Pause for a moment and think about your previous jobs. This retrospection will give you initial insight into yourself and what you need to feel fulfilled and satisfied in the next step of your career.

Consider the tasks you performed, skills you used, additional activities you were involved in. Think about the organization, management, team cooperation, general atmosphere. Have you felt proper recognition, rewards, opportunities? What did you think about company values and fairness?

Try to remember what was discouraging and demotivating, and what was bringing joy and satisfaction. What activities were a pure burden and you wanted avoid them as much as possible? Think about your emotions and thought n different occasions.

Now consider the next engagement and put conclusions in 4 categories:

1. CONTINUE – Which aspects of your job would you like to see unchanged in a new place?
2. STOP – What situations, tasks, or environment would you like to avoid?
3. MODIFY – What was OK in your job, but you know could have been better?
4. START – What your previous workplace was missing? Would you like to start anew in a different role or using different skills?

The questions below will help you in exploration and getting self-awareness. There is no good or bad answer, so be as honest and thoughtful as possible.