In my January 11 blog post I spoke about the importance of introspection in the career planning process. I focused on how assessing your values can play a role in the career choices you make. The next step in the introspective process is examining your intrinsics.
I use the word intrinsics as a catch-all to describe what you bring to the table as a unique individual. We all have our own mix of personality, experiences, training… that combine to create a unique value proposition in terms of what we are able to accomplish in the marketplace. Spending the time to really understand your intrinsics is a critical component to successful career planning.
In my upcoming book, The YOU Plan, I describe intrinsics in the following way:
“Think of your intrinsics as a deck of cards. All of our lives are shuffled differently, which means our cards are all spread across our life decks in very different ways. Some of your cards are close to the top and readily accessible whereas others are buried somewhere near the bottom and haven’t been played in a while.”
In other words, your intrinsics are that which you have within you that can be leveraged for value by potential customers, partners, or employers. However, in order for others to be able to see the value you bring to the table, you have to be able to articulate it in a way that is meaningful. Having a good handle on your intrinsics is an important part of career planning, particularly in a tough economic environment.
For the sake of simplicity, I have broken intrinsics down into six factors. I believe these six factors impact the pace of your career development, thus I refer to them as your career PACERS.
• Personality
• Affiliations
• Contributions
• Experiences
• Relationships
• Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities (KSAs)
Career success requires really knowing the value you bring to the table and how to leverage and communicate that value in a way that helps others want to utilize it.
Over the next couple of weeks I will address each of the career PACERS in more depth, touching on how to really identify and leverage them. So, be sure to stay tuned!
Cheers,
Dr. Woody
To find out more about Dr Woody’s upcoming book, The YOU Plan, check out www.TheYouPlan.com
