There is a lot of talk about numbers lately.  One such example is the number 7 billion.  On October 31, 2011 the United Nations declared the world's population at 7 billion and celebrated the occasion with events around the world.  A second number found quite often in the press these days is 14 million that represents the number of Americans unemployed.

As the world's population continues to grow adding more people to the global workforce while the American unemployment rate stagnates it is possible to find employment. As Richard Bolles, author of What Colour is Your Parachute? noted in a recent Economist article, "Even in tough times there are jobs to be had, but applicants have to work far harder to get an employer's attention... They need to market themselves better and consider a broader range of employers."

Thomas Friedman echoed such sentiment when he wrote in a New York Times editorial "The Start Up of You," that employers are indeed hiring today but they "are increasingly picky. They are all looking for people who not only have the critical thinking skills to do the value-adding jobs that technology can't, but also people who can invent, adapt and reinvent their jobs every day, in a market that changes faster than ever."

In order to 'market themselves better' and 'invent, adapt, and reinvent' their job every day individuals need to recognize that professional development is directly linked to personal growth. To achieve the continuous level of professional development that today's economy demands individuals need to perform routine self-assessments of their personal traits and habits.  By examining the frequently in which they practice commonly found traits and habits of successful people, individuals can gain a better sense of how to communicate their value to the marketplace.

To that end, MEAPA's Personal Assessment of Traits and Habits (PATH) provides professionals on all levels, backgrounds and industries with a practical, proven and easy to use self-assessment process.

Since Americans have, in the words of David Brooks, "few formal moments of self-appraisal" completing PATH allows people a valuable and much needed opportunity to increase their self-awareness.  Doing so allows individuals a chance to identify personal traits and habits they can either leverage or enhance in order to achieve a higher level of professional development.