This week we are going to take a closer look at the first question we should ask ourselves when we are thinking about looking for work, more specifically -

Question #1 - Why do you want to find a job, i.e. why do you want to work?

In answering this question, we will examine various goals that might be instrumental in our decision to seek employment and attempt to quantify the importance of each.  In this blog and the next, we'll be looking at the first set of these goals, more specifically Economic Goals.  You can find all four of the original sets of goals relevant to our first question above set out in my blog "Finding a Job - Why Do You Want to Work?" which was posted on August 5, 2008.

In determining which, if any, of these goals are relevant to our desire to seek employment, we will examine each using the guidelines set out in my blog "Finding a Job - Critical Answers" which was posted on July 27, 2008.

To summarize these guidelines: First, our responses to the goals must be our own, i.e. they must be honest and accurate responses (not what someone else believes about us or wants for us).  Second, the responses must reflect our dreams and yet be realistic.  Third, each response must take into account the degree of difficulty we believe we will encounter if we seek to obtain the goal.

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Instructions:

Mark each goal by entering under the header IMPORTANCE a number from 0 to 10.  Marking a goal with a 10 indicates it is of great importance to you; marking it with a 1 indicates the selection is of relatively little importance.  Use any number between 1 and 10 to indicate the degree of your interest.  If a specific goal is not relevant in your case, mark it with a zero.  Different goals may be of equal importance, so more than one selection may be marked using the same number.

Once you have made all of your entries under the header IMPORTANCE go back to each goal and indicate under the header of "DIFFICULTY" the degree of difficulty you believe you would encounter in achieving this goal.  Do this by entering a number from 0 to 10.  A 1 will indicate that, in your assessment, the goal will be easy to accomplish; a 10 will indicate that you believe it will very difficult to obtain.  If you entered a 0 under the header of IMPORTANCE, then enter a 0 for its Difficulty as well.

I have filled out the form below to illustrate how all this is supposed to work.

Economic Goals:

Round 1 - Indicating the importance to you of the goal -

IMPORTANCE  |  DIFFICULTY

 ______0_____ |  ___________  Establish your financial independence.

______2_____  |  ___________  Obtain better housing

_____10_____  |  ___________  Pay for medications

______6_____  |  ___________  Cover medical expenses.

______2_____  |  ___________  Cover day to day living expenses.