Examining your Skills and Interests, Personal Styleand Values is the first step to forging a satisfying life in the law. Leave out any of these components, and a job may be interesting intellectually, for example, but not enable you to work in teams, where you often do your best work. Likewise, choosing a practice setting that ischaracterized by constant time-sensitive and deadline-driven work will be frustrating if you don’t thrive under high pressure, or if you prioritize time with family over other values.

The following exercises will help youto choose and prioritize your skills, style and values, keeping in mind that every job requires compromise.

After completing these exercises, we encourage you to make an appointment to speak with a career counselor about your responses and how they align withspecific practice areas and settings. As you work through this process, family, friends and former employers can often provide additional insight, too.

Self-Assessment Resources

In addition to the exercises which follow, the Career Center librarycontains a variety of resources for your review, including:

Guerrilla Tactics for Getting the Legal Job of Your Dreams, Kimm Walton (2nd Edition)

What Can You Do With a Law Degree, Deborah Arron (5th Edition)

Do What You Are, Tieger & Barron-Tieger(4th Edition)

The Official Guide to Legal Specialties (NALP)

Exercise I:

Circle those “Skills” and “Interests” that appear most often in your resume descriptions and/or represent areas in which you naturally excel. Choose ten (10), and then rank them in order of strength/relative priority.

Your Skills and Interests: Data

  • Administered
  • Analyzed
  • Compared
  • Computed
  • Compiled
  • Coordinated
  • Designed
  • Developed
  • Directed
  • Edited
  • Figured
  • Implemented
  • Innovated
  • Organized
  • Planned
  • Recorded
  • Reported
  • Researched
  • Synthesized
  • Theorized
  • Wrote

Your Skills and Interests: People

  • Advised
  • Coordinated
  • Counseled
  • Directed
  • Encouraged
  • Entertained
  • Evaluated
  • Guided
  • Helped
  • Instructed
  • Interviewed
  • Managed
  • Motivated
  • Negotiated
  • Organized
  • Persuaded
  • Protected
  • Referred
  • Served
  • Shared
  • Supervised
  • Trained

Your Skills and Interests: Things

  • Built
  • Handled
  • Inspected
  • Operated
  • Repaired
  • Shaped
  • Tended
  • Tested

Exercise II:

Choose the three (3) traits which most closely define your personal style. Add others not included, but that are meaningful to you or necessary for your success (e.g.,an organized workspace, predictable hours).

Your Personal Style

  • Work as part of a group or team
  • Work alone or one-on-one
  • Use concrete facts and hard data
  • Develop new possibilities (big picture)
  • Use logical, objective analysis
  • Use subjective, person-centered values
  • Create organization and structure
  • Spontaneous, flexible, adaptable
  • Work within clear parameters or guidelines
  • Work with people who know as much as you do
  • Help people without expert knowledge by teaching and explaining
  • Others:

______

______

Exercise III:

Choose the three (3) values that most commonly drive your professional (and personal) choices. Add others not included, but that are meaningful to you.

Your Values

  • Achievement
  • Action, adventure
  • Aesthetics
  • Autonomy
  • Creativity
  • Peace of mind
  • Sense of humor, wit
  • Intellectual challenge
  • Family
  • Helping others
  • Loyalty
  • Integrity
  • Nature
  • Fun
  • Recognition
  • Religious or spiritual conviction
  • Security
  • Wealth
  • Travel
  • Leisure

What part of the process is holding you back? What information do you need to move forward? What are your next steps?

Personal Development Plan

Timeframe

/ Development Areas/ Objectives
What knowledge or core skills do I want to enhance? /

Development Activity

How will I do this? /

Target Date

When will I do it? Do I need review dates in-between? / Expected Outcome
How will I know I have achieved this? What does success look like?
Short Term
(3 – 6 months)
Medium Term
(1 year)
Long Term
(3 – 5 years)

Where do you have/need experience?

Source of Tailored Experience / Current Experience / Experience Needed / Next Steps
Special skills and training
Publications (what you read)
Publications (what you write)
Honors and Awards
Travel/Work Abroad
Professional Memberships
Presentations
Government or Military Service
Demonstrated Interests