Career Tests
“Aren’t there Career Tests that can tell you what is the right career for you?” Matt asked. “I remember taking something in high school that said I should be an engineer. The tests must be even more sophisticated by now, given the advances in technology.”“Sorry,” I replied. “Career tests can give you a jumpstart in understanding the right career choice or career change for you. But they cannot make the career decision for you. You still need to research potential careers and decide what elements of that career fit you and which ones don’t.”
“Why?” Matt asked.
“In the old days, career decisions were based just on your aptitude or ability to do the types of work involved in a particular career,” I responded. “Today, we expect more from our careers. We expect to enjoy what we’re doing, to feel connected with something, to be involved in something that matters.”
“We’re no longer satisfied just to make money doing something well.”
“Well, can’t career tests tell us whether we’d be happy in a particular career?” Matt pushed.
“If you can figure out how to test for that,” I said. “You could make millions!”
Career Expectations
“I guess I understand that,” Matt said. “I was
really good in my engineering role, I made good money, and I worked
my way up the ladder in the company. But I never really enjoyed what
I did.”
“I always thought there must just be something wrong with me, since my salary and benefits were good, and I did my job well, but I wasn’t happy.”
“You aren’t alone,” I said. “Baby Boomers, especially, had the ‘do what you are good at’ drummed into their heads. Even the younger generations get it from their parents. I’ve talked with 20-somethings that were struggling with what they’ve been told that conflicts what they are feeling.”
“Maybe we’ve just evolved as people in the workplace,” I went on. “Now, we expect that our careers give us more than just a paycheck.”
“Sure, there are people who are just surviving, and their energies are completely focused just on paying their bills. But once we get past the survival stage, there is no denying that we expect our careers to fulfill many more criteria than just providing a paycheck.”
3 Types of Career Tests
There are a variety of types of career tests, each one giving you different information that will help you in your career research. Most fall into one of three major categories.
-The Career Aptitude Test
-The Career Personality Test
-The Career Interest Survey
What is the difference?
Aptitude is a big word for ability, strength or skill. A career aptitude test will measure your ability to either acquire a particular skill or do a specific type of work.
A career personality test will analyze and categorize your personality traits (or your emotional makeup) and then show you how those traits relate to success in different careers.
A career interest survey helps you determine how your interests relate to a career or groups of careers.
