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.
32 thoughts on “Assessment Forum – MI Cohort 4”
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In order to help develop a career assessment program to be used with students, I would use an informational interview as one of the methods of assessment. This informal assessment allows for more of an organic conversation to flow between a practitioner and a client. This is more of a storied approach to delving deeper into a student’s past experiences, where they are today and even their future. I find that it is important to understand their past experiences and where they are today in order to assist them in achieving success in where they want to be. When conducting an informational interview, I find that it allows me to practice those ingredients of a helping relationship like warmth, understanding and respect. It also allows me to exercise helping skills like attending, listening and using open ended questions.
Another assessment I would use in order to help develop a career assessment program to be used for students would be the use of the ONET Interest Profiler; this assessment reflects Holland’s Trait-and-Factor theory. Even though this theory is a bit old school I find that it’s a good baseline to gauge their interests for career exploration. Once the assessment is completed we can then go over the results to see if they agree with what those results were. This allows us to have a foundation of occupational areas that they can explore or areas that they would not enjoy.
I often use the O*NET Interest Profiler with my clients as well. It is a great tool for my clients to get insight into potential career opportunities based on their interests.
Great thinking I wok with youth daily and have for over8 years i can apprieate your thinking and outlook on how to approach this subject.
Dont mind my spelling errors i clicked before i realized 🙁
Self-reflection exercises are a useful informal assessment tool that I like to use with my clients. During our initial meeting, I ask open-ended questions such as, “What kind of job do you envision yourself doing after completing this personalized training?” or “What do you find interesting about this particular field?” I also encourage clients to reflect on their interests, values, and strengths. In case a client is unsure about a particular career path, I ask them to create a pros and cons list to help them make an informed decision.
If a client is unsure of which career path to pursue, I often recommend using the O*NET Interest Profiler. This tool helps clients identify their areas of interest and provides insights into potential career paths they may have never considered before. Additionally, it highlights occupations that utilize their transferable skills and experience. By completing a series of questions, clients can make informed decisions about their career paths based on their personal interests and strengths.
Hi,
I like the idea of creating pros and cons of previous job experiences or career paths they may be interested in. Many of the clients struggle with identifying what career path to pursue and I agree with using ONET Interest Profiler because it’s an easy tool to use as a start to categorize the interests of clients. Transferrable skills and experience can be used to position past experiences when applying for new jobs especially in different industries. For example, employers often look for candidates with strong communication skills.
Thank you for sharing
I like the ONet Interest Profiler as well. It is a great tool for clients who have no structured idea of what they want to do. I find that many, if not most of my clients fall into this category. The Interest Profiler helps them to narrow things down and focus more on realistic options.
I also use O*NET! I think its a great tool to use for clients who may not know which path they want to chose or not sure where to start!
1. Formal assessments are inventories or tests that have been developed by experts according to scientific principles of test construction. These assessments can range from hands-on skill demonstrations and computerized inventories to the more traditional paper-and-pencil instruments. A key difference between formal and informal assessments is that formal assessments are standardized, which means that there are specific steps that must be followed in developing, administering, and interpreting them. They typically produce scores or score profiles a part of their results.
For formal assessments, I use Career Scope because it provides a strong foundation by identifying education, training, and career pathways leading to successful employment. I assessment measures both interest and aptitude through objective, valid, and reliable assessment tasks. ONET online is also useful when clients want to identify careers that match their interests.
On the other hand, informal assessment instruments tend to be easier to use and usually require less training than formal assessments. They may require more time to administer and demand thoughtful interpretation through careful observation and judgment. Informal assessment begins during initial interview with client. I usually gather much information about the client’s strengths and barriers in the career planning process. This information helps me plan what next steps to take when assisting the client.
Informal assessments include the paper and pen CCAPRIS model that our agency utilizes in which the seven employment factors and explored and discussed. These factors include Capabilities, Concerns, Abilities, Priorities, Resources, Interests, and Strengths of the client. I do not give the form to the client to fill out, rather I ask open ended and closed ended questions accordingly to capture more information within the model and document.
Career Scope is a great assessment for clients! They are designed to provide objective insights into an individual’s skills, interests, values, and personality traits, which can help them understand themselves better in the context of the workforce. I like how you ask open and close ended questions to the client before involving documents. Formal assessments can be intimidating for some individuals. When you communicate with the client in an informal assessment setting, this can reduce stress allowing clients to demonstrate their abilities more naturally.
If I was to develop a new career assessment program for my participants, I would first consider which group I would be pulling from, my PATH or WIOA Adults, as I may test them differently for their current goals. For this exercise my participants will be my WIOA Adult population to determine if their current career/education choice will be the best fit for their future. We will be focusing on career exploration and educational planning with their enrollment. My participants generally prefer on-line assessments, so I would have them complete it on one of our computers in the office. With that, I wouldn’t want them to taking the assessment at home so that they do not misunderstand their results if they are immediate. One thing that I like making very clear is that any assessments I provide are not pass/fail, but for my participant and I to review together and make sure their current choice for career/education have a valid backing. With all of these factors in mind I would be giving my participants the CareerScope. I prefer the CareerScope because it measures the aptitudes and interests of the participant and places them into different work groups based on those two scores aligning. With their interests and aptitudes aligning, we can go through what each mark in the summary means, and review the work groups the assessment places them in and why. When reviewing those with the participant, I want to make it clear that even if it places them into an undesirable work group to them, that doesn’t mean we have to move forward with that group.
I can totally relate to making sure clients know assessments administered are not a pass or fail. I think it can help put peoples minds at ease prior to an assessment when you have that base established. I can appreciate your thinking behind using CareerScope as a career exploration tool gleaning information not only on there interests but their aptitudes as well.
I agree with your follow up process. I used to begin my orientations with a thank you and I understand that no one really wants to be here today. With that understanding moving forward with tests that have both good form and function are key to their success. Often times PATH and WIOA goals overlap but many times, and especially with WIOA we need to do a little more digging, more career guidance. Plus most of the people who come in for testing haven’t taken a mast quiz since high school, and for some that’s 30 years plus so a proper explanation regarding tests and results can help put aside fears.
If I was to choose a new assessment program for my participants. I would want it to be user friendly and have it be something that the youth actively enjoy using maybe have a qr code they could scan with phones but also have a paper copy available for youth. I use career scope now with youth participants and the first thing I get asked is it like XELLO. Once youth is done with career scope they usually tell me they enjoyed it more than xello assessment. I want my participants to not feel overwhelmed when doing an assessment, I also understand how overwhelming the results can be. I would love the assessment to only send the review of categories or job ideas to myself and not the client at first, my participants get very angry when one shows up they have a prejudgment on the job scenario before we can even speak.
I like the outlook on this and making it more for your audience and what they are used to with QR Codes. I like that you get the results first so that it doesn’t lead them with their own conclusion, this adds layers to the assessment. I also like that you have the option of doing this over the phone and having a paper copy, maybe some want to have something like this to hold onto or hang up.
I wish all assessments sent results to us first to ensure that scenario does not happen. Time and time again I will ask my PATH participants to complete the CareerScope and once it is complete they read the results and say something along the lines of “I don’t want to be a ….” “Why does it think I want to be a….”. UGH. I can explain the scores, the work groups, and everything else to the best of my ability but if they have that prejudgment walking in there is really nothing I can do to save that conversation. Sometimes if they get placed into an undesirable work group to them, that is the only result they will see in any discussion. Going through the rest won’t even help if they are stuck on the one thing they didn’t agree with in the results.
I completely agree with when someone doesn’t agree with the results or cant see themselves in that group it set them at its hard to get them to open their minds to anything else.
If my audience is our customers at MRS, then I would choose an informal assessment because I believe it can deliver more of a personized outlook on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats as it is generally viewed as non-standardized with no scores, no comparison to other customers. This informal assessment would observe and interview the customers in what would resemble a normal environment for them, as opposed to a testing-taking facility. In relation to the feedback of the customer being more personalized, so is that of observations and feedback given to them in return. The informal assessment offers a more diverse interpretation, which only makes sense as it would overlap with the population of our customers at MRS. This assessment would be heavily geared towards career planning but before lining them up to see which careers they will excel in; it would focus on one’s skills and abilities beforehand. I would let our customers know that this is not pass/fail but focus more on the assessment being a tool to help guide them. A lot of this assessment would be force-choice and based on prior assessments answers to formulate some sort of categories beyond the outlook of a career for perspective’s sake. This assessment would not require one to write long-form answers, at the assessor’s preference, it would be quick, decisive and sudden with each answer given, so mostly checklists, multiple choice mixed in with some pop culture like which Neil do you prefer, Diamond or Young? Are you more cheese puffs or more cheese curls? The latter would be studied extensively to see if it merits any correlation between the customer and their career skills and focus. This will forever be called ‘The Wilson Assessment’ muah ha ha ha ha!
Everything you have expressed is how i feel also working with MRS. I believe the informal assessment would be most effective with the diverse population of MRS customers.
I would use Work values inventories help individuals identify and prioritize their personal values related to work. Understanding what matters most to them in a job can guide career decisions and ensure alignment between their values and their chosen career path. When individuals pursue careers that align with their values, they are more likely to experience job satisfaction and fulfillment. When it comes to decision making, these instruments provide clarity by helping individuals weigh the importance of different aspects of work, such as autonomy, creativity, social interaction, and financial rewards. Work value inventories encourage self-reflection and awareness, making customers gain a deeper understanding of themselves, their preferences, and what they seek in their professional lives.
Card sorting can be a valuable informal assessment tool for individuals exploring career options. Card sorting provides a structured approach to exploring career options. By categorizing cards representing different careers based on criteria such as interests, skills, values, and preferences, individuals can systematically evaluate their options. Visualizing career options through cards can make the process more engaging and easier to comprehend. Card sorting allows for flexibility in the assessment process. Participants can easily rearrange cards, add new ones, or remove others based on their evolving preferences or insights gained throughout the exercise. Unlike formal assessments, card sorting is a more relaxed tool. There are no right or wrong answers, and customers can explore different options without feeling the pressure to make an immediate decision.
I would really like to try using card sorting. I love the kinesthetic value of moving the cards around while thinking about how relevant the choices are. Your description of the activity makes me want to explore how I can use it in my career coaching.
I have used O*net for a number of years, it is a great place to begin when you are just starting out with the process. I find that because of its use of Holland codes it offers both the validity and reliability needed to get a strong foundation and give the customer/client faith in the test and the administrator of that test that we actually know what we are doing. without that it can be hard to move onto the next step. It’s helpful that it is easy to use and easy to interpret. I have found that customers coming through looking for help are often nervous and giving overly complicated/poorly designed/poorly explained testing can lead to higher drop put.
I agree! I like the accessibility of all the O*Net resources, because a lot of people we serve are completely anti-test! They are accustomed to tests that are used to exclude people from opportunities. However, I lay the foundation of reframed thinking by reminding them that there are no wrong answers in those assessments, and that the purpose is to help them customize their career plans to their own unique priorities and values. The assessments are long enough to be serious, but not so long that they are arduous. For people who are resistant to help, the follow up links and resources can be navigated (fairly) independently, and the info provided is written at an accessible reading level for most English-speaking participants.
I would use an interest profiler when helping a client explore their career options. I really like the interest profiler on My Next Move by Onet which uses the Holland approach with RAISEC codes. I find that although it is informal (I don’t have the credentials to use a level B or C assessment), it does provide enough information to get the conversation started. There are a variety of occupations and immense information that can be explored for each occupation. This allows the counselor to lead the client in meaningful discussion and to help the client do a compare and contrast activity with the occupations that are of interest to them.
If I was asked to design a career assessment program for my customers, the assessment used would be a structured interview which is informal. It’s a series of questions designed to collect information for a preplanned purpose . The purpose would be to gain information and understand the customer’s their experiences related to life roles. Results would be gained from actual dialogue with the customer and because its informal questions can be changed during interview to fit the situation and individual needs.
1) I would like to begin with a basic assessment like the ONet Interest Profiler, to find where their interests lay. If their interests prove to be varied, I would proceed with the CareerScope Aptitude assessment in an effort to help them match their interests with their abilities. I would then have them look into My Next Move to research and educate themselves on the personal and educational requirements of the various job opportunities that are available in their areas of interest.
When creating a new assessment program, first, a personality test such as My Next Move, would be used to assess the goals and interests of the customer. This gives you the opportunity to understand what career field the customer would best benefit from and why. Second, I would hold an informal interview with the customer to go over the results of the test to see if they agree on accuracy and have an open honest conversation with them to create goals, present additional tools to guide them, and come up with a solution together. After completion of the informal interview, I’d continue to follow up with the customer for anything additional they may need or answer any questions they may have.
If I was given a chance to create a new assessment for my participants, I would create a more user friendly formal assessment. right now we use TABE and although the system is great we from time to time run into some issues while using it, when giving the TABE assessment to a client I think it’s very important to be mindful to clients who come in and haven’t been to school in years or they aren’t a great test taker or for our ESL clients who are just starting to learn English, there are plenty of factors to take into consideration when giving a assessment where the client may be worried about “Failing”. I would love to create something that would be beneficial to everyone and more or less not making it seem like standardized test they have to take and also take into consideration what they should expect and make sure we state that this is not a test, there is no pass or fail we just want to see where you are and where to go from there to make sure your journey is successful. I would also take the test myself and make sure to let the client know what they can expect as far as with time, structure and whatever else they may be concerned with at the time.
I like your idea. A percentage of our customers are Spanish speakers. It would be nice to have a test in Spanish for them.
When meeting with a customer and doing our assessments I do get a lot of IDK and/or IDC. Our job seekers are mostly coming out of inpatient hospitalization or receiving SUD or Mental Health treatment. Taking this course has really given me a different outlook on the assessment that we give. We use a lot of closed ended question which explains why we get the answers we do. I have meet with my team and supervisors to get feed back and how to get more open ended question and hopefully that will start to get us a better of an idea on where someone is with employment and career development.
I use both CASAS and O*Net, but If I were to create a new assessment I would create something were the customer can describe the job they want to do first and then the ideal job. Using skills learn from previous job experience or skills acquired from their personal life, then have them take the O*net assessment and analyzed both answers. With this information, customer can see other area that probably never crossed their minds and possibly expand their careers professionally. For the CASAS test I wouldn’t change what’s test , but rather who takes it. Customers that received an associates within the past five year, in my humble opinion shouldn’t be required to complete the test.
In initial work with a participant, I think it is important to get baseline information with a formal assessment, as well as gather information colloquially in a structured conversation. I always find it interesting to see where those two versions of assessments overlap. I think the O*Net Interest profiler is a good tool to help people begin labeling their aptitudes. I find that assessment to be very accessible and user-friendly, and the follow-up resources that are available through O*Net are both extensive and easily navigated. Not everyone has the vocabulary to speak to their own personality and working styles, much because no one ever really asks them to do so. Labeling what is true is a good first step to defining strengths, which then becomes a good compass to use as you seek the right(est) direction for initial steps.