Assessment Forum – Cohort 3

Instructions:  You have been asked to help design a career assessment program for your customers. What are one or two assessments [formal or informal] you would use with your customers? Make one original post and then respond to one classmate’s post. You will make a total of two posts.

Remember that our learning group works in a full value environment: We treat our colleagues with respect and professionalism. Our comments should reflect this culture

35 thoughts on “Assessment Forum – Cohort 3”

  1. Antoinette Destefano says:

    I like the interest profiler assessment for example the ONETs My Next Move would be good for High school students who lack or have very little work experience and usually don’t even know what they are interested in. I believe this would be a great introduction/starter to help guide my clients.

    1. Margaret Talcott says:

      Yes, the My Next Move is a brief assessment, where the results can be easily interpreted. It’s helpful place to begin exploring career options which match with person’s interest profiler.

    2. Christy Hernandez says:

      I agree Antoinette, the ONET My Next Move is great for youth who aren’t sure what jobs/careers to explore. It is definitely a great way to start a conversation using the list occupations. 🙂

    3. Junell McCall says:

      Antoinette,

      I agree that My Next Move is appropriate for high school students. This was great discernment on your part in knowing which assessment fit best with your population.

    4. Monica Aigner says:

      That sounds good, maybe you can use an informal inventory too, as Card Sorts.

      1. Aaron Leson says:

        Monica, great idea. I think there are many who don’t know the benefits of card sorts due to having not been exposed to them.

    5. Carrian Foster says:

      I think this is a great tool for our young adult program participants. Allowing them early exploration into potential career paths can really set them up for success.

    6. Nanci Hankerd says:

      I too like the ONETs assessments, pretty easy to administer, and good feedback. Plus it is Level A instrument.

  2. Cara Owings says:

    While it is hard to design a career assessment program to fit all participants needs and personality types, there is a general format that I would start with that allowed flexibility for each participant. I would start with an interest or value inventory assessment first to get a better understanding of the client. The next assessment I would use would be either the o*net assessment or the career zone assessment. I feel as though the last two assessment give more insight on the best fit for the client. It focuses on the clients needs out of a work environment and not the other way around.

    1. Junell McCall says:

      Carla,
      I agree that the O’Net would be a great part of designing assessments. Clients will have an opportunity to match their interests with careers.

  3. Margaret Talcott says:

    I would use a combination of informal and formal career assessments while assisting a client. Informal assessment might include a card sort or a check list. This could provide a means of building rapport, completing a tactile activity, and starting a conversation. Digging deeper with a client, a formal assessment, such as the O*Net Interest Profiler and MyNextMove are both user friendly and provide a lot information. For some populations, such as incarcerated individuals, having low tech assessment tools is very important as there may be no access to internet or online resources.

    1. Lynn Langdon says:

      I agree with using the informal assessment tools to start, in order to build rapport and try to find deeper meaning for the client to try to connect them to a long term career that will be fulfilling for them that is not specifically defined. After the informal assessment, it would be a good pathway to the more formalized assessment that may be more “nuts and bolts” where it can be narrowed down to more detailed labeled careers.

  4. Christy Hernandez says:

    I would choose the informal option if I were asked to help design a career assessment program. My choices would be the O*NET Interest Profiler and California Career Zone’s Work Importance Profiler (WIP). The Interest Profiler would show the customer’s interests and what kind of career they might like to explore, where the WIP shows their values and what is most important to them on the job.

    1. Aaron Leson says:

      Christy, love using some sort of values indicator….I believe it can be super useful in assisting clients/customers/students.

    2. Kevin Appnel says:

      I did this profiler when reviewing the chapter and really like the California Career Zone’s Work Importance Profiler. So much focus is put on “What” they are going to do, but individual’s don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about the work environment (which can sometimes be an industry-standard of a career that they may not have long-term success pursuing).

  5. Junell McCall says:

    In designing a career assessment program, I would have two categories of assessments: informal and formal. For my informal assessments I would use begin with a values assessment from My Plan or Career OneStop so that the individual can get a sense of their values and worldview. After the client has grasp of their values, I would then have them take one of the two O’Net Interest Profilers based on the client’s availability to complete the assessment. The O’Net has two versions: Short form 60 questions and Mini IP has 30 questions.
    These two are self-paced and allow the student/client to ascertain their results independently of my assistance.

    For the formal assessment, I would administer the Holland Code, MBTI, or Gallups Strengths Finder. With these assessments, I would guide the client with leading questions in our discussions to further assist them with uncovering their God-given talents and interests. I would use card sorts as part of the discussion so the client can “see” themselves working in a particular field. I would speak heavily about the culture of a company so the client can determine if they would be a good fit for that particular workplace or industry at large.

  6. Monica Aigner says:

    I will choose the assessment depending on what the customer needs, for example, if he/she is looking advise on Career decision, I will use Career beliefs inventory to explore client’s assumptions and beliefs about themselves and the world of work.
    If the service will be for a group of clients, I will use the Holland Party game.

  7. Carrian Foster says:

    In designing a career assessment for a client I would create an informal program utilizing the O*Net Interest Profiler. that would allow the client to share their work interests and allow me to assess their wants while assisting me to gain a deeper understanding of their vision for themselves.

  8. Kevin Appnel says:

    With a focus on the career exploration phase of career development I will focus the most on informal and would want them to look at ONET’s Interest Profiler. I feel that this at least can help to get them in the ball park to then narrow down their search a bit further.

    1. Dominique McInnis says:

      I wholeheartedly agree with your chosen assessments, especially including an informal and formal. I particularly found this statement, “the formal assessment may help validate the outcomes to the client if they are not bought into the informal assessment outcome” impactful. The overall goal is to provide clients with a concrete basis to follow, and ensuring validity is imperative.

  9. Lynn Langdon says:

    In designing a career assessment for my clients, I would start with an informal assessment tool, such as a guided imagery. This will hopefully help the client get a better idea of where they see themselves physically (through visualization) without having to nail down a specific career at this point, as that can seem overwhelming. It helps to realize what they priorities for a successful life look like, for example, do they want a flexible schedule in order to be home for children, or do they prefer to work alone. I would then move into a formal assessment tool to help the client pinpoint a more specific path. The formal assessment may help validate the outcomes to the client if they are not bought into the informal assessment outcome. The two assessments I would consider are the O*Net Interest Profiler and the Personality Mosaic.

    1. Allison Tans says:

      Hi Lynn,
      I love the idea of using the guided imagery with clients. I reviewed it as I worked through the chapter, but never even thought of it as I was drafting my response. I am glad that you did. It may take a long time to go through it, but I could see it being very worthwhile. The Personality Mosaic is another that did not jump out at me as I was drafting my response. I referenced the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, and had taken it with the DHHS- Employment Training Division (ETD) when I first began working for the Workforce Board and sat it on each of the classes that ETD was offering. If I remember correctly, this was a take-home assignment for clients. I thought it was very useful, and am curious if ETD is still offering it.

  10. Shirma Butts says:

    I feel that any career assessment choice needs to be based off of the customer needs and demographic. For example, I would use an assessment that would help college students decide on a possible major or with a future career goal. In order to do this I would include both formal and informal assessments to gauge a variety of skills or desires. If I was in a scenario of a group of students, I would utilize the Holland party game or card sort to serve as an icebreaker to lead into the more formal assessment and ease any “test anxiety.”. This can give the student a little direction in where their interests or styles may lie. My informal assessment would be the O’Net My Skills My future assessment which can help undecided students identify and understand their interest patterns and themes.

    1. Kaylynn Wilson says:

      I agree with the group assessment and using the card sort as an icebreaker. I too find this tool helpful when exploring career interest in students.

  11. Dominique McInnis says:

    Although I am engaged in several fields, working with high school students attribute to approximately 75% of my professional career. If I aspired to design a career assessment program for high school students, preferably, upperclassmen, I would utilize ability tests and skill inventories. From an early age, students are influenced with a variety of careers, whether directly (relative) or indirectly (media). Although we would like to conquer anything we desire, an ability test would allow students to see if their abilities match their occupational choice. The ASVAB is a popular ability test given to high school students who have interest in the military. Skill inventories would also be implemented and useful because high school students need a mechanism to identify specific skills which would assist in job searching or career choices. I have seniors each year clueless as to what they would like to do. Sometimes, it is a field trip opportunity that opens their minds to skills that they possess, and are fond of.

    1. Jaleen Walker says:

      I think it is a great approach to take a personal assessment before administering it to your clients. The Onet assessment made me think about how important it is to match interests with career choices. I remember experiences with teachers who loved a subject but failed at teaching because they had no interest in working with children. Unbeknownst to some customers, their career path or niche is not aligned with their skill or interests. Using assessments will allow customers to have tangible evidence about the best career match for them.

  12. Nanci Hankerd says:

    After taking several of the assessments myself, I would start by using the O*net interest profile, and the O*net skills inventory. I also liked the feed back from the my skills, my future assessment. Gained some insight about myself, as well.

    1. Raphael Isokpehi says:

      I agree with your conclusions from the O*NET career assessment resources. I appreciate that you mentioned insight. It reminded me of a scholarly article that I read recently on insight. “Insight Is Not in the Problem: Investigating Insight in Problem Solving across Task Types.”

      “Insight or Aha is often identified as the subjectively distinct feeling of sudden and unexpected understanding that may accompany attempts to solve a problem” https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01424/full

      According to the NCDA Facilitating Career Development manual (Chapter 4 page 15), the four basic uses of assessments in career development are career exploration, career decision-making, educational planning and career adjustment. When a client takes a career assessment it could be viewed as a problem solving situation where the problem is ill-defined.

      For ill-defined problems, “insight is often described as a restructuring of ill-defined problem space, which occurs after a period of impasse. The sudden narrowing of the problem space enables an easier generation of a solution”.

      The feeling of surprise to aspects of the career assessment results could provide career providers and clients with a narrowing of the career development problem space for easier generation of a solution to career exploration, career decision-making, educational planning and career adjustment.

  13. Raphael Isokpehi says:

    Design of a Data Economy Career Assessment Program for Upper Level College Students

    Setting and Client Group:
    The clients for the career assessment program are college students in the junior or senior year of a biology or chemistry college degree course. The setting is a group setting of a college course on career planning with 20 to 25 students. Clients may have intentions for specific occupations (e.g. healthcare provider, educator, researcher etc.)

    Objective of Career Assessment Program:
    The objectives of the career assessment program are to provide (1) career counseling and (2) career assistance services relevant to jobs in the data economy. The circumstances in 2020 necessitating remote work increased the demand for data economy jobs.

    Description of Data Economy Workforce:
    The career assessment program is guided by description of the data economy workforce as who collect, store, manage and analyze data as their primary activity, or as a relevant part of their activities.
    https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/frontier-technology-quarterly-january-2019/

    Assessment Considerations:
    I recognize that in designing formal assessment that I can consider the following categories: (1) interest inventories; (2) abilities tests; (3) skills inventories; (4) work value inventories; (5) personality inventories (6) career beliefs/thoughts/levels of decidedness; and (7) career maturity.

    Additionally, I recognize in designing informal assessments I can consider the following types: (1) card sorts; (2) checklists of interests, values, or abilities; (3) checklists or structured worksheets; (4) forced-choice activities; (5) group discussions; (6) guided imagery; (7) interviews; (8) job shadowing; (9) observation of skills being demonstrated; (10) transferable skills activities; and (11) writing samples.

    Procedure for a Data Economy Career Assessment for Upper Level College Students:
    Step 1: Group complete the assessment at O*NET Interest Profiler! https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip and submit the O*NET Interest Profiler: Score Report to career services provider or professor.
    Step 2: The career services provider or professor compiles the score report into a dataset. The dataset will be compiled and made anonymous for the next step.
    Step 3: The students will have course-based learning experience to collect, store, manage and analyze data collected from the dataset compiled from the score reports.
    Step 4: The career services provider or professor follow-up for individual or sub-groups with appropriate career assessment(s) useful for career exploration, career-decision making and education planning.

    Broader Use of Data Economy Career Assessment Program:
    Datasets compiled and analysis can be used in professional learning experiences for career services providers.

  14. Kaylynn Wilson says:

    when developing a career assessment program I would use both formal and informal assessments. The formal assessments I find very useful would be the interest inventories , such as Onet interest Profiler and Skill Inventory such as skill scan. I say these two because when choosing a career and dealing with pre-college or even first year college students I feel is in necessary to get to know their interest and skill when career planning. Interest are already embedded in the individual so it can be brought to light with tools like the Onet interest inventory and the skill inventory can help identify skills individuals didn’t know existed. The informal choice would be soft card/forced choice assessments so that I can understand the individuals work value.

    1. Antoinette Destefano says:

      I agree with you Kaylynn. Pre college and first year college students usually have no idea what skills they possess. Sometimes they do not realize what values are important to them. This can shed some light for them and move them into a direction.

  15. Allison Tans says:

    I would meet with the client and determine the best assessment for them based on their personality and ability. Then I would select a combination of an informal and a more formal assessment. Ideally, I would begin with an informal assessment such as the O-Net Interest Profiler, which is very effective for providing information in a user-friendly manner. For the formal assessment, I would use the classic Holland Code, or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Our prior contractor also had great success with the Keirsey Temperament Sorter. I have also taken leadership courses that used the MBTI, the Gallup StrengthsFinder and the True Colors test, all of which I am a fan.

    1. Baraka Mapp says:

      Meeting with the client first to determine the best assessment is a good first step. I agree with the use of both informal and formal to provide a more comprehensive career assessment. This is helpful information. Thanks for your post.

  16. Baraka Mapp says:

    I would use both formal and informal assessments. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the formal assessment of choice, along with an informal card sort through the Work Importance Locator in O*NET. These assessments will provide information such as a customer’s personality type and work values.

  17. Jaleen Walker says:

    A combination of both formal and informal assessments would be my preference to ensure that I am providing a well-rounded approach for my customers. Formal assessments would give me some measurable/quantitative data but informal assessments would give me qualitative/ instinctual data that is more interpersonal.

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