Self-responsibility has become the word of the 1990s.
Even as people interact with others in their personal or work life, their style can be described as enterprising.
They are constantly monitoring what is happening in the world globally, nationally and locally.
They search for opportunities. When necessary, they are prepared to make a sacrifice.
They have the ability to withstand setbacks. Whether self-employed or on an organization's payroll, they enjoy what they do.

Employers are increasingly looking for people who have the ability and confidence to work both independently and on a team to excel during this time of rapid change.
Working within an organization, intrapreneurs demonstrate leadership, first of themselves, then situations and others.
They take calculated risks on behalf of their organization.

Following are some entrepreneurial characteristics:

Good organizational and time management skills, enthusiastic, great endurance (not giving up easily) (working long hours to meet deadlines), plenty of initiative, ethical, requires no supervision, does not procrastinate, good at planning, able to set and achieve goals, thrives on taking appropriate risks, deals with stress effectively, confident, able to take rejection from others, sense of humour, resourceful, able to network well, comfortable asking for help and support, flexible, resilient, able to deal with ambiguity and adversity, good at developing alternatives when problem solving, creative in generating new ideas, able to and enjoys making own decisions, able to see a problem as a challenge and a mistake as a learning experience, able to take long-term perspective & see big picture, practises positive visualization.

Sample Self Assessment Resources in Career Services

• Bolles, Richard N. The 1997 What Colour is Your Parachute? Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, 1996.
  
  
• Bolles, Richard N. The Three Boxes of Life. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. 1981.
  
  
• Crystal, John C. et. al. Where Do I Go From Here With My Life? Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. 1974.
  
  
• Ellis, Dave. et. al. Career Planning. Rapid City, SD: College Survival, Inc. 1990.
  
  
• Jackson, Tom. Not Just Another Job. Toronto, ON: Random House of Canada Ltd. 1992.
  
  
• Krannich, Ronald L. Careering and Re-Careering. Woodbridge, VA: Impact Publications. 1991.
  
  
• Martins, Antony J. What's in a B.A.? Career Services, University of Waterloo. 1991. (video)
  
  
• Phifer, Paul. College Majors and Careers: A Resource Guide for Effective Life Planning. Garrett Park, MD: Garrett Park Press. 1993.

• Sher, Barbara. I Could Do Anything: If I only knew what it was. New York, NY: Dell Publishing. 1994.

PERSONAL CAREER PROFILE

To create a composite picture of yourself, copy into the space below the summaries from the previous exercises.

From the points above, choose the 10 best or most important strengths.
These qualities will form the foundation for your career.