1. Learning About Yourself
Chapter 7
Learning About Yourself

2. Objectives After studying this chapter you will be able to
determine how personality, self-concept, interests, attitudes, aptitudes, abilities, and personal priorities affect career decisions.
analyze how self-concept can affect job performance.
relate personal priorities to professional priorities.

3. Words to Know resource personality self-concept interests attitude
aptitudes
abilities
personal priorities

4. The Importance of Knowing Yourself
Choosing a satisfying career requires:
knowledge of careers
knowledge of yourself

5. Examining the Real You
Resource – Anything a person can use to help reach his or her goals.
Understanding yourself begins by understanding your resources:
personality
self-concept
interests
attitude
aptitudes
abilities
personal priorities

6. Your Personality Everyone has a one-of-a-kind personality.
Personality – The group of traits that makes each person unique.
Choosing a career that suits your personality can lead to success and happiness.
A pleasant personality can help you get jobs and interact well with coworkers.
Discuss: Describe the type of personality that you think employers would admire.

7. Think About It
Discuss: What personality traits could possibly lead to career failure?
Can you identify 10 personality traits and describe how they relate to career success or failure?

8. Your Self-Concept
Self-concept – Recognition of both your strengths and weaknesses; accepting and feeling good about yourself.
Individuals develop a realistic self-concept by seeing themselves as they really are, not as they would like to be.
Note: Self-esteem is a term often used to describe a good self-concept.
What words describe a good self-concept?

9. Forming and Changing Your Self-Concept
A good self-concept can be strengthened.
A poor self-concept can be changed by honestly examining weaknesses as well as strengths.
How you feel about yourself also affects how others see you.
What everyday factors influence how you feel about yourself?

10. In Your Opinion
Do you find that people who frequently brag tend to have a poor self-concept?

11. Your Interests
Interests – The ideas, subjects, or activities a person enjoys.
Interests are key to choosing a career focus from the following:
people
data
objects
Most jobs involve all three areas, but usually focus on one or two.

12. Your Interests
Careers with a people focus involve frequent discussions and interactions with others.
Careers with a data focus require reading, researching, and using facts and figures.
Careers with an objects focus involve working with tools and instruments and the items that result.
Discuss: Which career focus appeals most to you?

13. Think About It
What could people do to have a better understanding of their key interests?
Discuss: Could hidden interests be sparked by trying new activities? meeting new friends?

14. Did You Know?
In many high schools, students can take an activities-preference inventory to help identify their key interests.
Discuss: Has any student in class taken this test? What did you learn?

15. The Three A’s Attitude – How you react to a situation.
Aptitudes – The natural talents a person has or the potential to learn certain skills easily and quickly.
Abilities – The skills a person has developed.
Attitudes and abilities can be controlled, but not aptitudes.

16. Your Attitude – Positive or Negative?
Employers try to hire people with a positive attitude because they like their work and coworkers enjoy working with them.
Employers avoid hiring people with a negative attitude because they tend to complain, argue, and resist compromise.

17. Think About It
Can a worker’s attitude be apparent even to those who can’t see the worker’s face?
Discuss: What are some unseen clues that can detect a person’s attitude?

18. Your Aptitudes and Abilities
Aptitude is a person’s natural talent, while ability comes from work and practice.
Workers who have a natural ability for a career can perform very well, but those with no aptitude or ability will be at a disadvantage.
Discuss: Would you ever advise friends to choose a career for which they have no aptitudes or abilities?

19. Your Personal Priorities
Personal priorities – All the beliefs, ideas, and objects that are important to an individual.
Examples: honesty, health, family, friends, religion, and education
Discuss: Explain why family members often have similar personal priorities.

20. In Your Opinion
Do you think personal priorities change over time or stay the same?
Example: If a person likes to work with “tools,” will that focus ever change?

21. Your Personal Priorities
Individuals also have professional priorities related to work.
Examples: ethics, independence, variety, creativity, competition, and recognition
Often the priorities people have about work are identical to those they value in their personal lives.

22. Your Personal Priorities
Identify what is important to you so you can make a wise career choice.
Consider personal and professional priorities when choosing a career.
Discuss: For example, many people work indoors, but some prefer to work outdoors. How important is this professional priority to you?

23. How to Evaluate Yourself
Written tests can evaluate personality, aptitudes, and abilities.
You will be evaluated by your schools as well as your employers.
Interviews and supervisor reports are also used.
Talks with family members and teachers can help you make your evaluations.

24. How to Evaluate Yourself
Periodically look at yourself honestly.
List your positive and negative attitudes.
Decide which attitudes should change and how to make the changes.
Abilities can be changed by following the same steps as are used for changing attitudes.
Discuss: How easy is it to look at yourself honestly as a first step to a personal evaluation?

25. Think About It
List careers that suit your interests, aptitudes, and personality.
Identify jobs that conflict with those personal characteristics.

26. Chapter 7: In the Know
Your interests, attitudes, aptitudes, abilities, and other resources will help you make a wise career choice.
A positive personality and healthy self-concept are important for a satisfying career.
Everyone can identify and change the personal weaknesses that could negatively affect their careers.

27. Chapter 7: Think More About It
How would you describe your personality? Would others describe it differently?
What type of career seems to suit your interests, attitude, aptitudes, abilities, and personal priorities?
How can you make good use of self-evaluations?