The 1st stage of career development is the Assessment Stage.

This is the 1st of the 6 stages. The Assessment Stage is where you start to wonder about yourself. You begin to figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are, and take note of things that interest you. In this stage it may be helpful to speak to a guidance counselor or a career coach to help you figure out what you are good at and where you struggle. You need to think of all your skills, not only subject areas and technical skills. For example, do you work well with people (collaboration skills)? Do you usually enjoy challenges? Once you have a big list of everything that you can think of both good (strengths) and bad (weaknesses), then you will feel more confident and will be ready for the second stage.