Self-Exploration

Who am I?
Self-assess and profile your interests, skills, competencies, values, learning styles, personality traits, and goals. This helps to form your choices about work and career. Compare and align these with the Competencies for Success at Washington University.

Online Self-Assessments

Quick & Easy

Career Interest Assessment

Skills
Profiler

Work
Values

Personality Test

Additional Self-Assessment and Career Planning Resources

Career planning information

Competencies for Success at Washington University

Exploring your fit with the world of work includes a clear understanding of the organization you work for—Washington University—and the skills and competencies required for success in your current and future roles. Skills are specific, learned, and measurable activities that enable successful task completion, usually within a single job function. Competencies blend skills, knowledge, and behavior to produce superior performance that may be applied across job functions and in different contexts. While both are important, a successful career trajectory at Washington University, including advancement and promotion, places emphasis on developing and improving competencies.

While there are many types and levels of role-specific skills that vary by job function, there is an overarching set of Core Competencies for Success at Washington University that define our standards of professional excellence, and that align with the organization’s mission and goals. Additionally, we endorse a more focused set of Leadership Competencies for Success for management and leadership roles at the university.

View the Competencies for Success

Strategies for Improving Skills

As you think about your career development, remember the 70-20-10 model: 70% of learning and development comes from on-the-job experience; 20% from observing others and receiving feedback; and only 10% from formal course work and training. Keeping this in mind, in addition to enrolling in courses and workshops, consider these more informal but equally effective strategies for improving your skills and expanding your responsibilities, and make this part of a conversation with your manager:

Take on a new task that stretches your skills
Design a special project outside of your current responsibilities
Teach others how to improve their work
Seek out a mentor
Shadow someone with skills and experience that are models for your own career
Pursue volunteer work outside of your job for skill improvement and networking
Develop an informal group of like-minded individuals to pursue an interest

Conversations With Your Manager

As part of your self-assessment initiate conversations with your manager early in the planning process to know clearly where you stand in your current position. Make sure you’re meeting current job expectations, mastering required skills, and developing new skills and responsibilities.

Here’s what you can expect from your direct manager:

Assistance with an Individual Development Plan (PDF).
Regular performance evaluation and management.
Constructive and timely feedback on current job expectations and skills.
Opportunities for skill development and professional growth within your unit.
Information about in-house and external training and continuing education.
Referral information about career development and all other benefits offered at Washington University.

When appropriate, your manager may also help you explore internal transfer opportunities or alternative career paths. We encourage conversations with your manager about your professional growth at least twice annually.

Staff Workshops

Write Your Mission Statement

What is your purpose, and how are your most important values expressed in your work and career? Construct your own mission statement