It stands to reason that often times the people who have a
natural liking or interest towards a certain career path may perform
much better when they are working in this area. It also stands to reason
that if it is this natural interest in the role that lead them to the
career in the first place will also mean that they will be much happier
in their work and probably achieve much greater career satisfaction over
their lifetime.

Once a person’s career interests are identified
the task of locating their ideal profession or career often becomes
easy. The difficulty however often presents in trying to locate or
identify a persons interests that could translate into a realistic
career path. There are many ways to do this and often the best approach
is to use not just one, but a combination of methods, in conjunction
with each other to arrive at the best options or solutions for you.

One
of these methods that can be extremely useful in the career counseling
process is the use of career counselling or career interest test. Using a
career counselling test should not be seen as the be all and end all,
but rather as a starting point for ideas and exploration of your career
interests. There are many online career counselling tests that can be
used, however it is important to stick to or use only tests that are
valid and reliable and not simply fun “quizzes” which are found on the
internet. One example of a good online career test or questionnaire is
the Strong Interest Inventory. The benefit of taking such a test online
is that it is used widely all around the world by career counsellors and
for this reason, once you have your results you should not have too
much trouble in obtaining follow up career advice from a professional
career counsellor if you feel like you need more support and career
advice.

Another useful tool used commonly by career counsellors
around the world is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality test or
MBTI for short. This can also be taken online and as with the Strong
Interest Inventory, the fact it is used so widely around the globe in
career counselling means you can easily obtain follow up career advice
based on your results at any point in the future if you wish.

Both the Strong Interest Inventory career test and
MBTI personality test should taken by people looking for a simple
answer. Career tests are an integral part of the career counselling
process and are an excellent starting point for people looking to find
their ideal career. Such career and personality test should give the
person many different career ideas and open their minds to many
possibilities which will need to be explored after the career test has
been taken. A person may feel comfortable and confident in exploring
these many possibilities on their own, or it is at this point that
people often feel they would like some additional support from a career
professional so they can be guided through this process.

There are
many online career counselling tests, including those above, which are
easily located through a search engine such as Google. A good career
personality test such as those above will provide the test taker with
many career options to explore, and it’s at that point that a career
counsellor can often provide valuable assistance to assist in maximising
the benefit of the career test. This also can be done easily on the
internet by using a search engine with a search term such as “registered
professional career counsellors list” or something similar. In
Australia there is the The Career Development Association of Australia
(CDAA) which can be used to locate an appropriate career counseling
services close to you.

So in summary, if there is one piece of
advice I can give to those looking to find the right career path for
them, it would be to take a quality career counselling test and use this
to get ideas to work from. From their the many options raised can be
explored and examined, either by yourself alone, or with the assistance
of a career counsellor or professional.

“I used to feel depressed at work, hate my boss, and was
sometimes so bored that I actually fell asleep at my desk!” — career
test taker

If this sounds like you, then it’s probably time to
consider changing jobs or careers. But before you can make your career
change, you need to figure out what you want to do.

One of the
best ways to get clear is to complete a career assessment. Yet there are
literally hundreds of career tests out there. Is a career test the same
as an aptitude test? What about a career personality test? This article
clarifies the differences and presents 7 criteria for deciding which
career test is best for you.

#1 Career test vs. personality test

Is the assessment specifically designed to provide career guidance?

Personality
tests only tell you about your character traits whereas a career
assessment gives specific career advice. Of course, it helps to know
whether you’re an extrovert or an introvert and perceive by sensing or
intuition. Personality tests such as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator
(MBTI) and the Enneagram are quite useful as background information.
Making the leap from simple awareness of your personality type to
specific career strategies is very difficult, however. If you want a new
job or career, it’s better to take an assessment that is specifically
geared to providing career guidance.

#2 Specific vs. general

Does
the career assessment give concrete recommendations that you can use
immediately rather than vague observations that are open to
interpretation and not actionable? Aside from the change itself, the
hardest part of changing careers is narrowing down your choices. But if
you don’t get specific, you won’t be able to take action. A good
assessment should not be general like the astrological horoscopes in the
newspaper.

#3 Motivation rules: why motivation is a better indicator than aptitude or personality

Does the career assessment measure motivation?

Motivation
is a far better career indicator than skill or personality because what
you like to do is what you WILL do and what you will get very good at
(if you aren’t already). Why force a square peg into a round hole?

When you base your decisions on what motivates you, you’ll probably feel much more fulfilled, and be much more successful, too.

#4 Where’s the beef?

Even if you’re a
vegetarian, you’ll want “meaty” results! A good career assessment should
include hard data, as well as sufficient detail and explanation to help
you interpret the results.

#5 Do you believe it?

Is the
career assessment scientifically valid? An effective career assessment
should have a high predictive reliability. Such things can be measured
statistically. Anything over 95% is quite good.

Statistical
validity is important for a number of reasons. Obviously, you want to
feel that the assessment provides an accurate picture of what motivates
you and you don’t want to be misled by grossly inaccurate results. But
another point is that when the results are believable this provides a
boost to your self-confidence. In my case, I was relieved and encouraged
to see from my results that I had chosen the correct career path. It
was a kind of confirmation or validation: “Whew! What a relief!”

Remember
that ultimately it’s up to you to decide whether a set of results makes
sense or not. However, it helps to use a highly reliable assessment.

#6 Can you get from A to Z?

Are additional tools available to help you take your results and develop a clear career roadmap for yourself?

Honestly,
a lot of people take career tests and get brilliant insights.
Unfortunately, many of these same people are never able to turn their
insights into results. What’s needed is a support infrastructure of
materials and people to help you apply your results over time.

#7 Is it fast?

Even
in the internet age, there still are a lot of tests that you can only
take on paper. It takes 30 minutes or even over an hour to take the
test. Then you have to wait while the test is scored and processed. You
may only get your results after several days or weeks.

Personally I prefer career tests that I can take online and that give me my results immediately.

Conclusion

A
career test is just a tool and just one step on your career change
journey. Nonetheless, it’s worth spending some time to understand what
types of tests are available and which is best for you. Just remember
that even the best career test is only a tool. It’s up to you to take
charge of your own career.