Personal Career Assessment Questionnaire
Objective: This questionnaire is designed to help engineers assess their personal careers and identify gaps upon
which to focus personal improvements.
Directions: Answer each of the following questions so as to best describe your personal career. Score your answer
by circling the most appropriate answer: dt = definitely true, t = true, ttt = tends to be true, tnt = tends not to be true,
nt = not true, dnt = definitely not true. When finished transfer the answers to the attached score sheet.
Technical proficiency
Breadth and big picture perspective
1.
Compared to that of my peers and
supervisors, my knowledge and experience
has much greater application to my work.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
11. I have a broad work-related knowledge of
fields other than my specialty.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
2.
My technical work constantly causes me to
stretch my talents and abilities.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
3.
My skills are critical to creating competitive
advantage for my organization.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
4.
I am constantly working on where my field
is going rather than where it has been.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
5.
My co-workers are constantly coming to me
for technical advice.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
12. I constantly participate in deciding “what
should be done” as opposed to having my
supervisors make such decisions.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
13. My work constantly challenges me to stretch
my non-technical skills.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
14. I rate my “people skills” (communication,
listening, coping with difficult people,
coaching, etc.) very high. dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
15. I completely understand the business
strategy of my business unit.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Credibility
Job fit – leveraging who I am
6.
My supervisor or team leader constantly
trusts me to do good work without feeling a
need to closely monitor my work.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
16. I constantly feel alive, energetic, “turned on”
by the work that I am doing.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
7.
I constantly meet my task commitments in
terms of deadlines, quality, budgets, etc.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
8.
My peers constantly seek my advice on
work related (not necessarily technical)
issues.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
9.
17. Most all of what I want to do at work aligns
with directions the business is taking.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
18. I prefer working as a team member to
working alone.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
19. I prefer taking responsibility for the work of
others rather than managing only myself.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
My manager constantly gives me the most
critical, visible, and challenging tasks in the
group.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
10. In the past my judgements and assessments
have constantly been proven to be
approximately correct.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
1
20. I can assess my work preferences by
estimating my position relative to each of
the following dimensions of work:
Networking/visibility
26. I frequently rely on personal networking,
within and outside my organization, as a
factor in my career success.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Learning by doing,
or
learning by studying.
27. I always promptly respond to voice mail, email, and other messages or requests for
help.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Creating and designing from scratch,
or
analyzing and improving what has already
been created.
28. I definitely understand the pressures my
manager must cope with and the things for
which she or he is responsible.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Working at block diagram (or higher) levels
only,
or
greatly detailed, quantitative efforts.
29. I always keep my manager informed about
my progress and accomplishments.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Feeling energized by overcoming
difficulties,
or
feeling energized by the presence of
competition.
30. I feel very comfortable with the visible
components of my job (report writing,
making proposals, giving presentations,
etc.).
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Almost all of my preferences, as indicated
above, are matched to my job requirements.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Security to take risks
31. If my company closed its doors tomorrow, I
feel confident about my ability to get a
satisfactory new job within, say, 60 days.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
Initiative and ownership
21. I always feel free to advance my ideas and
judgements without waiting to be asked.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
32. I am confident that if I was to go four
months without a paycheck, I (and my
family) would not suffer significant
financial hardship.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
22. I always seek ways to increase my
contributions beyond what is usually
expected of people in my position.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
33. If the need arose, my skills are transferable
to another company.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
23. If I get bored with my work, I feel entirely
comfortable initiating change that will better
suit my abilities and career interests.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
34. My resume is current.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
35. It would not be an extremely serious
situation if my boss were to fire me
tomorrow.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
24. If my organization refuses to pay for or give
me time off to attend an educational
experience, it is very likely that I will go and
do it on my own time and at my own
expense (assuming that the course is
important to my effectiveness to my current
job).
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
25. It is my personal attitude that continued
learning is extremely important as a career
aid.
dt t ttt tnt nt dnt
2
Analysis score sheet for the Personal Career Assessment Questionnaire
For each answer on the questionnaire, transfer the score to this chart by circling the number that
corresponds to the chosen answer: dt = 6, t = 5, ttt = 4, tnt = 3, nt = 2, dnt = 1. Once this is done, add the
scores in topical area and enter the sum.
Technical proficiency
Credibility
Breadth and big picture Job fit – leveraging who
perspective
I am
1.
654321
6.
654321
11. 6 5 4 3 2 1
16. 6 5 4 3 2 1
2.
654321
7.
654321
12. 6 5 4 3 2 1
17. 6 5 4 3 2 1
3.
654321
8.
654321
13. 6 5 4 3 2 1
18. 6 5 4 3 2 1
4.
654321
9.
654321
14. 6 5 4 3 2 1
19. 6 5 4 3 2 1
5.
654321
10. 6 5 4 3 2 1
15. 6 5 4 3 2 1
20. 6 5 4 3 2 1
Sum =___
Sum =___
Sum =___
Sum =___
Initiative and ownership Networking/visibility
Security to take risks
21. 6 5 4 3 2 1
26. 6 5 4 3 2 1
31. 6 5 4 3 2 1
22. 6 5 4 3 2 1
27. 6 5 4 3 2 1
32. 6 5 4 3 2 1
23. 6 5 4 3 2 1
28. 6 5 4 3 2 1
33. 6 5 4 3 2 1
24. 6 5 4 3 2 1
29. 6 5 4 3 2 1
34. 6 5 4 3 2 1
25. 6 5 4 3 2 1
30. 6 5 4 3 2 1
35. 6 5 4 3 2 1
Sum =___
Sum =___
Sum =___
What does this mean?
This
questionnaire
was
designed
to
systematically assess those career aspects that
common experience and research reveal to be
influential in career satisfaction and success.
They are also the aspects that you have at least
some ability to influence.
Score
Recommended action
26-30
Discussing low scoring categories in
assessment with peer engineers and with
supervisor is highly recommended.
discussions may by themselves improve
career vitality.
11-15
Congratulations you have definitely
developed proficiency.
You are doing fine, keep it up.
You tend to get by, but would benefit by
focussing on this aspect for improvement
You tend to need improvement. Consider
asking for help.
You are doing poorly and need to get help
before your career is impacted.
21-25
16-20
this
your
Such
your
5-10
You might consider the following recommended
actions, depending on the scores you gave
yourself in each category of career development:
Marlin P. Ristenbatt, Marlinr@eecs.umich.edu
Career Maintenance & Development Committee,
IEEE-USA
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