Your principles shape how you make decisions, evaluate opportunities, and define success. This core values assessment is designed to help you clarify the beliefs and standards that guide your behavior — often without conscious awareness.
Research in psychology shows that clearly defined personal values improve decision-making, increase resilience, and strengthen long-term fulfillment. When your career, relationships, and goals align with your core principles, motivation becomes intrinsic rather than forced.
This principles selection exercise helps you move beyond abstract ideas and identify the values that genuinely resonate with you. Select at least six principles that reflect who you are — not who you think you should be.
Step 1 of 3
Choose from 99 core values
Pick the values that feel true to you, at least six. If you already know your top one or two, try leaving them out to see what else comes through. Or let us choose 15 at random.
Step 2 of 3
Which matters most to you?
Pick one of the three. Go with your first instinct.
Step 3 of 3 · Your result
Your top 5 core values
Ranked by how often you chose each value when it came up.
What are core values?
Core values are the few principles you are least willing to trade away. They show up in the choices you make when two good options compete: a higher salary or more freedom, a fast decision or a fair one, loyalty to a team or honesty about its problems.
Most people can name dozens of values they agree with. Far fewer can say which five matter most when they conflict. That ranking is what this free core values assessment gives you, and it is what makes values useful for real decisions about your career.
How this core values assessment works
Pick your shortlist. Choose at least six values from a list of 99 that feel true to you, or start with 15 chosen at random if you would rather not influence the result.
Make 20 forced choices. Each round shows three of your values. Pick the one that matters most to you right now. Each value comes up against different rivals across the rounds.
See your top 5. Your values are ranked by how often you chose each one when it appeared, so a value you picked every time it came up beats one you picked only sometimes.
It takes about five minutes and needs no sign-up. Forced choices work better than rating each value from 1 to 10, because when everything can score a 10, nothing gets ranked. If you create a free profile, your top five are saved alongside your other results.
How to use your top 5 values
Test a job offer. Write your five values down and score the role against each one. A role that fails your top value rarely works out, whatever it pays.
Explain why you feel stuck. Frustration at work often comes from a value being blocked, such as autonomy under a micromanager or fairness in a team with favorites.
Answer interview questions. “What matters to you in your next role?” is easier to answer with three named values and an example of each.
Settle a hard decision. When two options both look right, ask which one honors your higher-ranked value.
Straight answers about the assessment, your results and how to use them.
Is the core values assessment free?
Yes. It is completely free, takes about five minutes and needs no sign-up. Your top five values appear as soon as you finish the 20 rounds.
How many core values should I have?
Most people work best with three to five. Beyond that, values stop guiding decisions because there is always one that supports either choice. The assessment ranks your top five for that reason.
What is the difference between values and principles?
A value is what you care about, such as fairness. A principle is the rule you follow because of it, such as holding everyone to the same standard. The assessment uses both words for the same idea: what guides your choices.
Can my core values change?
The values themselves tend to be stable, but their order often shifts with life stage, a new role or a family change. Retaking the assessment once a year shows which priorities have moved.
What if my results surprise me?
That is common. Forced choices reveal priorities people rarely say out loud. Try retaking it with a random start, or leave out your usual top picks, to see which values come through on their own.
How do I use my core values in a job search?
Score each role against your top five, and ask interviewers questions that test them. If autonomy is high on your list, ask how decisions get made on the team and who signs off on your work.
