The Inner Compass: Using Values Assessments to Navigate Career Pivots

In today’s fast-changing world of work, changing direction in your career is not necessarily a sign of uncertainty but often a sign of growth. Whether it’s burnout, a new life stage, or a desire for more meaningful work, many professionals find themselves asking the same question:

“Is this still the right path for me?”

While skills and experience are key when planning your next step, one element is often overlooked — your values. Understanding what truly matters to you can act as an inner compass, helping you navigate transitions with clarity and confidence.

What Is a Values Assessment — and Why Does It Matter?

A values assessment helps you identify the core beliefs and motivators that shape your sense of purpose and satisfaction. While personality assessments focus on how you behave, and cognitive assessments focus on how you think, a values assessment focuses on why you choose to do the things you do.

Some common values include:

• Autonomy — the need to make your own decisions

• Stability — a preference for structure and predictability

• Achievement — a drive for success and recognition

• Purpose — a desire to make a meaningful impact

  
  

When your work environment aligns with your values, you feel energised and engaged. When it doesn’t, you may feel unmotivated, disconnected, or frustrated — even if the role looks ideal on paper.

Recognising a Values Mismatch

You might not immediately realise your values are misaligned with your current role, but there are usually clear signs:

• You feel disengaged, even in roles that match your skill set

• You no longer connect with your company’s mission or direction

• You’re questioning your career choices more often

• Your definition of success has started to change

These signals often reflect a shift in what you prioritise. What once motivated you might not anymore and that is normal.

Why Values Are Crucial During Career Transitions

When people think about career changes, they often focus on salary, job titles, or responsibilities. But those surface-level factors only go so far if the work doesn’t reflect what truly matters to you.

A values assessment can help you:

• Pinpoint what’s missing in your current role

• Understand which environments will support your wellbeing and motivation

• Make better long-term decisions rather than reactive short-term moves

• Gain language for what you need and want from your next role

It becomes a powerful tool for aligning your next step with the person you are today — not the one you were five years ago.

Questions to Reflect On

If you’re considering a shift, ask yourself:

• What gives me energy at work — and what drains me?

• When do I feel most aligned with what I’m doing?

• Do I still value the same things I did earlier in my career?

• What kind of culture or mission excites me?

  
  

How Sharon Hinde Consulting Uses Values Assessments

As part of our full psychometric battery, we use values assessments to:

• Support career coaching and transitions

• Identify motivational patterns that impact performance

• Create individual development plans with lasting relevance

• Help organisations retain talent by aligning roles to what people care about

  
  

When combined with cognitive and personality data, values assessments give clients a more complete picture of how to lead, grow, and make better career choices.

In Closing

Career change doesn’t have to be confusing or chaotic. When you understand your values, you create a clearer path forward — one based not just on opportunity, but on personal alignment.

Your values aren’t just preferences. They’re signals, helping you move toward a more meaningful and sustainable career. We’re here to help you read them.

Interested in discovering your values and where they could take you next?

We’d love to help.