/college to investigate and possibly pursue. Therefore, ask yourself : What do I take pleasure in? What do I enjoy?

¤ Personality

How do you interact with the world? Where do you direct your energy? What kind of information do you naturally notice? How do you make decisions? The answers to these types of questions reflect different aspects of your personality. Depending on your particular personality traits, you will prefer certain occupations over others.

¤ Skills

Skills are your abilities and areas of strength you learned through many different activities, including work, extracurricular and volunteering experiences, and hobbies. You can discover what your skills are by becoming aware of those things that you do well.

After making a list of your strengths and weaknesses and identifying a broad area of interest, it is time to weigh down the perceived opportunities in your area of interest against the supposedly threats. The career option where opportunities far outweigh the threat should be given preference.

How to evaluate yourself

Through the following evaluative methods, you can evaluate yourself to a great extent :

1. Express yourself

There are ways and means of expressing yourself. If you are of the quite types or do not like to unnecessarily talk then you can communicate your feelings through other means like singing, music, dance, painting, sports etc. The idea is to communicate. You can consult a Career Counselor at Counseling and Development Centres. Make sure to check the antecedents of the career counselor. During an initial introductory interview and subsequent meetings, you will discuss your interests, needs, and values by looking at previous work and volunteer experiences, extracurricular activities, education, and interests/hobbies.

2. Try, Test and Win

You can write an interest test and a personality test, which can assist you in becoming aware of your core interest areas and your preferences for such things as what kinds of information you naturally notice and how you make decisions. You can also use computer-based self-assessment programs that can help you to identify your core interests, values, and skill areas, as well as to link these assessment results to specific career fields and occupations. However, there is flip side to it. Such programmes are made on a generalized approach. Such programmes fail to appreciate you as unique and treat you as lot others.

3. Create and explore yourself

You must engage in creative self-exploration exercises (e.g. paper-and-pencil exercises, visualization exercises) to assist you in the examination of your interest areas, values, and beliefs.