Values

Career or work values are personal beliefs or priorities that help you identify what's most important to you in your work and contribute to your work satisfaction and success. Knowing your values can give you a clearer sense of what's most important to you. People's values change over time and assessing your values can be helpful at any stage of working life. Below you will find two ways to assess your values.

Here is an online values assessment to prioritize your values as they relate to your work preferences.

The following is a list of values. To help you identify your values, circle the ten words that are most important to you.

Accomplishment Excellence Predictability
Adventure Exploring Purpose
Artistic expression Fairness Recognition
Authority Family Respect
Balance Friendship Responsibility
Belonging Fun Risk-taking
Challenge Health Security
Community Helping Service
Competence High earnings Solitude
Competition Humor Spirituality/Faith
Contributing Independence Stability
Control Influence Status
Cooperation Integrity Structure
Creativity Knowledge Success
Curiosity Leadership Surroundings
Diversity Learning Teamwork
Duty/Obligation Loyalty Time freedom
Effectiveness Nature Trust
Excitement Power Variety

Activity: On a separate piece of paper, rank your top ten values in order of importance to you. Remember, the values you choose should reflect your true feelings, not what you think should be important. Once you have compiled your list, write two or three sentences about each value -- what it means to you and how it might be expressed in your work life.