Instructions: You have been asked to help design a career assessment program for your students. What are one or two assessments [formal or informal] you would use with your students? Make one original post and then respond to one classmate’s post. You will make a total of two posts.
18 thoughts on “Assessment Forum – June 2024”
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One formal assessment that I would use when developing a career program assessment for students would be interest inventories. Specifically, the O*NET Interest Profiler. A decent portion of my job includes setting up healthcare career pathways and pre-apprenticeship opportunities with some of our local high schools. The pathways and pre-apprenticeship programs are geared towards several different health care occupations and I think utilizing the O*NET Interest Profiler would be a useful tool to help the students identify if the pathways programs are really something they are interested in and what direction they may want to go. This is assessment is a great tool to use to point students in the right direction and provides a wide variety of jobs that an individual may be interested in based on their likes and dislikes. I especially like how after you finish the assessment and review the different jobs, O*NET provides a detailed description of the what the job is, the education requirements, the skills needed to perform the job, and even the salary outlook. I feel like this is a really simple assessment to take and does a great job highlighting jobs of interest based on an individual’s likes and dislikes, which I think can be a great starting point for students who are in the early stages of trying to figure out what they want post school. I took this assessment and I felt like it was very accurate and it was really interesting to see all of the jobs that would be a good fit for me based on my likes and dislikes.
Great post Portia. I have not taken the O-Net assessment yet but it sounds like a should. I’m not in the Career Development space yet but I am familiar with some of the assessments mentioned in chapter 4.
Employment centers offer WIOA paid training programs through training providers for career upgrade. During the day, as a job coach I would engage with a few job seekers who are looking into career upgrades within a certain field. After meeting with the job seeker for an intake and expressing their interest in a WIOA funded training opportunity, I will direct the job seeker to start completing a certain formal assessments on CalJOBS, which are interests and values. Those assessments are a part of the requirements to enroll the job seeker in the training program. After completing those assessments, I meet with the job seeker and go over the results in order to understand the compatibility between his or her interests and the future path that they want to take.
For some job seekers, they would seek career upgrade opportunity based on an advertisement that advocating for certain type of job that might yield a high income, so understanding the relationship between the particular job seeker’s interests and values and the training that he or she are looking for is a crucial thing to measure the future success in the program.
Assessment Forum -July 2024
One of the formal assessments I would use would definitely be interest inventories. If I were in the Career Development space, I would need to test the clients’ abilities and skill set to determine if the jobs/careers they are interested in match their abilities. I am familiar with WorkKeys and would use that to determine if for example someone that wants to be a truck driver has the ability to read signs and business documents and what level of math they are familiar with. I would also use TABE to measure their educational attainment for a specific interest/career. Our partners use O-Net with clients to determine if their interest in specific trainings. I think determining what assessments to use will vary by the client or group you are working with and your ability or your organizations ability to administer Level A, B, or C instruments.
Great post Kim! Similar to you, I am not in the typical Career Development space, but I work with others who are which is why I also mentioned that I would use interest inventories as well. I am not familiar with WorkKeys, but it sounds like a great assessment and something that could be useful in determining the abilities of individuals that may be interested in some of the apprenticeship programs I work on. My office has several different healthcare apprenticeship programs that we offer and I think an assessment like this might be a good way to help determine what abilities they have that might help them in the different apprenticeship programs.
Thank you for bringing the O*NET assessment to my attention Porcia.
O*NET is one of our tools to measure the job market demand for a certain type of occupation that job seekers are seeking through obtaining a WIOA funded training opportunity. We measure the potential growth in the field and conduct any O*NET assessments.
I will work on utilizing this assessment in the future.
Designing a career assessment program involves using tools that can accurately evaluate a person’s skills, interests, values, and personality to help them find a suitable career path. A formal assessment I would use is a skills inventory. As a part of my current role, I have prepped clients for interviews and conducted resume reviews. During these sessions, we have conducted skills audits from their current and past roles. These audits have helped us realize growth opportunities and identify skills that the employee was not even aware of. This practice can also help us job match and find career/job opportunities that are appropriate for the employee, align with their career goals, and are adequately challenging. Although I have never used a formal assessment for this process myself, as recommended by the book, the Kuder Skills Confidence Assessment is an example of a skills inventory that can be utilized for this process.
* My Skills My Future, linked under “Task D” will also help pinpoint some careers based on your previous experience and skills. Just wanted to add . . .
Given your role, I think your choice of the formal skills inventory assessment makes sense. By helping your clients understand not just the skills they know they have, but also the skills they didn’t know they have, you can help ensure their resume is the best reflection of their career. It also would help your clients feel more confident applying for positions that may have been outside their search because they didn’t realize they had those additional skills. Broadening their job search and providing them with confidence are two important factors in not just being a good a good career service provider to them, but will support their personal growth and career aspirations.
Assessment Forum – July 2024
I’ve been asked to design a career assessment program for my students. Before I explain which assessment I will utilize, it’s important to understand who my students are. (Please note: For the sake of this assignment, I am using a made up scenario.)
My Role: School Guidance Counselor
Grade: 12th
Students Served: 30
Diversity: Mixed races & ethnicities
Location: Suburban, New Jersey
I would use two formal assessments: (1) Skill inventory and (2) Personality inventory to support my students. As students work through their final year of high school, they experience a number of insecurities, uncertainties and anxieties when thinking about their future selves. It’s a pivotal moment in their life full of change. They may be leaving home to go away to college. They may be entering the professional athletic field. They may take on a full-time positions and start paying bills for the first time. Or, they may not know what they should and want to do next. By administering an online formal assessment that helps them identify their skills and understand their work preferences, I hope they will experience self-discovery, gain confidence and be set on a positive path forward…no matter where that path leads.
My students would benefit from the O*NET skills inventory assessment. It’s user-friendly which is key for my students who may not have experience with these types of assessments. It’s broad enough to allow them to explore and dig deeper, if they want to. Perhaps it helps an avid athlete determine what skills they’ve acquired through their sport that they didn’t even realize they had. This knowledge could then allow them to research jobs that align with these skills and provide them with the confidence to apply for them.
For my students, a personality inventory like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) may help them establish a baseline understanding of their selves as point in their life that can be confusing. By understanding their personality type, students can make more informed decisions about their future career paths, educational choices and personal development goals. Collectively, this may positively influence their confidence by providing a tangible asset and validation of thoughts they may not have been able to express or work through.
CORRECTION: I meant to say I would use the skills assessment provided by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) via their CareerOneStop website/initiative.
If I were to provide an interest inventory assessment, which would also be a great option for my students, the O*NET Interest Profiler is definitely the one I’d go with.
I have also found the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to be an excellent holistic tool for understanding my personality traits. I own the book and regularly refer to the book and the website to gain more understanding of my personality and natural tendencies. I like it because it offers a starting point for self-discovery, particularly in identifying careers that align well with one’s personality type. Using this for students seems like a great choice because The MBTI provides insights into work environments, tasks, and roles that individuals might find fulfilling and motivating. I learned that this tool can guide them in choosing college majors, internships, and job opportunities that match their personality. In previous roles working in teams, we had a representative interpret the results for our team which helped us to learn to work more efficiently with each other.
Hi Miranda,
Thank you for sharing. I agree with your approach of using skill and personality assessments to help students during their final year of high school. The O*NET skills inventory will be helpful because it’s easy to use and allows students to explore their skills deeply including those they’ve gained from hobbies like sports. This can boost their confidence and guide them towards careers that match their strengths.
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is also a good choice to help students understand themselves better. It gives them insights that can inform their decisions about college, and careers.
The assessment that has been used in our organization is the COPS but during the change of supervisors and directors, the assessments have fallen through. I am looking into shorter assessments due to the cops being so long that the client does not like to do the long assessment. I am interested in a shorter but gives some general ideas for the client. We work with youth and adults they should be doing assessments.
After reading Chapter 4 and Chapter 3 I better understand the factors involved in the career planning process and the relationship between theory and assessment. In thinking through a career assessment program for students, I would need to select tools that provide comprehensive insights into the student’s interests, strengths, and potential career paths.
After learning about the Holland Code (RIASEC) Assessment I would use this widely used formal assessment to understand their dominant personality types, so students could explore careers that align with their interests and strengths. I took this assessment and enjoyed the clear framework to understand how preferences relate to various career options shown on O*NET.
I have also taken The CliftonStrengths assessment, and I like how it identifies natural talents and strengths. The results provide a deeper understanding of what you excel at and how to leverage these strengths in your career. This assessment would boost self-awareness and encourage students to pursue careers that align with their innate abilities, leading to greater satisfaction and success.
I have taken the CliftonStrengths assessment about 3 or 4 times now in my professional career and I definitely think it a great tool for team building especially or helping participants understand the difference present in people and focusing on how you could work together rather than assuming the difference would make it impossible. I was also really interested in using Holland Code (RIASEC) Assessment after reading about it in the lesson, especially because we use the O*Net Interest profiler. Great post!
I have been asked to help design a career assessment program for my students, I would use both formal and informal assessments to get a better understanding of their interests, skills, and goals. One of the formal assessments I would use is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This assessment tool helps individuals find jobs by identifying their natural preferences. It also helps with resumes and interviews by highlighting skills that match the job. In general, it helps individuals make informed career choices that fit their personality and strengths.
For informal assessment, I would use the Holland Party Game. This assessment helps students make career choices by identifying which of the six personality types best describes their preferences. It guides students in discovering which careers align best with their interests and strengths. This informal approach encourages self-reflection and helps students explore various career paths that resonate with their unique qualities and aspirations.
We currently work with 18-32 year old participants that have been charged with their first felony level drug charge with intent to distribute and a smaller group of individuals with their first UUW charge. The program is based on the idea that these young people have started selling drugs due to meet their financial needs and that providing them with Cognitive Behavioral Interventions in combination with workforce development training will prevent them from engaging in illegal and risky behaviors. I am the supervisor for the workforce development services part of the program. We currently utilize the O*Net Interest Profiler for career exploration at the beginning of their workforce development education with the program and the Career OneStop Work Values Matcher. We generally operate under Cognitive Information Processing Theory with our career services and focus a lot on defining their sense of self and reflecting on their decision making processes since we are diversion program.