II. Self-Assessment
 Articles
Interactive Tools
& Tests: Skills, Values,
Interests & Aptitudes, Personality
Pencil & Paper Exercises
[Career Planning Part I: General Advice]
[Career Planning Part III: Career Exploration]
Articles
• The
two-minute crash course on picking a field
You have to decide where you'd be happiest employing your transferable skills, because
where you'd be happiest is also where you'd be most effective.
• What
do you have to offer to the world?
It is important that you figure out what kinds of jobs need the transferable skills,
expertise and traits that you most like to use.
• Skill
assessment
When you inventory your interests, abilities, aptitudes and values, you may find that you
are skilled in areas in which you never thought you would be qualified.
• Assessing
your most marketable skills and strengths
Knowing who you are, what you have to offer, and what you makes you a valuable resource
... are all essential elements of information to your job and your career.
• Careers
that fit match worker's strongest natural abilities
Knowledge of your abilities is perhaps the most fundamental piece of the career puzzle,
whether you are just starting out, or you are at a normal career turning point and want to
decide where to put your major focus and energy for the next few years.
• Know
talents, abilities to find your work type
Research shows that when people are in roles that match up with their natural
abilities, they are almost always happier and more satisfied. They also are more
successful and more productive.
• Know
yourself: The first move toward finding the perfect job
Getting to do what you do best is not a matter of luck. It's a matter of knowing who you
are.
• Know
thyself: The importance of self-assessment when looking for a
job
A list of questions that can help you identify who you are and, most importantly, what is
critical to you in your work.
• Finding
a fitting career starts with self-searching
Personality! You've got personality! the old popular song goes. But how does it affect
your choice of careers and your career advancement? Anne H. Reilly, associate professor of
management at Loyola University in Chicago, says it's an important factor.
• Know
yourself
Don't spend too much time in self-analysis. One cheap and easy way to learn about yourself
is to seek some honest appraisal from those you like and respect. Then factor out the
flattery.
• Between
jobs? First step back to career is knowing yourself
Experts say assessing skills and values, as well as the industry, is the unemployed's best
way to find satisfying work.
• Myers-Briggs
test can help you tailor your style to the job
Along with its numerous other uses, the Myers-Briggs can help people determine their work
style and help them tailor their present job into a more satisfying career.
• The five rules about
taking career tests
There are five rules to keep in mind when approaching career tests in general,
and online tests in particular.
• About career
testing & assessment
You can never know too much about yourself. In general, the better you know yourself, the
easier it will be to design a satisfying work and lifestyle.
• About
personality testing
Several FAQs.
• Psychometric
assessments
Many organizations use some form of psychometric assessment as a part of their selection
process. For some people this is a prospect about which there is a natural and
understandable wariness of the unknown. This article sheds some light on the nature and
use of psychometric tests.
[Top of Page]
Skills, Values, Interests & Aptitudes
• CareerStorm
Navigate to your goals using CareerStorm Map and Compass. Create your personal CareerStorm
Compass with a thorough analysis of your skills, interests, work style and values. From
CareerStorm Ltd.
• Self-Assessment Career Survey
Find out which careers you might like to pursue by completing a brief survey of career
cluster area interests. Survey allows you to specify your interests, aptitudes and
experiences. From the Michigan Occupational Information System.
• MAPP (Motivational Appraisal of
Personal Potential)
If you are searching for a career path or personal fulfillment, then MAPP is for you.
MAPP's aim is to provide you with an assessment that will help you make good career
decisions based on what you really want to do. 71-question quiz
from International Assessment Network.
• AOL
Career Finder
Excellent tool takes into account your personality, skills, education, salary requirements
and workstyle preferences to match you with you several of 236 different careers.
• Career Search and MatchMe
Create your personal attribute profile, then put careerexperience.com's search
technology to work. It instantly finds possible career paths specifically for you by
comparing your unique personal attribute profile to hundreds of career profiles.
• ImproveNow.com:
Job Style Indicator
People who understand the behavior styles that are appropriate for their jobs can have a
happier, more satisfying, more productive work life. This tool is designed to help you
identify and articulate what these behavior styles are. Once you've completed the JSI, you
can compare the job style behaviors required in your job to your Personal Style Indicator
preferences. This will tell you how your current job fits with your personal style and
give you a pretty good idea of what changes, if any, might increase your satisfaction and
performance in your work life. (Free registration required. PSI summary report is free,
in-depth report is $19.95.)
• Human
Resources Development Canada: 'Who am I?' Career Quizzes
The "Who am I?" Career Quizzes are designed to help you find out about your
work interests, styles and preferences. Each of the five quizzes will provide you with a
short list of occupations that might suit you or lead you to think about new
possibilities.
• Spherion:
Emerging Workforce Survey
This survey will help you determine whether you are a traditional or an emergent worker
and how that affects the expectations you have of your employer. It will also help you
understand what kind of organizations and employers suit you best.
• TRIMA Career
Competency Questionnaire
Developed to help you familiarize yourself with your career competencies. This
questionnaire consists of 150 questions and will take between 10 and 15 minutes to
complete. Presented by Lionel Arsenault and Psychometrics Canada.
• DiscoverME
DiscoverME's mission is to help you achieve personal success and satisfaction in your
career by understanding yourself -- your unique talents and abilities, your preferred work
styles and the type of work environments in which you will be most successful and
satisfied.
• C.H.I.P.S Self-Style
Analysis
The C.H.I.P.S. (Computerized Help for Individual Planning for Success) career and life
guidance system is designed to help plan and activate your career. The C.H.I.P.S. system
provides a way to better understand yourself and how you can be more effective at work and
in relations with others in all situations. From Best Jobs USA.
• CareerMatch
Questionnaire
This 24-question test is able to determine a unique profile in terms of six of your most
significant characteristics or personality attributes. Using this profile, it compares and
matches it against similar profiles established for about 100 different careers. From
INTEC College.
• The Career Key
A free public service to help people make sound career decisions, from Lawrence K. Jones,
Ph.D. Answer questions about which jobs interest you, activities you enjoy, your
abilities, your self-perception and your values to find groups of jobs that are likely to
fit you.
• Mazemaster's
Self-Assessment
In this module you'll find three exercises and an Action Plan to help you zero in on the
best jobs for you. Start to build your Action Plan after you have completed any of the
three exercises. Give yourself approximately 30 minutes to do all of the exercises.
• Career Mapper
When you complete and return the following questionnaire, Texas Instruments will process
the data using a special database that assesses your strengths and weaknesses and
recommends the types of jobs that best suit your aptitudes and talents.
• The
Princeton Review Career Quiz
A 24-question quiz that will help to determine your most likely interests and work style.
This information can help you choose fields, jobs, and organizations that are suited to
your strengths and occupational preferences.
• Transferable
Skills Survey
Interactive checklist of five broad skill areas which are divided into more specific
skills. From the University of Minnesota Duluth.
• techQuest 2000
Designed to get students thinking about their futures as well as career opportunities in
math, science & technology." Identify your interests with the self-inventory before you move
on to careerQuest, where
you'll identify potential career paths. From the Nebraska Math and Science Initiative
• Edugeneology
Geared toward students and young adults, this research tool was designed to help guide you
down the path to a great career. By making a series of decisions, you will be able to
choose a career that best suits you. Lists about 120 different careers. From Canada's
ThinkQuest.
• Jackson Vocational Interest Survey
The Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS) and the accompanying Career
Exploration Guide can be used in initial career path planning as well as for planning a
career change. The aim is to provide a comprehensive, accurate, and sex-fair assessment of
vocational interests. The JVIS consists of 289 pairs of job-related activities and takes
about 45 minutes to complete. While the test itself is free, the generated report costs
$14.95.
• Self-Directed Search
The Self-Directed Search will help you to discover which three RIASEC types you are most
like. Then it will help you determine which occupations or fields of study are likely to
match your individual type. There is no charge to take the test, but there is a fee of
$7.95 to receive your results (8-12 pages).
• Personal
Values Survey
This tool is designed to provide you with an awareness and understanding of what you value
the most, enabling you to better match your values with those required in a certain type
of job.
[Top of Page]
Personality
• The Career Interests Game
This exercise is based on Dr. John Holland's theory that people and work environments can
be loosely classified into six different groups. Different peoples' personalities may find
different environments more to their liking.
• eTest
You can take the personality inventory section of this test one time free of charge. It's
simple and should take only 20-30 minutes to complete.
• Ansir.com: 3 Sides of You
Helps users identify dominant personality styles in three realms: Thinking, Working and
Emoting. The analysis is based on four years of research. It is the only self-perception
work to present the 3-sided complexity of individuals and to recognize intuitive and
spiritual personality styles. Very long "test" but supposedly one of the more
accurate assessment tools around.
• The
Keirsey Temperament Sorter II
This 70-question assessment tool is designed to identify different personality types. It
is similar to other devices derived from Carl Jung's theory of "psychological
types," such as the Myers-Briggs. If you're pressed for time, try the 36-question Keirsey Character Sorter instead.
Read more about your personality type at the Keirsey home
page and at TypeLogic, then see this list of suggested occupations for your
type.
• Discover your
personality type
A "quickie quiz" designed to help you learn about personality type.
• All About You
This 48-question test measures what many psychologists consider to be the fundamental
dimensions of personality.
• Discover
your type
A 36-question sampler of the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator.
• Emotional
Intelligence Survey
Success in any role will reflect your behavioral characteristics far more than your
technical abilities on the job. These characteristics make up what is called Emotional
Intelligence. Here is a tool to answer the question, "How emotionally intelligent am
I?"
• Emotional
Intelligence Test
This test will evaluate several aspects of your emotional intelligence and suggest ways to
improve it. For various reasons and thanks to a wide range of abilities, people with high
emotional intelligence tend to be more successful in life that those with lower EQ even if
their classical IQ is average. Find out more about EQ here.
• Inner Self Personality Test
Sixty-question test is "perfect for everyone who would like to improve
themselves."
• The
LIFO Success Profile
The Profile assesses your strengths and stress points. It is based on your replies to a
unique series of 18 questions.
• Success
Likelihood Test
This 40-question test is designed to evaluate your attitudes towards success.
• Sales
Personality Test
This test is meant to help you understand your strengths and preferences, to assess your
potential in a sales-related work, and to identify areas in which you may need additional
training.
• Leadership WorkStyles
Provides feedback on how your thinking style may affect your success in a management role.
• Leadership
Survey
You have to be a leader if you want to reach the top of the company ladder. This tool will
help you to find out if you have leadership qualities.
• Leadership
Test
This 30-question test is designed to evaluate your general leadership qualities and
potential.
• Assertiveness
Inventory
This 32-question test is designed to evaluate your general level of assertiveness.
• Coping
Skills Inventory
This 45-question test is designed to evaluate how well you cope with stress in your life.
• Optimism/Pessimism
Inventory
This 18-question test is designed to evaluate your take on the world and your life in
general.
• How
others see you
Take this personality test to find out how others perceive you.
[Top of Page]
Pencil & Paper Exercises
• Define your ideal work
preferences
Whether you are currently looking for a job or are merely thinking about moving on, it is
critical to identify your Ideal Work Preferences (IWPs) as early as possible. IWPs are,
very simply, the ideal components of your next position.
• Skills
identification
Employers do not just want to know where you have been and what your job titles were. The
average person has between 500 and 800 skills! You need to identify those skills that are
the most attractive to potential employers.
• Start
your job search with self-assessment
In this excerpt from Parting Company: How to Survive the Loss of a Job and Find
Another Successfully, authors William Morin and James Cabrera look at a few factors
you should consider: your psychological needs and your past accomplishments.
• Self-assessment:
personality & attitudes
Looking for a match between your strengths and the work you are considering is the most
important step before you write a resume or search for a job. In fact, when the time comes
to write your resume and prepare for a job interview, you will find the task much easier
the more you know about yourself.
• Accomplishment
Worksheet
Your accomplishments are a record of success. Employers want to know how, where, and when
you used those skills. They want to hear how you excelled in your performance. Your
accomplishments set you apart from the competition.
• Describe your best
accomplishments
Over the course of your life, you’ve probably accomplished an amazing variety of
things. Now is an excellent time to recall these accomplishments, think about them, talk
with others about them, and write them down. This process will help you to understand the
personal qualities and skills that you possess.
• Clarifying what you
value
You’ll find that by thoughtfully evaluating, writing down and talking about what
matters to you, this will prove extremely beneficial for your work transition and for your
personal life as well.
• Your self-assessment
The first step in planning your job search involves getting to know yourself. This
self-study is an important step, since it relates to how you present yourself to
employers.
• Assessing
your skills, experiences and interests
Self-assessment can help you to decide on a realistic job objective. The information you
discover will also be helpful when writing your resume, completing job applications and
preparing for job interviews.
• Self-Assessment
Essential reading for anyone beginning a job search, writing a resume, or planning to
interview. Geared toward students but useful for others too; three parts.
• Career
Assessment Questionnaire
This is not an in-depth psychological assessment, but it is designed to start you thinking
and to point to certain factors that will be important for your job search and your career
satisfaction.
• Work
Values Inventory
Being aware of what we value in our lives is important because a career choice that is in
line with our core beliefs and values is more likely to be a lasting and positive choice.
• Work
Temperament Checklist
An inventory of your skills will assist you in recognizing your "marketable
assets." These assets can be either strengths or limitations depending on your
employment goals. This checklist is designed to make you aware of your work temperament
attributes other than hard skills.
• Campbell
Interest and Skill Survey
For prospective college and graduate students still undecided about which career path to
take, U.S. News offers an opportunity to take a first step in sorting out particular
skills and interests. This 320-question survey is free to take, but you have to pay $14.95
to receive the results (12-page report). Adobe
Acrobat Reader is required for viewing and printing.
[Top of Page]
[Career Planning
Part I: General Advice, Part III: Career Exploration]
CareerCatalyst
> Career Ref. Center > Career Planning: II. Self-Assessment
|
