Career Expectation

Your overall expectations for your future and what elements of work are most important to you can help you choose an appropriate career. Simply score the following statements from 1 to 4 alongside each preference. If you strongly disagree with a statement – score 1, and if you strongly agree score 4.

• Very Important
• Some Importance
• Slight importance
• No importance

1. Promotion
2.  Control over how and when I work
3. Being able to get a job done well through managing the efforts of others
4. Enough leisure time to travel, relax and be me.
5. Being able to contribute new ideas which will help build the future.
6. A balance between work and other areas of my life.
7. Leading a team on key organizational projects.
8.  Opening up new business directions through initiating new ideas.
9.  Being part of an Organisation
10. Being given challenges that stretch me intellectually.
11.  Being able to show that I have more to offer than my colleagues.
12.  Being able to identify closely with an organization.
13. To be recognized for my expertise.
14.  Being able to get the most out of people in order to achieve the set goal.
15.  Taking the risk of getting a new business venture off the ground.
16. Being able to put work in its place is an important, but not the only part of my life.
17. To have the status that comes with being part of a successful
    company.
18. To be involved in assignments that will take the organization forward.
19. To be able to see that I am doing better than those I am in competition with.
20. Knowing that I am respected for the specialist skills that I bring.
21. Being able to work when and where I want so long as I can deliver results.
22. Knowing every year that I have further developed my expertise.
23. Being able to make decisions without being controlled by organizational bureaucracy.
24. The excitement of creating something new whose success depends on me.

• Very Important 4
• Some Importance 3
• Slight importance 2
• No importance 1

Adapted from an expectations questionnaire devised by Carole Pemberton from ‘Stike a New Career Deal’.

Completion Instructions

Each of the 24 questions you have answered relates to one of the following 8 themes. There is a box for each question in which you need to enter the score you gave that question. Then add up all three scores against each theme and this gives you an overall total. The themes against which you have your highest ratings indicate the things that should be most important to you in your career and should therefore guide your career-making decisions. Overleaf are some more detailed explanations about what each theme means.

1. Competition
2.  Freedom
3. Management
4. Life Balance
5.  Organization Membership
6. Expertise
7. Learning
8.  Entrepreneurship

Competition The idea of a career as a contest competing with others and with definite success indicators is important to you. You need to have recognition of your achievements – if not you will feel dissatisfied and frustrated. Freedom You expect to have considerable autonomy over your day-to-day work, in how you approach it, and in setting priorities. You expect to be evaluated on ultimate achievements rather than detailed methods. You would not take kindly to someone watching closely over your shoulder. Management It is important for you to be able to use a range of generalist skills to achieve results through and with others. Position, title, and status (along with the rewards) are important to you and you need to achieve a position of responsibility quickly. Life Balance For you the right balance between work and the rest of your life is important. You will seek opportunities that allow you to develop this balance and will feel resentment if (in your eyes) unacceptable demands are placed upon you that intrude into your non-work space. You expect to give and take, and flexible working practices. Organization Membership You will identify strongly with organizational goals and values.

You are a person who will enjoy being seen as an “organizational man or woman” and your needs and values will fit very closely with the organization. You are likely to put company needs before your own. Expertise You need to have the opportunity to develop your expertise and to become more self-confident about your personal value. Your security comes from the opportunity to specialize and you would find any attempt to make you a generalist rather unsettling, feeling vulnerable and exposed. Learning You will thrive on being challenged and learning to overcome difficulties through the acquisition of new skills and expertise. Your positive attitude will allow you to tackle issues 5 and problems that may seem daunting to others. If you are not constantly challenged with new learning opportunities you will feel a lack of direction. Entrepreneurship Risk-taking is your lifeblood and source of stimulation rather than being frightened and resistant. Self-conviction, self-determination, self-control is essential to you whether they exist through self-employment or an organization that allows you this scope.