Career Development eManual is an excellent site for working out your personal qualities, skills and values and that helps with one of the most common questions in job interviews which are about your strengths. Talking about your own strengths and good points is probably the hardest trick to master because many people tend to undervalue themselves.

(As an aside, by working through this self assessment you will end up with a three letter code called a Holland Occupational Code, and if you want to know what sort of jobs might suit you then
NY State CareerZone has an excellent list of jobs based on that code. Click on the three letters of the code and then "View Jobs" and see a list of a hundred or more, each with links to very detailed info about the jobs.)

I use both these sites in my job seeking skills courses.

The other major piece of advice I give is the trick I use myself: no matter what the question always answer by giving an *example* of where you worked or used a *skill/value/trait/strength*, and what *outcome* you achieved, e.g. "when I work as a vocational trainer I use my analytical and problem solving skills to create better training sessions for the students and many students have told me that I make the courses interesting and very practical and useful for them".

Noreen, CatsPhiddle and Geoff the Duck,

I hope it all goes well for you, and don't get too despondent if you don't get the first job you go for. Remember it is like courtship, it is a two sided affair. Both you and the potential employers need to feel happy that you can make a commitment to each other over the long term so if it doesn't feel right to you then believe that the right job is out there waiting for you and stay positive.

Helen