The following career management self assessment steps can be used to help you find out more about yourself and your dream job .

1. Review your CV
2. Listing the things you really enjoy doing
3. Examine previous employment situations
4. Evaluate your personal traits
5. Identifying your main values
6. Identifying the ideal job
7. Evaluate achievements
8. Take self assessment tests
9. Draw up a job search plan

Self Asessment step 1: Review your CV

List all the jobs held and the skills you acquired in these jobs. Do the same with all the volunteer work you held and projects you participated in. Also list the major functions you performed. Underline the action verbs in all of them. Now list them and select the three you enjoyed most. These are the skills you have and the tasks you really enjoyed. Look for the theme. You are now armed with vital information about skills you have and what interests you in jobs.

Make a list of ten things you really enjoy. It may be work, sport, fun, recreation or hobby related. Organize them in the order of preference. The first five is important. Look for a theme. Are there any of these that you can turn into a job or follow a career in?

Self Assessment step 3: Examine previous employment situations

Look at the five things you really enjoy together with the three jobs or projects you participated in. You are now looking for details of how you interacted with people who worked with you, how you managed or worked in a team , how you solved problems, made decisions, motivated others, came up with innovative ideas, organized, and planned etc. This information is used to help you communicate your style and abilities in your CV and interviews.

Values are those ideas and principles that you perceive as important. If your values and the company's values differ, you may found yourself in a predicament where you may need to compromise, stand firm or leave. Identifying the values you hold dear, enables you to select jobs where these values are not compromised. Use the list of values below to select the five most important values to you at present and the five least important values, as well as five that are important, but which you are willing to compromise on. When you receive a job offer, you use the list to compare with the corporate culture and job requirements. If your important values are compromised, don't take the job . If the position underlines the least important values then the job is also not for you. If however, the job is more in line with your important values, it means you should consider the offer.

• Adventure (looking for challenges and exploring opportunities)
• Accomplishment (sense of doing well)
• Care (empathy and love)
• Risk taking (competition and award)
• Teamwork (cooperation and working in groups)
• Innovation (originality, creative thinking)
• Stability (financial security)
• Fame ( being respected and known)
• Family ties (value of family relationship)
• Relationships (friends and connection)
• Physical health (healthy conditions)
• Assistance (helping others)
• Content (being happy)
• Integrity (living according to ethical principles)
• Participation (involvement)
• Self respect
• Neatness (order)
• Humor (wit and fun)
• Riches (being wealthy)
• Knowledge (gaining insight)
• Accountability (being responsible)
• Honesty (truth)
• Control (authority)
• Respect (acknowledgement)
• Identity (self preservation)
• Spiritual (religious beliefs)
• Power ( authority)
• Beauty (attraction)
• List others you can think of

Armed with what you already know list the jobs you held and make two columns for each. List all the things you liked about the job, the company, location, hours, climate, potential, benefits, pay etc. in the one column and that which you hated or disliked in the next column. Now make a summary what you liked and disliked. Use this information to write a one page description of the ideal job and position.

Identify all the achievements in your career and personal life from your high school days up to present. This will help you to evaluate your importance in society and the workplace and build awareness of your strengths. In addition it will help you to realize that you are valuable and thus boost confidence in your abilities and skills.

Follow these guidelines to identify your core achievements and abilities:

• Make a list of your achievements in your life ? about 30 to 35.
• Only list those where the outcome was significant.
• Only list those where you played a key role.
• Select the best achievements and write an essay about each which covers the following points:
1. The specific situation
2. Action taken
3. Outcome

1. What was the main achievement?
2. What did you most enjoy when taking the action?
3. Why did you enjoy it?
4. In what did you do excellent and why?
5. What was your motivation for doing it?
6. How did you get along with the other people involved?
7. Describe the environment and how you felt about it.

Identify the key areas from the answers to the above questions. You should see a theme of what you like, where your strengths are and what your role is.

Self Assessment step 8: Taking tests

Make use of personality tests available on the Internet as well as aptitude tests to help you further.

Self Assessment step 9: Outline the job search plan

Armed with all the above information, make an assessment of your financial requirements and basic needs and progress to planning your job search.