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Exercise 3: What are your current work values?
Another exercise you can do is to focus on your values related to work and identify what is important to you in a job at the moment.
Being clear about what you value most about a job will help you when deciding whether or not to apply for another position.
Step 1
Work through the checklist below and rate the importance of each work value to you by ticking the appropriate column. You can do so by copying the form over to your word processing package, or by printing it out.
Try and complete the checklist quickly and be honest with your answers. Remember you are choosing what is most important to you in a job right now; your values may alter over time and with changing circumstances.
CURRENT WORK VALUES - WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU?*
| Work Value
| Very Important
| Somewhat Important
| Not Important
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| Steady income with good benefits
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| Chance for advancement; increased pay
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| Doing a variety of tasks
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| Having an established routine of work
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| Respect and recognition
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| Friendly fellow workers
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| Pleasant physical surroundings
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| Expectations by boss clearly defined
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| Being in charge/supervising/managing/having authority
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| Persuading others
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| Motivating and inspiring others
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| Teaching/training others
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| Flexible hours; control over own time
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| Regular hours (little overtime)
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| Leaving my mark on the world
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| Chance to use my own ideas/creative expression
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| Working as part of a team
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| Working on my own
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| Being my own boss
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| Chance to use my initiative
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| Working on one project at a time
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| Time and energy left for outside activities
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| Opportunity to learn new things
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| Working for a cause; being of service to others
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| Having clearly defined tasks
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| Spirit of competition; chance to be successful
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| No responsibility
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| Producing a tangible product
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| Having responsibility
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| Working with details, data, numbers
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| Working with things/machines
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| Working with people
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| Working with ideas
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| Challenging work
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| Job security
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| Good salary
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| Seeing results of work; accountability
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| Opportunity to use my special skills/knowledge
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| Working with an organisation/people of high integrity
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| Producing high quality work
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*Source of document unknown
Step 2
Now look through the completed checklist. Of the items you've rated as Very Important pick the three that are most important to you at the moment. When you are considering applying for a different job, consider whether or not it will meet the work values you have identified. Occasionally you may decide to take a job that doesn't quite meet your criteria, as you see it as a 'stepping-stone' to the career you really want. |
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