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.
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The career assessments that I would choose to use with my clients would both be formal. I would choose to use, Interests Inventories and Career beliefs/thoughts/levels of decidedness. By combining these 2 instruments the clients would be able to identify careers that match their interests, and they would also be able to find out how ready they are personally. It would allow them to do some self-reflection to help identify some possible internal barriers that may come up within the career exploration or decision-making process. They may realize that they are not mentally or physically able to do the career in which they are wanting to pursue. It may make them realize why their past jobs may have not been the best choices for them. They need to be able to be successful in their career choices.
Having a self-reflection definitely seems like a good idea. Being able to reflect on yourself can help with that decision making process of choosing a career . As you said before, this can help them realize why past jobs did not work for them and that is a big part of the self-reflection. I also chose to do formal assessments because I like the results that come from them and how reliable they can be. I liked how you touched on internal barriers because that is important to know when choosing a career.
I have also had the same experience with clients. The career assessments are excellent in helping them identify those things they like or do well, as well as helping shed light on those careers they may have initially wanted to pursue but may not be suited for.
I like that you included the self-reflection part to help identify barriers. When we implement assessments such as Interest inventories. It opens up doors for individuals to truly see what they want to do and not what others want them to do. I believe as a member of the workforce development my job is to not just help people find jobs, but find jobs that match who they are, create a sense of confidence and validation. A job that never feels like work.
The career assessments that I would use for my students would be a personality and interest inventory which are both formal assessments. I would use formal assessments for my students because these types of assessments can take less time and have more validity than informal assessments. One thing I would explain is the way to get accurate results is to be honest with answers. The personality inventory can help students find their personality types which can help them find careers related to their personality. For example, if a student scores high in the extrovert category then it will give them careers that have more social interaction than an introvert would get. The interest inventory gives students careers that match their interests. The questions on this assessment range from working with construction, technology, people, businesses etc. This can help a student who may not know what they want to do by giving them a wide range of career questions like do you see yourself working with people or do you see yourself working outdoors? This assessment will help filter out careers that they less interested in.
I agree with the assessments you have chosen. I feel that they will give the best overall interpretation of a student’s interests and allow us to point them towards some possible careers where they might excel and enjoy their work. I also agree with the emphasis on students being honest with their answers. It is the only way we can get accurate results.
I would use these same two assessments. I think they are an invaluable tool to help the student get to know themselves and also allow the career coach get to know the student. I like your reasoning behind why you would use the two assessments as well. Leigh
I agree I would use both a personality and interest assessments. These assessments, being informal assessments, allows you to learn more about the client/student in a real-time manner with its immediate feedback. This quick turnaround allows for timely adjustments and interventions, aiding in the ongoing learning process. Personality Assessments with a benefit of self-Discovery and Interest Assessment with a benefit of Career Direction, Knowing what you enjoy can guide you toward a career that aligns with your interests.
I agree with you in using personality and interest inventories for formal assessments. I have had a lot of quality experience using these with students over the years when I was a school counselor. They definitely help a student figure out which careers would be a good fit for them and which probably wouldn’t be a good fit.
The career assessment program I would create for my participants would be a personality assessment and career interest profiler which are both formal assessments. After taking the assessments, we would go over the results starting with their personality results. We would have a conversation revolving around their preferences in a work setting, working in groups vs working alone, traveling/no traveling etc. Then we would discuss their career interest profiler assessment and see where they scored the highest and how that fits into their personality. Lastly, if they did have a career interest, where does it fall in both assessments and is it in line with their personality and career assessments. This can help guide them to careers that maybe they thought they wanted to do but realize they would actually hate it. An example of this would be if someone stated they wanted to work from home and do medical billing and coding. They take the assessments and find out they score high in social and extroverted. Working from home doing data entry may not be the best career path for them.
I agree that a career interest profiler tool s a useful in helping to see what may be a good fit for a career or job path. It is always interesting when I do this with my adult clients or customers when they look at their likes and hobbies and they really start to see that they may actually be able to have a career in something that they enjoy doing.
Yes! Perfectly said. I used the same two types of assessments. Leigh
I agree with you on the assessments. I also feel that the career interest profiler is a good tool to use. It helps the individuals figure out what traits they have, and then it better helps the instructor work with them in regards to finding a career path.
I would choose to use a formal assessment when working with my students. I would utilize an Interest Inventory and a Skills Inventory. This will allow me to get a good understanding of the student’s interests and how those interests align with their skill level. The Skills Inventory may also help us identify other areas of strength that the student has not yet considered. I work with middle school students and I think it is vital for them to understand that there are no “right” or “wrong answers” when doing the inventories. The key is for them to do an honest self-appraisal so that we can start providing them with information about some careers that match up well with their interests and skill level.
Letting your students know that there is no right or wrong answer definingly helps lower their anxiety. Many of my clients struggle with answering the questions because they put too much thought into it because they see the assessment as “if I tell them I want to do something in healthcare, but I answer this question wrong my career coach may try to put me in something else. I tell my adult clients the same thing, there is no right or wrong answer and that many times the results will come out the way you planned but with a different outlook on things.
While I don’t work with youth, I must say that I agree with your approach. It makes sense that a skills inventory would be a great introduction to understanding or assessing their interests while also identifying other areas that align with their skill level and building off that. Working with young people and helping them explore possibilities while also delivering statistical data backed by realistic expectations of energy, effort, and focus sounds rewarding and fun. I would imagine young people would change their minds as they learn more about the world of finances, budgeting, and cost of living that might significantly impact their goals which would open their eyes to pursue more long-term goals as they progress and having a career coach like yourself to guide them will make all of the difference in the world.
I agree that getting a good understanding of the participant’s interests helps us to steer them to careers that align with their skill sets. Sometimes, our participants discover or rediscover their strengths and weaknesses based on skill inventory assessments. I also like the fact that there is no right or wrong answer, so the pressure to pass or fail does not weigh on them as they complete the assessments.
I think the interest and skills inventory assessment are great tools to use. It allows the client and yourself to see where their interests lie, so they know when and where to begin looking or starting their career. Hopefully, starting their careers at something they like to do will give them the extra nudge they may need to succeed and keep moving up the ladder in the career field. They be more open to other opportunities, within their field.
The assessment that would best fit the population I work with would be Formal. To me, the purpose of an assessment is to help clients as well as the career coach, identify the individuals interested, skills and work values/goals. Also, the assessment should help, again, both the career coach and the client understand where the client is right now and what is needed to help them get to their career goals. The type of assessment that I like and currently use are the score report type. We will give the client an assessment that first scores and measures what could be of interest to them as well as with the skills they say they have, what could be a good fit. If a client express that they want to go into IT but does not have a background in it nor has an idea of what they want to do in that field, the assessments that we give will first measure their skills to let us know where to begin with them, what knowledge do they already have. It will then give the client some ideas of what in IT would most likely be a good fit. The next assessment we give is testing or assessing their learning style. Not everyone learns the same way. Someone may be good at a self-pace training, someone maybe good at a virtual training. Then we have those that can do virtual training but need it live, with an instructor. These assessments help us help our clients to be more successful in reaching their career goals.
I agree, I wish there was more variety on addressing learning styles. Lately I have felt challenged in trying to really hone in addressing people’s learning styles as I find many clients don’t have that awareness on that piece and try to put themselves into a training or a role that just isn’t for them. Many clients now want to be virtual and flexible in everything they do however that doesn’t always fit for who they are.
Formal career assessment is my preference for assisting a student in determining which career path to take. The formal assessment provides in-depth analysis of a student’s strengths and weaknesses, and preferences, which allows for a greater understanding of their suitability when choosing a specific career path. The formal assessment also provides a student with validation they’ve chosen the correct career path. During the formal assessment a student would be able to have a better understanding of their educational path, costs, and length of training. It is also proven formal assessments uses standardized methodologies as well as insight’s into student’s overall interest in education and career opportunities.
I agree that a formal career assessment can be a highly useful tool for assisting students in determining which career path to take. By identifying areas of interest and passion, students can gain insight into potential career fields that align with their preferences. Additionally, the information may lead students to make more informed decisions about potential career paths.
I prefer a mix of both formal and informal assessments, especially for older individuals and for those who may be facing certain barriers that limit their options for career pathways based on those barriers. I do like the O’Net Interest Profiler for several reasons. To start, it gauges a person’s interests in a subtle way, and is in a format that is not too intense or time-consuming. Then, it provides job or career options at several levels or layers of commitment that can also be building blocks to furthering your education and advancement within your interests and career aspirations. This allows for conversation with a client that helps to build a trusting relationship, set goals (both short and long term), and work together with a client-centered and client-driven approach which I have found to be most effective with the population that I work with.
You make a great point about O*Net, I strongly believe it is an extremely useful tool. I am mentoring a young adult family member, and he is at a critical point in his life regarding which career path to choose. I’ve set up time with him to do an O*NET assessment on my personal time and hopefully he will have a better understanding of which path to take. Hopefully, after reviewing his results he will have an opportunity to decide which path is best suited for him.
Conversation with individuals is KEY to building that trust. I agree with your narrative, we, as instructors, need to provide, in those assessments, a way that our students can comprehend and better understand the resources available to help them choose their path.
For me, the assessment that remains the premier career assessment is the Strong Interest Inventory, which is based on the Holland theory of how people of similar interests are employed, and what motivates individuals in the workplace. This assessment has been shown to be 99% accurate 1 in determining one’s career category.
Holland’s assessment has helped individuals determine which job category is right for them by examining their characteristic, traits, and preferences – the things that make individuals who they say they are – and have shown these things are a significant factor in determining which occupation is right for them 2. People who follow career paths that match their personalities are generally happier and more successful in their professions.
It has been my experience that the people who have sought careers that match their personality perform quite well during their training and once they begin their career. I use the version of the RAISEC assessment that’s on O*NET. For people who know what they want, the assessment outcome generally comes as no surprise. For those who aren’t sure or want to make a career change, this can be a critical first step before committing time and money to training.
Reference List:
1. Strong Interest Inventory. https://youtu.be/LrJtgeg8p60.
2. RIASEC at Work – Match Your Personality to Careers .https://youtu.be/5LdXVreJ07U.
I absolutely agree!
I believe that outside of the personal barriers one face to employment (transportation, housing, child-care, etc.), working in a position that doesn’t fit the personality trait of the individual is a recipe for carousel employment….going around in circles from job-to-job. This is why most people work in a position for the paycheck rather than do it because they actually love what they do and would love to do it long-term. This can be catastrophic to both employer and employee.
For the employer, it creates massive turn-around, which can be very expensive. To the employee, it creates time-lost, lack of longevity on one job, lack of motivation caused by feeling not good enough for the jobs, and even lack of courage to apply for other jobs. As one is familiar with themselves, what they’re good at, love to do, and have a passion for, they can be placed in a career path that not only fits their personality traits, but sustain the employment, long-term.
GREAT THOUGHTS!
I prefer to use two formal inventories as a start when I am working with a student. I like to use a personality survey as well as a career interest survey. I feel these are great inventories to start with as they help the student better learn about themselves as well as helping me learn about the student. While these may not be the only only inventories I use with my student they are the two that I use with every student. Leigh
I wish that I had an opportunity in school to explore my interests. I definitely think understanding personal interests is a critical step in identifying suitable careers. I have joked for years with my children that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.
My preference is Informal career assessments. I feel it is an avenue to help career self-awareness and exploration. It is an effective self-reflection that can offer a valuable approach to an individual’s preferences, their priorities and also a step towards adding clarity to goals. A more open atmosphere that encourages communication and feedback.
I couldn’t agree more. These are just to help give some insight for the participant and show them options. The most valuable resource they can tap into to help guide them is their own personal experiences and knowledge of themselves.
I agree that informal assessments are great for self-awareness and reflections. It is also interesting to see how these conversations evolve or are influenced when you move the conversation from one on one to group.
I find the O”Net interest profiler to be my go to for everyone. I appreciate that its approachable and easy to comprehend for many different ages groups and for people with varied background/experiences. This assessment gives the participant an idea for career paths to consider based on their responses and the education/training it may take to work in that field. I however never make a participant feel like these are their only options. I remind them that this is one assessment of many and that not a single one is 100% accurate or should be considered the bible. The purpose is to “explore” options and to get the juices flowing.
Thank you for pointing out that the tests are not the only options and these assessments are to explore options. I agree with O’Net and the comprehending level. I like that while exploring the results, participants can click different careers and get more information what is required for employment and so.
I really like that you point out to your participants that the assessment isn’t a set in stone thing, that it is just to help them start thinking about what may fit them the best and that it is just an exploration tool and not the end all be all.
I agree. I find O’Net to be very useful tool. With the update they recently completed it looks like it will even be better than before.
I agree with you on ONET. I enjoy showing youth what types of jobs may be out there that they had never thought of. I also use it as my go-to for LMI to show youth levels of education needed, values, tasks, pay rates, etc. of various jobs.
I would definitely agree with you about O”Net, our operation uses the interest profiler regularly but there are so many other options to consider and shouldn’t be the only thing that is used to decide a career path, It’s important to explore other options as well.
I work mostly with adults who are seeking a job to get by and pay the bills. Even though this is the path they are starting at on, we do not lose sight of the “career” or long term job choices. For this reason, I would look at the formal assessment choices of interest profile tools and any work readiness tools or inventories. I have also found that with most of the customers I have they so far use the paper and pencil format best but, do to the cost effectiveness I am working on transitioning to computer based. If we are doing the paper and pencil version I always ask the participant to bring back the assessment so that we can discuss it and ask what their thoughts were.
In my work, we are desperately trying to convert to more electronic assessment and resources too. I work with Participants receiving TANF and other public benefits. Only within the last year we’ve started doing some of the forms electronically. I think this is really important to be able to cultivate date and find out where peoples interest lie not only in career exploration and development but personal preferences on offered resources. Through COVID, our agency offered everything online. I really think this is possible; raising expectations to require electronic documentation prepares these participants better for the workplace.
When working with students I would choose a formal assessment. I would choose to use formal assessments because I feel they have more structure. Formal assessments produce a multitude of different results. Although there are many different results all assessments provide some form of a report for the client and counselor. A formal assessment I would use would be the skills inventory. I feel as if this is extremely important because a skills inventory helps the clients or students identify specific skills that they may not be aware of. This assessment will better help individuals understand what skill sets they bring to the table. With the knowledge of a skill set it will also help the individual with career exploration. I also would use the personality inventory. Using this formal assessment will help the clients or students understand their preferences in the work setting. It may help them feel out what they would like to do based off of their personalities. This assessment can help individuals figure out what they want in the work force. How much contact they may want with others, how to handle information, the amount of structure they’d like.
I like using these two assessments as well. I think it’s a great way for the student to begin learning about themselves and career paths they might be best suited for. It’s also a good tool to open the dialog between the student and the Career Advisor to begin the career exploration process.
In my work at JEVS Philadelphia, I counsel people in mostly gaining Education and Training to find successful employment. I am not a career/placement counselor per se but I work with them very closely. In starting the conversation, I ask what their education and/or career goals are; the conversations usually take off from there. Our text states that they’re subjective however, I don’t necessarily agree with that since our Participants often have a common goal in mind. If someone states they want to go to Community College, I consider that to be a specific, objective response. Or, if I ask what training/learning would you like to engage in? A Participant might state that they want to be an Electrician. When necessary, it’s okay to use an informal assessment because it would likely get you to the same place as a more formal, elongated process.
Generally, when I am working with clients my key approach is along the lines of a personality inventory and then we I aim to have a discussion related to what the results showed. I prefer to do a personality inventory as I find having a self awareness of one’s personality type is key to understanding how someone can not only fit into a role but also have some understanding to what their workplace culture, identity and ideals are. I also like to have a conversation how does their personality lines up various jobs and careers that fit their interest. In the assessment reviews I also focus on the concept of not making money the primary focus on the job or career track because their interest and happiness. Our agency did at one point used an in depth tool for a personally inventory but clients found the process to long of a commitment which is a con for using this approach but I find the results to be the most accurate.
With the age group I work with (16-21) I find beneficial to use both formal and informal assessments. A formal interest profiler can be a great starting point for career exploration but students at such a young age have limited experiences to base their responses on. A formal assessment can lead to hard yes and no answers when the response is actually more in-depth. Student answers may also change during the process of working with them and an almost continuous informal assessment may take place as you work together. Formal assessments are a great to get the conversations started, but i believe a informal assessment is needed after and often. I think that a personality and value assessment should be used in connection to the interest profiler. A personal might find a occupation that fits their interests but the career does not align with values or personality. This is a great time to explore different occupations along a similar field.
Hello Arroyoe,
I agree. Working with a similar age bracket (18-24), I feel that a formal interest profiler is a great starting point for students who are learning and developing their interests, who may need assistance in directly identifying what they may be. I like your idea of using formal assessments to “get the conversations started”, but still using informal assessments afterwards to continue to conversation and build relationships. I appreciate your feedback and will consider using informal assessments more often on an on going basis as time and relationship allows.
I agree, arroye. I work with 18 to 24 year old young adults. Career exploration is so important at this stage. I like how you describe them as a great starting point for conversations. Our customers absolutely change interest areas as the explore and are exposed to more. That can happen through subsequent informal assessments as well as good case management.
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.
For my students, I would use two formal assessments. For an interest inventory, I would choose to use the O*NET Interest Profiler. I find that guiding people to understand what their interests and patterns are can bring ease in identifying careers that fit those interests. When working with customers, I sometimes refer to a process as “working backwards.” By saying this, I mean that it may be easier to deduce what you want to do by identifying what you don’t want to do. I feel like the interest profiler solidifies results for students that they may have had an idea about, making it easier to confidently identify activities that they are not interested in and reinforcing activities of interest; thus making career path connections they may not have made before.
Another formal assessment that would be included would be a personality inventory. I like to utilize the 16 Personalities exam. This exam breaks down working style, relationships, strengths/weaknesses in personality, career paths and workplace habits. With this being close to an interest profile, I feel that these can be used with great effectiveness together. From my perspective, I believe that personal/occupational growth is facilitated from how much one knows or is willing to learn about themselves. Not only is it edifying and securing to have a point of reassurance in realizing that the traits that make you uniquely you can be used to place you on a career path of interest, but can be a helpful tool to reassess your interests/habits/hobbies as student change throughout their life span as well. This can also be a tool in understanding self with transitions and planning, all helpful when career planning.
I also agree when you say take the “work backwards” approach. Determining what doesn’t interest you, is just as important is deciding what you do like to do. If they already know working a desk job is not for them, there is no sense in wasting their time going down that path, when it does not interest them. The personality inventory is also a great assessment to recognize how they best work. In that I mean if they work better with groups, do they work better alone, etc. The 16 personalities exam can truly determine their workplace habits and helps decide best fit for them.
I would use a formal assessment for my students. First, I would use an interest inventory to identify what motivates the student. This is key to understand what their passions are, even if they are not yet qualified for these types of positions. Next, looking at career maturity can help us acknowledge where they are at in their development to see if they are qualified now, or if some experience or certifications are needed before they can progress to the next step in their career. A skills inventory can also help with is to be aware of what skills they already possess, and which skills they need to obtain. Finally, performing an abilities test will put their skills to the test. If they have on their resume they have experience in Microsoft excel, I would have them perform a few tasks to confirm they are qualified enough in this skill to ensure they will be successful in that career path.
I completely agree with your approach, especially focusing on how the skills they have now might get them in the door or to the first step of their career ladder. I also like that you would start with an interest inventory to give students a goal to work towards. Having a goal, and understanding that they may have to start lower and work towards it can offer some good perspective and encourage students to pursue opportunities that build new skills.
I would use both formal and informal assessments for my clients. I would use O’Net because it’s accessible from anywhere and it is simple to use. I would explain that this is just a tool to start the journey of career exploration and that there are no wrong answers because it’s all about them and they are a unique individual and have their own path to follow. As for the formal, I would explain that it is similar to the O’Net that they already did and that it would just be something to more formally compare their outcome to the path that we have discussed using the informal assessment. I would remind them that there are no wrong answers. The formal would give more of a how and why the path they are on would or wouldn’t be a good fit based on stats. This would lead to a continuation of conversation so we could formulate a plan and move forward with an informed decision.
I tend to agree with the combination of formal/informal. O*Net is very simple to use and understand for all ages.
I work mostly with adults. I use both informal and formal. We deal with a lot of barriers to employment and the majority of the clients that I see have mental health barriers. O’Net has recently updated the profiler and looks like they have improved it. However, I have not used it since this upgrade. I do look forward to using it. I also use Agilities Work Finder. I have the clients do this while I am meeting them. It’s nice to build rapport with them as they’re answering things that interest them. This is a great way to find out more information without having to ask them. I can find something of interest with the clients and it make the meeting more interactive.
I also like O’Net to help explore things about the student who may or may not have really thought through their interests as it relates to work and career. It provides a strong starting point to open the conversation about why s/he may or may not choose the suggested fields. What s/he does or does not like about past experiences, and why that may be.
I would start with one formal assessment to help students evaluate their interests. I would start with something like the O’NEt, as it gives a lot of insight into personality and interests. This allows the student to discuss those results and any field that is suggested to them from these.
In a classroom setting, I find informal assessments allow the instructor to see a full range of the personality and strengths of a student. One that I have used is a team activity that has the students work to plan a budget and life for a profession and income they are randomly given. A group may draw three pieces of information to begin the task: the career, the income, and the city. With these three things, the group must find out about cost of living and housing in the area. They must try to plan for rent, food, transportation, and bills. When the students have a vision of their plan, they are given a fourth card. This can be a positive or negative experience: a marriage, a baby, a raise, a new roommate to help alleviate the rent cost, etc. This helps demonstrate adaptability, innovation and conflict resolution.
These are both good insights to a student’s interests and persona, but it also allows the instructor to see the student in action.
One of the programs I am responsible for is the workforce summer employment program for 16–18-year-olds. The Personality Mosaic shared in this chapter is a tool I would like to incorporate with the youth that participate in that six-week summer employment program. The assessment can be administered on paper in a classroom setting (without computers). For our WIOA young adult clients I would continue to use CareerScope for it’s thoroughness and the information it provides connecting to career options.
I really like the Personality Mosaic assessment too and thought it would be useful to use with my young adult clients in a group setting and using paper instead of computer. I’m curious about using the CareerScope assessment but have not tested it yet
The career assessments I would use with my youth clients would be formal assessments. The ONET Interest Profiler is a great start for the population I work with. When a kid comes in and has no idea what they want to do, I have them take the Interest Profiler so they can get an idea of what types of fields they may be interested in working in. ONET is a great LMI tool and can help youth make informed decisions on what type of work they want to do. We also use the TABE test to assess the client’s academic readiness for training programs or as a baseline for GED tutoring, so the instructors know where to start with the client.
I agree with you. ONET and TABE/CASAS our my go tos as well.
Good Information
My work focuses on helping high school students and professionals get to the first rung of a healthcare career ladder and then navigate upwards. Because of the diversity of who we serve, I would choose a mixture of formal and informal assessments. For high school students who are just beginning their career journey, an Interest and Personality inventory. This would help them identify which healthcare careers would be a good fit; whether it’s a people-focused career like physicians or a science-focused career like lab techs. For professional populations looking to upskill or advance their career, I think an informal assessment like Card Sorts or the Life Career Rainbow would help them identify what positions they want to advance to and how much additional training or education they can participate in.
The career assessment I would and currently use is both formal and informal. We utilize ONet as a tool to help our PATH participants make informed decisions based off their responses to the scenarios presented. For example, the ‘Personality Assessment’ helps participant to identify how their individual personality matches or is not a match to a specific industry. If you’re someone who doesn’t like people, an introvert, quiet, and like working by yourself, your personality assessment will allow one to make a decision on a career that typically works in an isolated environment, projects that consists of one person, jobs that are not dealing with the public, etc. based off their personality. The good thing is that the personality assessment is answered by the participant, so it means that it’s not an opinion by the case manager and/or a sole individual or groups of.
A career assessment allows the participant to answer questions about their ideal career and/or what they look for in an career. A lot of times participants are just wanting a job OR they want to work in a field that they heard of (hot topic) without knowing what each career consists of. The career assessment is a good tool to help identify what are good careers based on the person. A career assessment is also a good tool to use as a guideline to where one would like to be from a career standpoint long-term. We get a lot of participants that would like to become a CNA because they see their peers, family, friends in the field but fail to realize what the career field consists of completely. The career assessments can give a better idea on what it takes to get to a specific position, career-wise, while providing a career map to make the best informed decision.
An interest inventory helps participant learn what really interest them when it comes to a career field. For example, one may love helping people, talking to people, or one may like to work in a specific environment, factory, field, etc. This interest inventory helps individuals with processing their interest and taking those interest into a career field that fits their personality and career options.
Last but not least, the skills inventory allows one to know if they have the skills to work in and be successful in their career interest. There are steps to every process and knowing how your skills match the process is very important. A skills assessment is also a cool tool for one to find out about how skillful they really are. Sometimes we only know what we are limited too and being exposed to other things. We don’t realize how skillful we are until we are placed in situations that allow us to utilize not only the surface skills, but dig to the core skills. Those core skills are also a way to know how far one can push themselves, skillfully.
The ONet Assessment Interest Profiler serves as a career assessment tool that helps participants make informed decisions on their career options both informal and formally. This tools is a really good tool to use as the results are solely based on the answers of the participant and not through assumption assessment. Only you know where you want to go and what drives you. The ONet Profiler helps individuals with the directions they need to take to get their….along with great case managers/counselors.
I totally agree that formal and informal assessments can be an effective way to assess an individual’s suitability for the career path that is needed for the needs. Formal assessments can provide an in-depth evaluation of the individual’s skills and qualifications. Informal assessments, on the other hand, can provide a better understanding of an individual’s personality, motivations, and career goals. Both types of assessments are important in helping to identify the best candidates for a given role. Ultimately, it is the combination of these assessments that helps to determine if someone is the right fit for the position..
The two career assessments I would use are the Holland interest survey to determine the client’s preferences (RAISEC – Realistic, Artistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising or Conventional) and a transferable skills assessment survey to determine what experiences (either professionally or unprofessionally) and training and concrete skill level he/she is proud of accomplishing and can perform. If there is more time to spend with client, I would encourage client to complete a personality test like “16 personalities” or the “enneagram” as this helps the client understand him/herself in a more wholistic way. Identifying one’s own values is very important also as this is the core motivation that drives our actions.
I too would use these types of assessments. This criteria provides a good foundation for individuals to find career opportunities.
Marci,
I didn’t even think about the transferrable skills assessment. Actually that is a great ideal because it actually opens the door to new employment avenues as oppose to being stagnated in in a field where the client feels trapped and no longer finds enjoyment. This assessment can be a game changer especially when added to the resume properly allowing the client to be placed in positions of leadership. All that left to do is motivational interviewing to get the client to step outside of their comfort zone.
I would incorporate both formal and informal assessments to provide a well-rounded perspective for customers. As for an the formal assessment, I would use a strong interest matching assessment that would assess individuals’ interests and matches them with potential careers, helping to identify suitable fields based on their preferences. Additionally, I would include an informal self-reflection exercise that encourages customers to articulate their values, strengths, and long-term goals. This could involve open-ended questions and activities that prompt introspection, fostering a deeper understanding of personal aspirations and guiding individuals towards careers that align with their intrinsic motivations. By combining the structured insights from a formal assessment with the personal reflections from an informal exercise, the career assessment program would empower customers to make informed decisions about their professional paths.
If I were asked to create an assessment formal or informal, one of the assessments that I would use would be something like O*Net because it would give a generalization of the client’s skill set and help to inform not only the career coach but the client as well as to which direction would be best fitting in career choices. This assessment would be considered formal due to it being structured and product based and is used by the general population in colleges and universities as well as in corporations and can be done at home.
An informal assessment that I would use or create would be a questionnaire that would dive a little deeper into their personal lives. The questions asked would include things such as any significant barriers that would prevent them from finding, starting, or keeping employment such as childcare and transportation. Other questions would involve the support system and who they can lean on in times of need. Type of schedule needed or willing to work. Do they have interview clothing and if hired the proper attire if needed. The informal assessment would include any and all questions that would let the career coach understand where they are personally in their life at the moment that would hinder the employment process.
O*Net is definitely user friendly. I agree that it is a good starting point, especially if you are not familiar with a person.
I agree as well definitely user friendly, also for adult clients because its not informal they trust the results. With adults if they feel like its opinionated assessments they won’t agree or have doubts with the results that were given. With formal assessments it has more validity and it can be seen as more reliable.
In addition to the formal assessment, I like your suggestion to use an informal assessment questionaire that would enable the career coach to learn more about the client, their barriers, and their goals.
I would use O*Net to assist my customers with career planning. I feel that it is quick, easy to navigate, and provides a lot of information to guide a career decision. This is a great starting point for someone who isn’t sure what they want to do, which seems to be majority of my clients. Their O*Net results will help guide their research on what careers would meet their interest and values. Then, if the client decides on a career that requires a credential, I would have them take the CASAS test to determine if they are ready for training, or will need a referral to Family Literacy prior to training.
I definitely agree with you that doing these career exploration assessments early on can help students navigate their options after high school.
I agree, some assessments in exploration are very helpful. Then being able to track them over time.
The Assessments I would choose are Career exploration and Educational planning. My clients are younger students (middle and high school) so I would start with career exploration to pick their brains about what their interest are. Since my clients are students, I feel educational planning is important. We are catching them while they are still young and working through what they will want to do after graduation.
I would use formal assessments with my clients, when designing a career assessment. With working with adults, I have found that formal assessments are the best because they respond better to the validity and reliability of the assessments. When working with adult clients they respond better to professionalism, and when doing formal assessments that helps with showing professionalism. As with informal assessments the clients may often feel that it wasn’t as thoughtful and has unproven validity. Which can make the adult clients not trust the results given. Even though informal assessments have been proven to still be professional when correctly administered.
I would use assessments like O*net interest profiler, and career exploration inventory. I feel that using this O*net profiler will help the client to better understand who they are and what they need. They can understand their interest patterns or themes. However, the career exploration tool will allow them to put their interest into effect and understand how their interest fits into their lifestyles. Both types of formal assessments will be important when designing a career assessment.
I agree that one of the benefits of using formal assessments is that there is more buy-in from the clients due to the professional aspect of the validity and reliability of formal assessments.
When designing a Career Assessment Program to use with students, I would begin with the O*Net Interest Profiler and The 16 Personality Factor. These formal assessments are accessible, easy to administer and help the student identify career interests and what kind of work setting they would be most comfortable in. The information gained through these assessments can be used to open conversation between the student and Career Advisor to begin exploring possible career paths.
Two assessments that I would incorporate into a career assessment program for my students include the Interest Inventory and informal assessment tool to help students identify their core values and priorities. By incorporating these assessments into a career assessment program, students can gain a better understanding of their interests, skills, and values, which can ultimately guide them towards making informed career decisions.
I agree with the interest inventory assessment for students/potential employees. The interest inventory allows for career advisors to introduce students to opportunities that match best with what they’re interested in pursuing and what could be more fulfilling to them. By doing this, it introduces them to careers they may not have considered or been exposed to previously.
I agree with using both formal and informal assessments. I think it really depends on the student themselves, and finding out which way the student responds best to. I think using a combination will enable you to best serve the student’s career needs.
I agree with the interest inventory assessment for students/potential employees. The interest inventory allows for career advisors to introduce students to opportunities that match best with what they’re interested in pursuing and what could be more fulfilling to them. By doing this, it introduces them to careers they may not have considered or been exposed to previously.
In my role, both informal and formal assessments could be used interchangeably, depending on the candidate. Some candidates respond more favorably to informal assessments, a more casual approach- where you’re able to gauge their interests to help align with opportunities that best suit their personalities, values and skillset. In other instances, formal assessments, which require a standardized format are helpful for those candidates who need to be provided more structured planning and career advising. Both informal and formal assessments are extremely helpful, however, in my experience, it’s candidate specific to which is beneficial for them and their career guidance.
I agree with using the interest inventory assessment for the student population because students have to learn what they like and dislike. Also, after completing high school, they truly will not know what their actual career will be until they explore the job market or take post-secondary courses. Also, explaining to the client or student the assessment is not a test, it is to examine the individual’s likes or dislikes that can help determine one’s career plans.
I love using an interest inventory with my students. My high schoolers don’t even know some of the things they like are, are good at so letting them explore themselves and what they like helps them find a career path that will best suit them. I feel as time goes on people are doing more of what they like rather than just going into a field for money. I love the saying, “You never a work a day in your life when you love what you do”
After reading chapter 4 and reviewing the video clips, I happen to agree that focusing on the client’s interests, skills and work experience would determine which assessment to use. Informal assessments are the best because it focuses primarily on what the individual likes and what they dislike. One assessment in particular is the O*NET Interest Profiler which focuses on the client’s interests and non-interests. Initially, during the suitability interview, it is important to understand where the client is, what their barriers are and what they’re goals are. Depending on the barriers that the client may have, it is important to assign the right assessment before suggesting job training or services. An assessment will reveal to the career services provider what the client’s goals and objectives might be moving forward.
As a Career Services Provider, it is imperative to listen to the client’s responses and body language. Listening and observing the client’s body language may require another meeting and scheduling an assessment.
I would use O”NET because its user-friendly and students would have access to in-depth information on hundreds on occupations available. It’s going to provide information such as skills, abilities, interests etc. but links to wage and labor market information, projected growth and more.
Amy,
I have used the O*Net profiler before, and I appreciate its straightforwardness. Most people who use this profile are able to explore many careers and find the information you are describing. I feel that this is an excellent resource especially for someone working with individuals with varying levels of education and computer capabilities.
The career assessment that I would choose to use with my clients would be/could be considered a formal and informal assessment. I would use the personality assessment in an informal way. Using the personality assessment in an informal way would give my clients/students a sense of self-reflection. Using a personality assessment, an individual can understand their strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and tendencies in coming to grips with who they are as individuals. Also, I use personality assessments in casual conversation with clients. I often learn more about my clients/students just conversing with them. My clients tend to share more about themselves
when they are comfortable with me and we are just talking about life. I use the five helping skills during our casual conversations to learn more about each and every one on my clients/students. Using what my clients learn during their personality assessments, they can use that in their social and emotional development. Personality assessments can shed light on a client’s/student’s social and emotional needs. I use the results of these assessments to create a supportive environment that nurtures emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills.
I’m also inclined to make certain to use informal assessments as well. While more subjective and requiring additional time to administer, these allow for some two-way conversation and clarification for the student.
I enjoy taking and administering personality tests. I find that the information can be so useful and valuable, especially if someone is not typically self-aware or introspective in their regular lives. The results of the personality tests can really help to offer a different perspective that an individual might not have considered about themselves or confirm/solidify traits and skills that they already knew they possessed. The way the results of personality tests are interpreted and applied is where I feel the kicker is because these tests are more informal and less related to charting the career path so sometimes clients are resistant to really buying into taking personality assessments and are more lackluster about the results. But again I find the results can be so helpful in identifying those innate and potentially transferrable skills.
I believe that career interests are an expression of an individual’s personality. If a student has a certain type of personality according to a consistent Holland Code, then it is fairly easy as a career counselor to make quality vocational choice recommendations. I have administered thousands of career interest inventories over the years to students and have used the data to drive thousands of discussions as an incredibly useful starting point for career exploration and information gathering. It also is an easily referenced piece of data that I can continue to use as students move throughout the grades and towards graduation. Furthermore, I use the results to help guide discussion of course selection in high school so that students are as prepared as possible for the post-secondary goals.
I agree on using both formal and informal assessments depending on the participant and the situation. Using a formal assessment such as O*NET Interest Profiler is useful with my younger participants who are still career developing, however an informal assessment such as a conversation is more beneficial for my older participants who have been in the workforce for awhile and have transferrable skills.
I would use both formal and informal assessments to make sure the students get a well-rounded perspective. I would use an interest matching assessment, such as the Holland Code assessment. This type of test lets students match their interests with possible careers, and may help a student discover a career they have never thought of.
I would also use an informal assessment as part of the career assessment program. I believe having open conversations with
students can lead to significant insight about the student and their potential careers. Asking questions can give you and the student some insight you may not be able to obtain from an assessment alone.
By using both forms of assessments, the program would give the student enough insight about themselves and hopefully lead students to make informed decisions regarding their potential career pathway.
I agree that both formal and informal assessments can be beneficial, and utilizing them in a meaningful way can lead to information and insights that will help guide the participant in their career pathway.
I would use formal and informal assessments with my participants. One would be the O*NET Interest Profiler. I am a WIOA Career Coach and this assessment is required for their file so every participant in my program uses it. I don’t find it useful each time though. With my younger participants that are entering the workforce this is a great assessment, however my older workers that are low income or dislocated aren’t necessarily career developing. They are looking for short term training that will lead to a higher paying position and generally have an idea of what they would like to do. For these older workers, a informal assessment through open conversation during the eligibility/intake process is more beneficial. Figuring out their financial situation and transferable skills is more beneficial.
I also work with several of the WIOA programs. I agree that there are times when the O-Net Interest Profiler is helpful and times when it is not. For youth who are trying to figure out who they are as a person and find a career path, the O-Net Interest Profiler is a great tool. I have found that when I give this same assessment to adults who have been in the workforce for a while, it usually doesn’t reveal much info that the job seeker did not already know. And like you, this is when I usually talk about transferable skills and labor market info.
When designing a career assessment program for students, I would use a formal instrument coupled with informal assessments. The formal assessment I would consider would be an Interest Inventory. Doing so would allow for the student to use the results in a comparison to possible careers that align with the results based on prior assessment summaries (known reliability). An informal assessment I would consider using would be an interest inventory checklist as prework to a one-on-one interview between me and the student. While more subjective, this would lead to a career project activity that would include job shadowing and a group presentation to the class by the student. This would not only expose the student to a possible career, it would share the experience with others.
One formal assessment that can be valuable for individuals exploring career paths is the Strong Interest Inventory. This assessment is a widely used tool designed to assess an individual’s interests and help them identify potential career paths that align with those interests. The idea is that individuals will be more satisfied and successful in their careers if they work in environments that match their preferences and interests. The assessment is useful in that it provides insights into various career fields and activities. While recognizing that a formal assessment such as the Strong Interest Inventory can provide valuable information, one should also consider other factors such as skills, values, personality traits, and lifestyle preferences when making decisions about their career path. It would be worthy to incorporate both formal and informal assessments to aid in these conversations.
I use a variety of formal and informal assessments when working with my youth participants. They complete the O’Net Interest Profiler, as well as a personality (Humanmetrics Jung Typology Test) and learning style assessment that we then use as a starting point to then move forward with career exploration. Oftentimes the assessments line up with the individual’s thinking, but sometimes either the participant disagrees or is surprised by their results, That is where conversations and self-reflections also come into play to further guide their individual path.
If I were designing a career assessment program for clients, I would use a combination of formal and informal assessments. My preference for formal assessment would be O*Net. O*Net is user friendly, available online, easy to understand and appropriate for all age groups that we work with. The results allow the individual to expand and consider career fields, based on their answers, that they may not have considered before. Informal assessment/discussion could then occur to further explore the results and appropriateness to the individuals lifestyle and career/education goals.
Working in the school system we have been given a tool called SchooLinks which has a few different assessments we are using with students. One is called the Find you Path which allows them to identify career clusters best matches them this offers a good initial exposure. I do feel like there are some limitations with that tool and would consider a more formal tool, especially when working with older students.
I would also like to begin using personality and strengths tests and was recently told about 16 personalities test. I would like to research this more. I think teens need to look into learning more about themselves and use tools which can allow them to then compare these tests over time. If I have opportunities to track these changes over a middle to high school graduate, I would be able to see how the students have shown growth.
When working with middle and high school students, I would incorporate the use of both formal and informal assessments to provide my students and myself with an abundant amount of information to utilize when trying to figure out what they would like to do post high school. Worcester County public schools has been utilizing a platform called School Links for our students which provide students with several assessments they can take to find what careers they may be interested in or a good fit for them. One of the first assessments the students take is called “Find your path” and this is a good initial formal assessment for students to take to figure out which career cluster they might best fit into. Upon completion of this assessment, I could go meet individually with students a complete an interview or conversation with my students to see what path they can really dive into. Another assessment I really like that is not on our platform school links is the 16 personality assessment of the holland code assessment. I find that identifying your skills and interests will help you better identify a carer path as well as be a happy path for you to go into.
In my experience working with youth, the American Job Center uses the Career Onestop Interest assessment https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Careers/interest-assessment.aspx as a formal assessment. It is a 5 minute, 30 question assessment. As an informal assessment we ask questions similar to those on the guided imagery script.
I agree that getting a good understanding of the participant’s interests helps us to steer them to careers that align with their skill sets. Sometimes, our participants discover or rediscover their strengths and weaknesses based on skill inventory assessments. I also like the fact that there is no right or wrong answer, so the pressure to pass or fail does not weigh on them as they complete the assessments.
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Using, “find your path” is a great option based off of your description because it guides them to a career cluster and opens the door for further exploration to identify a working education plan towards the proper career path in that cluster.
I really like the idea of administering both informal and formal assessments. Both types of assessments have their own merits and garnering results from both really provides a full picture of your clients needs, abilities, interests, etc., and will ultimately lend itself well in equipping both you and your client with a pathway forward.
The career assessment program I’d like to create would utilize both a formal assessment and informal assessment tools. The formal assessment tool would include self-assessments of personality, work interests, skills, and values. It would be used to help clients learn about themselves and learn about careers that best match them. I currently use Focus 2 Career with the students I work with and find the results are on target for the majority of the students. I would also include informal assessment options to have available to accommodate various learning styles or for situations where they are not so confident with the results of the formal assessment. Informal assessment tools would include a RAISEC chart, a card sort, mind mapping and forced-choice activities that would give clients an alternative for quick exploration to help open their minds to options or to confirm what feedback they receive from the formal assessment.
Hi Laura,
I agree that exposing clients/students to both the career and personality type of results is extremely beneficial. The more tools and terminology they have, the better, and also gives them ability to see commonalities between their different results.
Working in the Wicomico County Public School system which currently utilizes SchooLink which creates different assessments. Several assessments are conducted, including Find Your Path, Would You Rather, Top Skills, Social-emotional Learning, Learning Style, Student Focus, and Discover Your Campus Lifestyle. Last year our schools used NAVIANCE where they used the Career Interest Profiler, Career Cluster Finder, Strengths Explorer, and Do What You Are. Both applications assessed students’ personality types to suggest careers and clusters that might be an appropriate match for a student.
Now informal assessment sessions are effective ways to find out what students want to discuss in depth. Informal assessments allow for a more personalized and meaningful exploration of the student’s interests, strengths, and goals. This can help the student identify potential career paths that may not be available through the traditional assessment methods. Additionally, the informal assessment sessions can provide an opportunity for the student to discuss their options with a counselor or mentor, which can help the student make more informed decisions.
I’ve heard of Schoollinks, but have not yet experienced all that that program has to offer. Our own school system at the moment is using Naviance.
However, in light of the need for interpretation/s on the part of someone other than the student, I’m beginning to wonder how effective (or helpful) they are to the students at their age.
One career assessment I would use that is formal is the platform SchooLinks. SchooLinks offers students the opportunity to take an assessment utilizing Holland’s theory. It uses a scale of like, dislike, or unsure to analyze which career cluster would suit the individual based upon their response. From this information, the career coach and student can explore career clusters surrounding their strongest interest. An informal career assessment would be using career cards to talk to students about career clusters and career opportunities. This method could provide an individual with an opportunity to think about more than just what they are good at but explore careers from all areas.
The career assessments I use are formal. I use the TABE (Test for Adult Basic Education) to assess whether our participants without high school diplomas can meet the basic requirements in reading, writing, and math. The Penn Foster High School Completion Program’s curriculum has been created for individuals with an eighth-grade education. Since Penn Foster is a self-directed and self-led program, students must be able to navigate through the website and lessons on their own. The reference websites provided, practice lessons, and online textbooks are designed for independent students. The scores ascertained from the TABE test will help us determine if the Penn Foster High School Completion program is a good fit for them.
The other assessment I use is the Career Scope. The Career Scope aptitude measure how potential job seekers’ mind works to predict how likely they will be to succeed in various professional roles. The career assessment also allows our participant to answer career-oriented questions about their career interest and see what will fit them best at this point in their lives. The Career Scope Interest Inventory measures what motivates and sparks their interest. The career inventory consists of 141 questions tied to twelve specific interest areas. Once our participants complete the Career Scope assessment, the results from the narrative will include the Career Scope’s Best-Fit Career Recommendations. These results come from a combination of comprehensive national career and job databases and career opportunities based on individual results.
The Career Scope Assessment helps our participants get focused on specific careers. Often, participants just want jobs that do not match their skill sets. The assessment helps them see where they excel and help them think about long-standing careers. These assessments often give them better insight on specific career opportunities while providing road maps to achieve them.
I agree that getting a good understanding of the participant’s interests helps us to steer them to careers that align with their skill sets. Sometimes, our participants discover or rediscover their strengths and weaknesses based on skill inventory assessments. I also like the fact that there is no right or wrong answer, so the pressure to pass or fail does not weigh on them as they complete the assessments.
If I administered assessments in my role, I would use formal assessments. Understanding that formal assessment are standardized, and have more validity is important in the career services space. While it’s important the additional support is provided to your client when administering assessments, I’d want my client’s confidence in the assessment’s ability and validity.
When creating an assessment program for clients and choosing two assessments to use, I would use an informal assessment that prioritizes work/life values and I would use a formal career interest assessment such as the Holland Code Career Assessment. I find the values assessment, though informal and more challenging to measure its validity and reliability, is a great reflective tool to help clients determine and assess whether they are deciding on the career path that they have shown interest in for reasons that align with their personal and professional values. Oftentimes I find clients don’t consider the settings, environments, pressures, culture, etc. of certain career/industry choices and helping them to define and identify their own values helps to put these considerations into perspective and hopefully help them to commit to their career of choice or open themselves up to more efforts for exploration. I would also use a more formal assessment like the Holland Code Career assessment for its validity and roots in scientific and theoretical study. I find assessments like this one useful because they take the input of the client to measure what careers they may excel and thrive in and although the client might not agree with or want to pursue the results, I like to use the results to help them breakdown what transferrable skills and strengths that the assessment is showing them that they have and how they can use that in their career pursuits.
I like the idea of prioritizing work/life values. I agree that it is important for clients to understand the environments and pressures of the career/field they want to go into. For example, I work with a lot of clients interested in getting their CNA, but not realizing how much of a physical requirement the job entails. Using an assessment and talking through it can help them understand the requirements of the job so they can decide if that is right for them.
As someone who hasn’t known exactly what career path to choose, I have taken many assessments. While I’ve discovered more about myself with each, the information gained was, at times, difficult to understand, and not always useful. Because the assessments I took were all formal, I suppose I didn’t know how to analyze the results and apply them to the real world. To best meet the needs of my clients, I would use both formal and informal assessments in hopes of allowing them to gain useful information (from the formal assessment), and understand it (informally). Specifically, I would start with the informal activity. I do a self-reflective activity, asking them what they think they are good at (jobs, skills, etc), as well as what they like to do/their interests. Together, we would write down a list of jobs that they believe they would enjoy, as well as a list of jobs they feel they’d be good at. Next comes the formal assessment. I would use a formal assessment that focuses on what they like to do/their interests (O’NET Interest Profiler), mixed with one that assesses their skills (like Careeronestop’s Skills Matcher). Once we got the results of each, we could analyze their results and see how well they matched up with the ideas they already brainstormed. I believe this combination of assessments would give a person not only an idea of a career they’d be good at but also a career they may be interested in.
I too didn’t take many assessments when it came down to deciding on a career .However, I do recall taking a college course my freshmen year and it focused on defining your career. In that course, I did take an informal assessment that was geared toward my interest and an formal that focused on skills. From there, is how I made a decision to go into teaching other than playing make believe school with my friends. As, I became older, exposure, and work experience, things began to shift! It is important to know how your interests can be accommodated by your career . I believe they go hand in hand and what makes your job more rewarding.
The career assessment program I would create for my seniors would be the Card Sort as an informal assessment and the Interest profiler. I feel that card sort gives the participant an opportunity to share interest and what they like and how they best move and perform on a job. You don’t feel obligated to one thing. In card sort you can change and rearrange according to the different careers and skills. You’re ranking the value, looking at the skills, and title of career. With the formal interest profiler assessment, it’s the true test to see if the assumption of belief supports the theory. After administering the assessments, we would discuss and go over the outcome and begin to create this ideal of work environment, hybrid or in office, distance, etc. From there we would focus on comparing of your interests and impact can have on your career choice. Looking at the scores and where they fall high to low. This information can help them to determine or at least begin a pathway of what they thought vs what the reality is shaping to be.
I agree that most customers or students do not know how to analyze the results of most formal assessments. On the other hand, some customers and students can analyze the results, and become frustrated with the results and how the results may or may not impact their goals to employment or education.
There are two assessments that I would instruct students to complete: Holland and Myers Briggs. These two assessments compliment each other well. The benefit of both is that they issue users a code that they can then identify with and keep on file for future use. If they are in professional development down the road or if employers ask them about their personality types or codes, then they would have that ready with an easy to remember 3 or 4 digit code.
Another way they compliment each is that the Holland assessment results are focused on linking your passions, skills, and interests directly to jobs. This gives the student/client an immediate result in what could be possible or a best fit for them based on their answers. Alternatively, Myers-Briggs puts out a four-letter code that is purely based on personality. In this case, the onus is put on the client to be insightful about their results. They can be tasked with assessing their personality type and distinguishing what they think would be best for them professionally.
An assessment that I would use with my customers includes both formal and informal assessments. I believe that both types of assessments have their own benefits. The formal assessment provides a way for the career counselor to determine the customer’s interests and explore new career options that they may not have considered before. This allows us, the career coach and the customer, to develop a plan of action and set goals for the customer. On the other hand, the informal assessment involves meeting with the customer and taking the time to get to know them better. This way, we can gain a deeper understanding of the customer’s needs, preferences, and personality, which can help in developing a more personalized career plan.
Greetings,
I like that you mentioned the Myers Briggs Assessment, which helps identify an individual’s preferences for their source of energy, means of information gathering, way of decision making, and lifestyle. The energy preference can measure Extraversion (E) versus Introversion (I). The information-gathering preference is used to determine Sensing (S) versus Intuition (N). The decision-making preference is used to determine Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F), and the lifestyle preference is used to help determine Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P).
These preferences combine to create 16 potential personality types, such as ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging) or ENFP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving). It is important to keep in mind that the MBTI is a self-report questionnaire, and individuals are assigned a type based on their responses.
I agree that the MBTI can be a valuable tool for assisting customers in assessing their personality types and determining what may work best for them personally and in their careers. Furthermore, the Myers-Briggs can also be helpful in understanding communication styles and the way individuals prefer to interact with others.
Thank you for sharing.
I would use an informal interest assessment. I believe this assessment would help identify where the job seeker is currently with their skillset and what career they would like to pursue using those skills. This is also an opportunity to identify skills they may be lacking that may be required in their career of interest.
Most of our clients are working professionals or entry level workers who have already expressed an interest in healthcare. I would proceed with formal assessments that helped identify career paths that would be suitable for the lifestyle and education level of our client. Exploring areas of interest in healthcare is a little complex in that being able to identify the different nuances between departments is an explorative journey of its own. Differences in patient acuity, job function, patient interaction, surgical vs ambulatory operations all require different skills and in some instances differing levels of education and experience.
The Assessment I would use on my clients would be a Personality and Interest inventory assessment. These assessments are both formal. I am aware that they will cause some type of fear or anxiety upon reaction, but I will better explain the benefits of the assessment. These assessments are developed by experts and based off scientific principles that I have studied through my psychology career. It does not mean that they are perfect, but I do believe it will help gather the information that is solely needed to make the best decision and find the best match for our clients. These assessments are designed to give validity, reliability and eliminate bias. When implementing an informal assessment, it is very easy for us to include emotions or personal feelings. “Giving our opinion on what we think they should be doing”, based off the information we have gathered.
Both assessments will help our clients develop a sense of self-worth, help them discover the gifts and talents they possess which in the end may result in better job selection. As I mentioned before. I believe our job is to bring out the best in people, help them make the best decision possible, let it be their decision, and one that they love.
I’d lean toward a Holland/RIASEC-based assessment, as well as a personality profiler (e.g. Myers-Briggs) or even one located on ONET. Each of these is formal.
First I will start with a personal one-on-one conversation with the person. This conversation could be considered an informal assessment. I will probably ask my favorite question; “If all the stars lined up and everything went your way, what would it look like?”. The job seekers’ answer to this question usually gives me insight into their career goals, interests, and values. Getting to know the individual and building a positive relationship is one of the most valuable things I can do to help the individual. Then I would give a formal assessment like O-Net. But if the individual is short on time or computer literacy I would give them the paper assessment that we have on hand called Transferable Skills Scale Second Edition, developed by John J. Lipak, Ed.D., and Laurence Shatkin, Ph.D.
Hi, I think your approach is phenomenal strictly because it doesn’t lead with a focus to solve a problem but allows the client and opportunity to show what they are capable of first and allows time for you to gather insight. We can be quick to solve problems just like the client can be quick to want answers from us. It’s very important that we instill that accountability for the client by allowing them a space to not only reflect but also assess their own capabilities for opportunities to grow and develop.
I agree with this approach which can be very vital in the way you move forward in helping the children figure out their career path. With Schoolinks having their own assessments helps us as career coaches to help the kids see what’s available to them.
Personally, I believe that at the beginning of the coaching relationship it’s best to start with an informal assessment to get an understanding on what skills and knowledge the client has acquired. This is helpful in exploring not just strengths but opportunities that could be available to the client based upon their own natural assessment. As we progress into the coaching relationship, I would then recommend conducting a formal assessment like O-Net or our “Schoolinks” assessments to ensure that the client is developing the necessary skills and knowledge to successfully create sustainable objectives for their development.
As a career coach in a middle school I feel the informal assessment to be more appropriate. What I’ve learned from experience is that some kids have no idea what they want to do in the future so you have to ask questions pertaining to their likes and dislikes. what their personalities are like, do they like to talk or not talk at all. Through working with one of the programs our school offers, I see a multitude of children daily so I have to use different methods to help them figure out a career path that suits their liking. Although they have time to figure it out, you like to get them thinking now to have some idea of what they want to do.