On the home stretch, Sam went on to complete Step 4 in the Who Am I e-booklet.  Armed with important information as to what skills she enjoyed using and what she should avoid, the purpose of completing the on-line personality assessment was to identify behavioural drivers and values.  Further, the more insight into the skills, values and personality you possess the better placed you'll be to consider career options.

AssessMe

This is a simple on-line personality inventory (we avoid calling it a test - as it's not testing anything!!).  It takes only 10 minutes to complete and provides lots of rich information contained in a detailed report.  Attitude is very important when taking such personality inventories, but some find them very intimidating and are concerned the results will return a clinical diagnosis - not true, and certainly not with 'free' on-line inventories.

Sam was intrigued by her results but concerned that her 'Top 2 strategies' were 'Sceptical' and 'Oppositional'.  What did these mean?  To her they didn't sound like strengths.  Reading the descriptor for sceptical it was clear one of Sam's key strengths was 'critical thinking' - ie hard to convince, question others' uncritical beliefs and was not easily fooled.  This fits in well with the investigative side of her personality.  As for 'oppositional' this really means Sam prides her individuality, is not one of the 'herd' and likes to think outside the square.  After considering the results Sam agreed they were right on the mark and further strengthened her view that she was best suited to roles that facilitated these strengths.  She then went on to do the career quiz, which is designed to help explore occupations relevant to your skills and interests.  Again it only takes a few minutes to complete and is really useful if you're struggling with where your skills and interests might fit.

Disaster

Filled with optimism Sam completed the career quiz and to her horror the first occupation suggested to her (and the one most closely allied with her skills and interests) was Osteopath!!!  (Accountant, Chiropractor, Meteorologist and a whole list of other occupations were also suggested).  Time for some thinking 'outside the square'!!  Of course this is not unusual.  Often people who are unhappy with their current occupation think the best thing to do is consider a complete career change.  Sure some people do switch from an accounting career to running a cafe and do so successfully, but complete career changes are not for everyone and are always necessary. What was now required was some lateral thinking and much investigation. 

For Sam the issue was - had she made a mistake in pursuing osteopathy?  She was unhappy or at least unfulfilled running her own practice.  Sure a career in Accounting came through in her skills and interest audit, and was suggested from the career quiz but could she or should she spend at least another six years studying for this profession?  Not only would she be putting herself in to greater debt but there was no guarantee that she would be fulfilled as an Accountant!!  Instead she decided to investigate what other employment opportunities there were for someone with her training, education and work experience.  When she graduated four years ago the options were simple, either set up your own practice or work in someone else's practice.  Through her investigations and networking (which included catching up with her uni lecturers) she learned that times had changed and now large organisations were offering graduate places to people with her qualifications.  Having not worked in the corporate sector before, she was keen to learn more.

Cutting to the Chase

Sam applied for a graduate role with a large company.  The application process was huge - she had to complete a very long application form, answer several short questions and rewrite her resume.  Hundreds applied and only 100 were short listed to attend 4 hours of assessment (Sam of course was one of the lucky ones).  But things got harder - she had to complete a set of verbal, numerical and conceptual reasoning tests as well as a work profile test.  She also had to participate in group task assignments (presumably to test her ability to work as part of a team).  To quote Sam "by the end of it all my head was fuzzy..."

She got through to the next round (one of 14 to do so) which was a panel interview and again spent several hours preparing for her interview

SUCCESS - Sam was offered a graduate role and is ecstatic! After going through the graduate training program she will be expected to take on a leadership role within the organisation.  She will be able to use her qualifications but in a different capacity, and hey the money's not bad either!!  Now there's no guarantee that this will be right role for Sam but nothing ventured, nothing gained and she will acquire many useful skills in her new role which no doubt will be transferrable somewhere else when the time's right.

Lessons learned 

- Being unhappy in your work doesn't necessarily mean you are in the wrong career

- Deciding what career is best for you is hard work, requires a heavy investment of time but is ultimately rewarding

- The job market is competitive (and will get more so) but just because 100s apply for a role shouldn't put you off - you too could be successful if you put in the effort.

-Very few reach a career "Nirvana"; it's the journey that's important and not always the destination.  Remember every job or role you've had has added some value to your portfolio and makes you more employable going forward.