Career self-assessment

Getting to know yourself in terms of where you are now, where you want to be and how you plan to get there are the first steps towards planning your career. If you have already started on your chosen study path also think about what attracted you to that area.

Life as a whole

Example life-line showing the stages of life as high points (school, qualifying, marriage, children, career) and low points (moving house, father died, leaving school, sideways careers moves, redundancy, hospital) — An example life-line

Review your life so far and the key events that may have influenced any major decisions. Perhaps draw a life-line as shown in the example. This can help you discover aspects that you might want to develop and change, and be a starting point to plan for the future.

Drawing a mind map may also help generate new ideas and make associations between things that you haven’t thought of. There are apps and free software that can help with this. Reflect on what these say about you.

Take time to reflect on what the life-line and mind map say about you. Are any particular themes appearing?

Your skills and interests

Your skills and interests may indicate which careers would suit you. Do they lie within one of these groups?

social (caring)
communication or language
organising, managing
practical or technical
living things, nature, outdoor, science, environment
artistic, music, drama (creative)
sport, leisure

The grouping is just a way to help you see the potential for jobs within a particular area. For instance, if you fall into the artistic (creative) category, you might like a career as an artist, sculptor or dressmaker. Do you consider yourself to have the talent to work and make a living in this way? Or you may prefer to use your interest and ability in this area to help others to enjoy the creative arts by, for example, teaching or organising exhibitions.

However, activities you enjoy as relaxation may be less fun if you have to do them all the time.

Your values

You may have values and beliefs that link to the type of work you want to do; work that benefits other people, animals or environment, or you may not be prepared to do some kinds of job on moral grounds. Terms such as 'corporate social responsibility' or 'diversity' may attract you to a particular employer or type of work.

Your values may relate to your work-life balance. Do you want to put all your energy into a career, or is work a way of funding your personal goals and interests? Record and review your beliefs and values on a grid, like the example shown, to help you think about what you want from work and give an opportunity to reflect on these.

Example of a belief and values grid with row headings: 'What matters to me?', 'What's important to me?' and column headings: 'In the world', 'In my work (paid, unpaid or voluntary)','In my relationships', and 'In myself'. — Example beliefs and values grid

Your needs, responsibilities and constraints

Make some notes of your needs, values and responsibilities to help you think about the possible constraints in your choice of career. Personal factors may affect your career choice. These could include:

the need to earn a certain amount of money
your age or health
being responsible or caring for family members
issues such as equality and diversity
the need to stay in a particular area
wanting to get a qualification as quickly as possible
the need to gain a qualification which also gives professional recognition.

Given what you've identified, are there ways to overcome these?

Have you considered all the possibilities that are open to you?
Are the barriers you see as great as you first thought?
Are there any creative strategies you could use to help overcome them?

Goal setting

Look at your goals in terms of a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) as shown in the example. This can help you focus on the main issues to consider and aim for a specific goal that is achievable.

SWOT analysis four-quare grid. First square Strengths: What do you do well? What do other people see as your strengths? Analyse your skills, values, and interests. Second square Weaknesses: What areas need development? Which careers should you avoid? Third square Opportunities: What possibilities are open to you? What resources do you have? Who can help you? Fourth square Threats: What might cause difficulties? What responsibilities do you have? What might restrict you? — Example SWOT analysis

Using Generative AI tools for self-assessment

You can use a Generative AI tool (such as Microsoft Copilot, which is included in your Open University Microsoft 365 account) to take a career personality test and reveal your career personality type, ideal roles, strengths and how these align with your current work.

Take a self-assessment to find the skills which match your characteristics. Copilot can offer a clear assessment for each of your skills, identify development areas and help with describing your skills in a professional tone.

Provide the following details to enable the best results:

Key achievements
Strengths and skills demonstrated
What went well
Challenges and how you’ve managed them
Areas for development
Goals for the next 12 months.

Compare the AI analysis with your personal values and decide what you think best fits your personality and situation.

Note that using AI in this way can offer helpful insights, but these are not scientifically validated career diagnostics. Use the feedback as a prompt for reflection and combine it with your own judgement, further research and professional guidance, where appropriate.

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