More Top Picks Best Weighted Vests For Adults With Autism
player ready...Wouldn’t it be great if there were a magic formula to help choose a career?
There isn’t, but some tools can make the career-exploration process easier to navigate. Students choosing a major and workers moving into new fields can use assessment tests can help them decide which fields they may want to investigate more thoroughly.
“If you hit a brick wall and you don’t know where to go from there, that’s when it’s great to go through some of the assessment exercises to move you from the wall so you can see some alternatives,” said Kitty Wilson, director of career services at Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Mo.
She sees people take self-directed or computerized assessment tests such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Strong Interest Inventory, Discover, Self-Directed Search and SIGI Plus.
With the help of counselors or consultants, the tests help job seekers discover their interests and understand the skills needed for different positions.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is used to assess preferences and provides a four-letter code that generates a list of occupations with the highest and lowest percentage matching that particular type.
SIGI Plus identifies work-related values, personal interests and skills, and creates a list of occupations to consider.
Discover also looks at experiences to help test-takers identify their career and educational needs. It provides access to databases with occupational and educational information.
Strong Interest Inventory provides in-depth, personalized reports on job seekers’ patterns of interests. Occupations are rated as being either dissimilar or similar in interest. The report is divided into four areas: general occupational themes, basic interest scales, occupational scales and personal style scales.
Self-Directed Search uses career daydreams, activities, competencies, occupations and self-estimates to produce a summary code. Interests are then linked with possible careers.