Online Career Assessment Test Information

Go back to Part 1: Career Assessment Tests: Do your Interest, Skills, and Aptitude match your Job Choice?

Career counselors administer all three types of assessment tests, as well as performance tests. Individual career counselors and companies specializing in career guidance administer the tests for a fee. You can find a list of these services in the America’s CareerInfoNet Career Resource Library on the Web (http://www.acinet.org/acinet/library.asp?category=1.7).
 
Your school career center may offer testing for free or have lists of local career counselors. Employment services in each state my offer counseling services that include testing. To locate a career service center, visit CareerOneStop ((http://www.acinet.org), click the Services tab, and enter your zip code.

Another excellent source is the Riley Guide (http://www.rileyguide.com). Margaret Riley Dikel founded and edits The Riley Guide and is the author of the “Guide to Internet Job Searching.” (VGM Career Books, 2002)

“Assessments aren't crystal balls and can't offer quick and easy answers. When taking them, it's best to keep their results in perspective,” Riley Dikel says in her article “A Guide to Going On-Line for Self Assessment Tools:” in the Wall Street Journals CareerJournal.com (http://www.careerjournal.com/jobhunting/usingnet/20030429-dikel.html)

Her advice is to “try several assessments, and use your intuition while reviewing the results. Don't put all of your faith in one tool, even if you've used it before. Never forget that you're unique, and in-depth honest personal examination is always your best assessment tool.”

She also cautions not to assume a test you pay for is going to be better than one you get for free. “However, with many "free" tools, you get what you pay for. After making sure that a tool has been developed and validated properly, heed your "gut" impression about it. If it measures personality by asking about your favorite geometric design or provides a result that seems unbelievable, discard it,” Riley Dikel advices.

The Riley Guide section on Self-Assessment lists the most popular and reputable self-directed assessments tools such as Richard Nelson Bolles book “What Color is Your Parachute.”

One example is the O’NET Profiler. O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, is a comprehensive database of worker attributes and job characteristics. O’NET replaces the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), and is now the nation's primary source of occupational information.

The O’NET Profiler is designed to help you discover the type of work activities and occupations you might like and find exciting. You download the test to your own computer (http://www.onetcenter.org/CIP.html), or download files to print the non-computerized version at http://www.onetcenter.org/IP.html.

Go back to Part 1: Career Assessment Tests: Do your Interest, Skills, and Aptitude match your Job Choice?

 

 

 

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