Career Values Guide: Explore What Matters in Your Work

What are career values?

Career values are qualities of work and working conditions that you currently want to protect or prioritize. They can help you describe why one environment feels sustainable while another creates friction, even when the job titles look similar.

For the shared definition and terminology, see the wiki entry on the meaning of work values.

Values are only one part of a career decision. Skills, health, income needs, caregiving, access, labor-market conditions, and real experience also matter. A values result is best used to generate questions, not to declare a correct occupation.

They may help you:

name conditions you want to preserve in your current role,
prepare questions for interviews or manager conversations,
notice trade-offs between two important priorities,
compare an assumption about a workplace with first-hand evidence.

OIYO’s current activity uses 18 statements across six dimensions, with three statements per dimension. It is OIYO-authored reflective content in draft form. It is not a validated work-values scale, psychological diagnosis, aptitude test, or career-fit decision.

The six dimensions in the OIYO activity

Dimension	Reflection question	Work-environment examples to investigate
Security	How much predictability and continuity do I need now?	contract terms, income variability, schedule stability, benefits
Achievement	What kind of progress makes effort feel worthwhile?	clear goals, feedback cadence, visible milestones, scope of responsibility
Autonomy	Where do I need discretion over method, time, or decisions?	decision rights, flexible process, ownership, remote or asynchronous options
Contribution (service and contribution)	Whom or what do I want my work to help?	contact with beneficiaries, mission clarity, public value, team contribution
Creativity	How much room do I need to make, experiment, or improve?	problem variety, experimentation time, design freedom, tolerance for iteration
Recognition (status and recognition)	What kind of acknowledgement matters to me?	credit for work, advancement criteria, public visibility, professional standing

These examples describe conditions to verify. They do not map a value to a specific profession, and the same occupation can offer very different conditions across organizations and teams.

Values mismatch is one possible source of strain

A mismatch between priorities and working conditions can contribute to frustration, disengagement, or strain. Burnout is broader and may also involve workload, lack of control, unfairness, insufficient support, health, discrimination, or prolonged stress. A short values activity cannot identify its cause.

Priority	A possible point of friction	A question to ask
Autonomy	decisions are tightly prescribed	Which decisions could I own safely?
Security	terms or schedules change often	What predictability can the organization realistically provide?
Contribution	impact is hard to see	Who benefits from this work, and how is that feedback shared?
Creativity	only one approved method is allowed	Where is experimentation welcome, and where is consistency required?
Recognition	contribution is invisible	How are credit, feedback, and advancement decided?

If you are experiencing persistent exhaustion or distress: a values conversation may be one useful lens, but it is not a diagnosis or complete remedy. Consider workload, recovery, safety, support, and professional help where appropriate.

Turn a result into an experiment

Choose one high-ranked dimension and write:

one recent moment when it was supported,
one situation where it was constrained,
one fact you need before making a decision,
one small change you can test for two weeks.

For example, if autonomy ranks highly, a small experiment might be owning one decision, negotiating a clearer boundary, or comparing how two teams assign responsibility.

When values conflict

Career values can pull against each other. A result is a snapshot of current priorities, not a permanent identity.

Autonomy and security: greater discretion may come with uncertainty, but some teams offer both through clear goals and flexible methods.

Achievement and security: ambitious goals can feel rewarding while increasing uncertainty about outcomes or timelines. Ask how success is measured and what support follows a setback.

Contribution and recognition: helping others and receiving credit are not opposites. Clarify how impact and individual contribution are made visible.

Priorities can change: roles, responsibilities, health, financial conditions, and experience may change what matters most. Revisit the questions after a meaningful transition rather than assuming an age-based timetable.

The OIYO activity is an original reflective draft. It is not a validated scale, psychological test, aptitude assessment, or recommendation of a suitable occupation.