What are personal values and how do they apply to the workplace?

Do you keep going even when things get tough? You have perseverance. Do you take the lead in challenging scenarios? You’re courageous. Do you always value and support the contributions of others? You have empathy. Log in or register to take the personal values quiz to work out the values that matter to you..

These are just some examples of personal or core values: a set of principles or ideals that guide your behaviour. Understanding these can help you find employment across a wide range of businesses, big or small, that share your values and work towards similar goals.

Take the personal values quiz above to guide you on what you value the most through ten realistic workplace scenarios. ​Keep a note of your results and think of some examples where you have demonstrated a few of the values, which you would feel comfortable talking about either at application stage or during an interview. The examples could come from something you did at school, through social action, part-time work or beyond. You’ll need to log in or register to take the quiz.

With more and more employers starting to consider values as part of the recruitment process, it’s really useful to do your research before you apply to work out the values they want their employees to have. Look for the ways they carry out their business and how they talk about themselves on the website, and find independent reviews and news articles on them.