Work Values TestThe #1 Predictor of Job Satisfaction

A values assessment measures which motivational goals you prioritise — things like autonomy, security, achievement, or helping others. Personality tests describe how you behave; values tests measure what you want, and what you are willing to give up to get it. This one is work-specific: 30 forced-choice scenarios rank ten work values against each other, so the output is a hierarchy rather than a list of things that all sound good.

No. Shalom Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values (1992) describes values across life as a whole — Self-Direction, Stimulation, Hedonism, Achievement, Power, Security, Conformity, Tradition, Benevolence and Universalism — and it is measured by its own questionnaire. This assessment is a JobCannon-original instrument with different content and a narrower purpose: ten values scoped to work, measured by forced-choice trade-offs. If the Schwartz model is what you came for, take the Values Test instead — it is a separate 21-question assessment on this site.

Values are the deepest layer of what motivates you. When your job's culture, structure, and demands align with your core values, work feels meaningful and energising. When they conflict, even a well-paying job with good colleagues creates chronic low-grade stress that compounds into burnout. Meta-analyses consistently show that person-organisation value congruence is among the strongest predictors of job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and intent to stay — more predictive than salary in many studies.

Yes, gradually. Values research consistently finds that priorities are stable across years but shift across major life stages: stability and connection tend to rise after having children or after an economic shock, while the appetite for novelty and steep learning curves is usually strongest in early career. We have not measured that drift inside this assessment, so treat it as a reason to re-take it every 3–5 years or after a significant transition, rather than as a prediction about you.

That is the normal outcome, and it is what a forced-choice format is for. Every one of the 30 scenarios makes you give something up, so scoring high on two values that pull against each other — Work-Life Balance and Achievement, Security and Autonomy, Recognition and Relationships — means the trade-off is genuinely live for you rather than already settled. The goal is not to remove the conflict. It is to find environments where your top value can dominate while the secondary ones still get enough expression to stop the friction becoming chronic.

There is no useful population answer, and the ranking that matters is yours rather than an average. What the format does guarantee is that you cannot rate everything highly: because each scenario costs you one value to gain another, ten things you all "care about" resolve into a top five and a bottom five. Most people are more surprised by the bottom of their list than the top — the value they assumed mattered and never actually traded for.

The Big Five (OCEAN) measures stable behavioural traits — how you typically think, feel, and act. Values assessments measure motivational priorities — what you consider important and worth pursuing. They answer different questions: Big Five tells you "how you operate," values tell you "what drives you." Both predict career satisfaction, but through different mechanisms. Big Five predicts fit with a role's task demands; values predict fit with an organisation's culture and purpose. Used together, they give a much fuller picture.

Remote work selects hardest for Autonomy — nobody is standing over the work, so the structure has to come from you. Learning and Impact usually follow, because a remote week hands back the hours that commuting and hallway interruptions used to take and both of those values want somewhere to spend them. If Relationships or Recognition sit at the top of your list, remote work can still suit you, but it needs deliberate structure: standing time with colleagues that is not a status update, and attribution in writing, because visibility no longer happens by being in the room.

Start by identifying your top 2–3 values. Then use them as filters: (1) research company culture through Glassdoor, employee LinkedIn posts, and press coverage — look for evidence your values are active there. (2) In interviews, ask targeted questions: "How does the team handle autonomy vs. oversight?" or "How is success measured and recognised?" (3) Use your values to explain why you left past roles honestly without oversharing. (4) Treat values misalignment as a disqualifier equal in weight to bad compensation. A role that pays 20% more but violates your top value typically leads to resignation within 18 months.