You don’t have to be good at or enjoy every skill that is related to People Analytics in order to be successful in a People Analytics career. There are so many different skills that can be leveraged in People Analytics and luckily there are also so many variations and types of activities and careers, which means you can focus on a career that aligns best with your strengths and interests. But, only if you have clarity on what those strengths and interests are. In step 1 you identified your existing strengths and in steps 2 through 4 you completed Self-Discovery skill assessments that probably highlighted many more. So, we’ve already got a head start on building out an inventory of all your awesomeness. But we also want to make sure we focus on what you would enjoy doing. Remember, you don’t have to be good at something to enjoy it, and you aren’t necessarily going to enjoy everything you are good at.

Self-Discovery: What You Enjoy & What You’re Good At

Go to the list of skills presented in the table at the end of this chapter and review them. The table includes all the skills that have been presented in this book. Feel free to use the empty spaces provided to add any additional skills you feel are important to your career. You can also download an online template at https://heatherwhiteman.com/pa-career-guide-ebook, or create your own list.

Important Note: Don’t fill in all of the columns of the table at once! We will work through each column of that table as we go through each section in this chapter. Be sure to complete each Self-Discovery and Explore & Engage activities described in each section of the book before moving on to the next column of the table.

1. What Do You Enjoy? Review the list of skills presented in the table below. In the column labeled “Interest & Passion,” draw a star (☆) next to the skills you enjoy or are interested in. Typical ikigai definitions use the word “love” for this category but that can be too strong a word for some people, even “joy” may be a bit too exuberant for some. If that’s you, feel free to think of these as skills you are “drawn to” or “interested in.” Enjoyment and connection to something is personal, so how you choose these will be personal too. When in doubt, give it a star. Not every skill listed in this book is one that you are necessarily going to be excited and interested in spending time doing or learning about, but I bet there were some that you absolutely love, some you enjoy, and even some you haven’t tried yet but are interested in trying.
2. What Are You Passionate About? When you read about ikigai you’ll see the word “passion” used as a label for the intersection of loving something and being good at it. I don’t like that label. I don’t believe you have to be good at something to be passionate about it. Passion is different from skill and I want to encourage you to be passionate without feeling any pressure to reach a particular skill level. But I do agree that passion is different from loving or enjoying something. In our careers there are going to be things we dislike, things we are indifferent about, things we enjoy, and then things we are truly passionate about. My hope is that you are able to craft a career that brings you more things later in that list and fewer things earlier in that list. So, what are you passionate about? You just made a list of all the skills you are drawn to in some way, now let’s identify which of those really get you excited. In the column labeled “Joy & Passion” in the skills table at the end of this chapter, add a second star (☆☆) next to any skill you feel truly passionate about. Feel free to define “passion” however you like. This may mean things that excite you, things you can’t stop talking or reading about, or things that you get completely absorbed and lost in. It may also mean things you feel most proud of when you do them, or things that align with your values or sense of self. Any skill in the list that you are passionate should now have two stars (☆☆) next to it.
3. What Are Your Strengths? Return to the Self-Discovery assessments you completed in steps 2 through 4 in this book and review them. In the column labeled “Strength” in the skills table at the end of this chapter, draw a plus symbol (+) next to all skills you believe are a strength for you. It doesn’t matter what level of skill you are at and there is no minimum level for something to be a strength. Some activities or jobs only require a low level on a skill to be successful and a higher level would be unnecessary; it’s all relative to how the skill will be used. It also doesn’t matter if you are at your desired skill level today. Something can be a strength even if you hope to grow and become stronger in it in the future. If you are unsure, pretend a friend asked for your help on a project involving that thing. Could provide them with some useful help or support? If yes, go ahead and give it a plus symbol.
4. What Skills do You Want to Develop? Learning something new can be incredibly rewarding, it can spark a sense of accomplishment, fuel curiosity and keeps you engaged and stimulated while also enabling you to reach your full potential and gain the career you hope to achieve. Even the very process of discovery and mastering new skills can bring you that sense of joy, I hope you have in your career, so it’s worth identifying the areas that you would like to develop in. Look at the list of skills you are drawn to in some way, and identify the ones you would like to increase your mastery level in by placing a delta symbol (Δ) in the column labeled “Development” in the skills table at the end of this chapter. Feel free to select items that you are or are not currently strong in. Building new skills is exciting, and so is mastery and deep specialization. It’s up to you which and how many you choose to mark.
5. Example:
   

   Skill	Interest or Passion	Strength	Development	Notes
   Statistical significance testing		Strength
   Group comparison tests (t-tests, chi-square, ANOVA)	☆ Interest	Strength	Development	I’m really good at t-tests and chi-square, but could use development in ANOVA and other non-parametric comparison tests.
   Regression analysis	☆☆ Passion	Strength
   Exploratory analysis		Strength
   Root cause analysis	☆ Interest		Development	I’ve never tried this, but it sounds interesting.
   Drill-down analysis
   Comparative analysis		Strength

    

[Insert full skills table here – need to decide if I want symbols or words. Symbols make identifying all the interests and then just adding a star for those that you are really passionate about easier to do. When using words, you have to sit there and pick which one you want to write down and that is somehow cognitively harder than just giving something a second star.]