Whether you are just starting out, or wondering if another career would suit you better, self-assessments can help you consider different options and confirm types of careers that might be right for you.
What is an assessment?
Assessments can help you choose a good career fit!
Career assessment is a way to learn more about how well a variety of careers might suit you. Each assessment focuses on a specific area, such as skills, interests, or values. Typically, an assessment asks you to answer questions about what you like, don’t like, what’s important to you, and what your strengths are.
Since assessment results may relate to as many as 900 different occupations, don’t panic if your results include careers that don’t interest you. Experts recommended that you take more than one assessment to broaden your ideas before you make a decision. It can also be helpful to talk with a career counselor, family and friends before making a career decision.
What can an assessment help you do?
What can’t an assessment do?
Try these assessments to start:
Find a career that matches your interests.
An interest assessment can help you identify careers that meet your interests. Interest assessments usually ask you a series of questions about what you like and don’t like to do. Then they match your likes and dislikes to careers.
When you choose a career that matches your overall interests, you’re more likely to enjoy your job. You’re also more likely to be successful.
Take an Interest Assessment
Get started with CareerOneStop’s GetMyFuture Interest Assessment. You’ll answer 30 quick questions online. Then you’ll get a list of careers that might be a good fit for your likes and dislikes.
For a more in-depth assessment, visit O*NET’s My Next Move Interest Profiler. It has 60 questions and will use your answers to give you a list of careers that might be a good fit for you.
Want to know what careers you can do with the skills you already have?
Your skills describe what you like to do and what you are good at. You develop skills by training and experience that improve your ability to do tasks. Being able to identify and describe your skills allows you to answer key questions at job interviews such as What can you do for my organization? and What problems can you solve?
In the workplace, there are two kinds of skills: technical skills, and soft skills. Both types are essential for success.
Technical skills
Your ability to accomplish specific tasks like cooking, computer programming, or teaching, are called technical skills. They relate to a particular occupation. You may have learned technical skills from past work experience, school or training. These skills are often included in job listings to describe the tasks of a position. Examples are:
Soft skills
Employers also want employees who fit in and get along well in the workplace. That requires soft skills. These are so valuable that soft skills are often the reason employers decide whether to keep or promote an employee. Some soft skills can be taught in school. But most you learn in everyday life and can improve at any time.
Check out these sources to help you identify your skills and find the kinds of work they relate to:
Choose work that reflects your values to gain career satisfaction.
The best career choices are ones that match your values.
What are values?
Values are your beliefs about what is important or desirable. When your values line up with how you live and work, you tend to feel more satisfied and confident. Living or working in ways that contradict your values can lead to dissatisfaction, confusion, and discouragement. So there is good reason to clarify your values, and seek to match your work to them.
Ready to learn more about your own work values? Get started with any of these activities: