Promoting your work experience – Self Awareness

 

 

In the last of our blogs about skills before Easter we look at Self awareness.  We will be back after Easter with more blogs on different skills so keep looking out for them.

So far we have covered Communication, Teamwork and Problem solving . Self awareness is perhaps more tricky to define but it is important to the whole process as it underpins all of the qualities we have and use.

We all need to be aware of what we are like as people and how we function alongside others.

So some key questions  to ask yourself (and make notes on) could be :

• What role do I tend to take in a team?  Leader, mediator, diplomat, judge?
• Do I behave differently in different settings?
• Do I prefer working in smaller or larger groups? This could help when choosing the type and size of company you would like to work for. Or the type of job?
• What effect has my behaviour had on others around me? Encouraging? Inspiring? Leading?
• Do I know how to modify my behaviour as appropriate  to the situation?
• Do I tend to be more extravert or introvert? People tend to lean towards one or the other but can be a mixture of both or can be very outgoing or quite quiet.
• Do I like working alone or in a group or a mixture of both?
• What key skills have I got?
• What about any strengths and weaknesses?
• What has my previous work experience taught me about myself and dealing with new situations? How did I react if/when I have faced  a crisis situation?
• What do I know? What parts of my knowledge will be useful to an employer? How can I show this?
• What are my values and beliefs? Are they going to affect my career choices? How?
• What challenges have I faced?
• Am I drawn to a particular aspect of a field of work because of the way I am?

We are all different, you may be on the same course as others but differences  can show in the individual modules selected, work experience completed , projects chosen plus interests outside university. In addition to that are, as mentioned above, key and core skills, knowledge and values.

Once you have thought about and have a sense of self it can make choosing a career and applying to  jobs more straightforward.

The quiz on prospects can help you start to build a picture of  what you may be drawn to in terms of career choice.

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/planner

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