Job seekers and students can use career assessment tools to figure out which careers are best for them. Self-assessment tools are usually multiple-choice tests. Some career-based assessment tests are self-scoring, while others are designed for career counselors to interpret. Personality, values, skills, and interests are the most common types of assessment tools.
There are two types of interest assessment tools. The first section may be devoted to activities that the person likes or dislikes to varying degrees. A self-assessment of one’s skill level for each activity mentioned in the first section may be included in the second section. An interest inventory is a term for this type of assessment tool. Interest inventories can be just as useful for ruling out career options as they are for identifying them; for example, if a person discovers that he or she despises working with numbers, accounting careers may be ruled out.
Assessment tools for skill, or aptitude, test specific skills used in various occupations. An aptitude test given in booklet form with a pencil to shade in answer squares, for example, might include a section in which the person is asked to draw straight lines freehand to connect a series of dots in a pattern. This exercise can reveal one’s manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination abilities. Another part of a mechanical aptitude test is to show a series of photographs or drawings of gears and pulleys in various positions and ask the individual to explain what is happening in terms of direction and force in each graphic.
Values assessments assist students and job seekers in determining what ideals they value in their work. While most people would prefer to earn a lot of money at work, not everyone would prioritize earnings over other factors such as pleasant working conditions or advancement opportunities. Understanding one’s job value priorities can be one of the most revealing career assessment tools, because the order of work values differs greatly between individuals.
Because personality types of career tests are psychologically based, they are frequently particularly insightful assessments. One of the most common personality assessment tools used career counselors is the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI was developed Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs-Meyers, mother and daughter, and is based on Carl Jung’s psychological type theories.
The MBTI includes questions about introversion vs. extroversion and thinking vs. acting on emotion, among other personality traits. The test can yield up to 16 different outcomes. The MBTI assessment results may aid individuals in better understanding how they react to situations such as daily occurrences in various work environments.