Self-knowledge in practice
Interests, skills and values: three questions worth separating
Distinguish what you want to try, what you have practised and what matters to you at work.
One activity, three perspectives
Imagine that you enjoy organizing an event. Your interest might lie in planning the steps, talking to people or handling surprises. Your skill needs to be observed in what you managed to do. Your values concern what matters to you: autonomy, collaboration, predictability or impact, for example. This exercise separates questions without creating a definitive classification of your personality.
Describe an interest with a verb
Replace “I like technology” with specific activities: building a prototype, investigating an error, explaining a feature or designing an interface. Then ask in which situations that curiosity appeared. A broad subject can hide very different routines. You do not need to choose an entire field just because one of its activities seems appealing to you.
Look for evidence of a skill
Write down a task you completed, what was difficult, the help you received and the observable result. “I am good with people” becomes more useful as “I explained a procedure and the person could repeat it”. Do not treat one example as universal proof. It helps you locate what you have already practised and what you want to develop.
Translate values into concrete conditions
If autonomy matters, what does it mean in a working week: deciding how to work, choosing hours or proposing projects? If stability matters, do you mean income, routine or location? Write down observable conditions and possible compromises. A value expressed too broadly can appear to be met by any advertisement, even when the actual experience would be different.
Compare without mixing the columns
Create three columns: I want to try, I have practised, I consider important. One possibility can spark interest while still requiring learning; another may use a skill you would rather not make central to your career. The O*NET content model distinguishes interests, abilities and other work requirements. Use that separation to support research without turning an interest questionnaire into a measure of everything.
Sources and further reading
The guides and examples are editorial suggestions for reflection. The sources describe their own contexts and do not validate the Clariz instrument.