Do you know the net worth of your career? Completing an online salary survey will give you a one dimensional view of your value, but it isn’t designed to take a holistic view of your total career net worth.
Your career net worth needs to assess the sum of:
• your skills (learned, transferrable and innate)
• life and work related experiences
• personal and work related accomplishments
• training, education, and
• individual traits and characteristics.
It can be easier to put a value on some of these items over others, but combined they create your total net worth. Many individuals will look at their training, education and worked related experiences/skills and overlook the value of some of the ‘soft skills’ or life experiences they possess. What you may take for granted and see just apart of your life could help you stand out to an employer. Life experiences could include:
• having lived abroad,
• extensively travelling,
• speaking a second language,
• years of competitive dance, music experience
• volunteering at the food bank,
• being a captain, or referee for a sports team.
Through many of these life experiences individuals will have learned tangible ‘skills’ like learning to integrate to new processes, systems and cultures. Dealing with ambiguity, developed perseverance, initiative, living with success and disappointment, seeing through the eyes of others, or the less fortunate.
Individual traits and characteristics such as natural leadership, motivation and friendliness can also be critical to success.
One example is of an individual who finds it very easy to mingle in a crowd and socialize. For many people this skill, is apart of their individual traits and characteristics. They don’t think twice about it as its second nature to them. While others find crowd surfing painfully difficult, and it takes a lot of courage and personal motivation to walk into a room of strangers.
Depending on your career choice this skill could increase your ability for success and your net worth to an organization.
By the time you’ve completed a second interview you should have a clear understanding of the core competencies of the position and what the company values as the critical elements for success.
Review your career net worth and decide which experiences, skills and traits you need to emphasis during the interview process. This will help differentiate you from your personal competition and give the interviewer a better understanding of your total value to the organization.
Diane Cobbold
Career Coach - Careego.com