People Potential Blog

Top Five Career Assessments for Career Transitioners for less than $75!

After coaching numerous clients to make a career transition, I found that career assessments are an integral part of that process. Armed with their assessment results, career transitioners can evaluate their current career and make wise decisions to prepare for their next career.

I recommend five assessments to use with career transitioning clients to help them uncover what’s most important to them for their next career. Read more.

They are:

1. Golden Personality Type Profiler (GPTP) or Myers Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®);
2. Career Liftoff ® Interest Inventory (CLII);
3. SkillScan™ Career Driver;
4. O*NET™ Work Importance Profiler™; and,
5. Page Work Behavior Inventory (PWBI).

Both the GPTP and the MBTI® are based on Jung’s Theory of Psychological Type, and are excellent and reasonably priced assessments to administer to career transitioning clients to learn about their personality type preferences on the following four scales:

• Extraversion—Introversion,
• Sensing—Intuition,
• Thinking—Feeling, and
• Judging—Perceiving (or Organizing—Adapting in the GPTP).

Based on their preferences, career transitioners find out their four-letter personality type, which is one of sixteen possible types. The Golden Personality Type Profiler has an additional scale: Tense—Calm that shows how they tend to react to stress. After they know their personality type, they can learn more about whom they are, the careers that best fit their personality, and what aspects of the social work environment will fit them best.

The Career Liftoff ® Interest Inventory is an inexpensive assessment to administer to career transitioners. The CLII gives them their highest Holland Themes, top occupational interest scales (OIS), and occupations that link to their OIS’s. As they view their top six OIS’s, they can brainstorm possible new directions for their career. Using O*NET® Online, they can compare their highest scoring Holland themes with occupations’ highest Holland themes to determine which careers are a good match.

The Page Work Behavior Inventory measures your clients’ work styles, leadership style, selling style, and more. Using O*NET® Online, they can compare their highest scoring work styles with occupations’ highest work styles to determine if various careers are a good match.

Often clients are unaware of their career values. The O*NET® Work Importance Profiler™, a free online assessment, helps them become aware of their highest career values and the needs that underlie them.  With that information, career transitioners can compare their highest career values with those of various occupations in O*NET® Online.

The SkillScan™ Career Driver is an inexpensive assessment to assist career transitioners in understanding their current skill sets and occupations that link to them, skills they’re motivated to use, and their highest priority skills to develop for the future.  Additionally, they gain knowledge and tools to link their skill results with their Holland-based interests and their four-letter personality type; doing so enhances their understanding of their multifaceted selves.

In summary, administering and interpreting these five assessments to career transitioners will help them fully understand their personality, interests, work styles, career values, and motivated skills. Then, they can establish a career direction that is most satisfying and motivating for them. The best news is that these five assessments can be administered for a total of less than $75!

© 2011. Nancy Branton.

 

Top Four Career Assessments to Administer to College Students for less than $50!

After coaching numerous college and university students to choose their college major and prepare for their career, I found that career assessments are an integral part of that process. Armed with their assessment results, students can make wise decisions to prepare for their ideal career.

I recommend four assessments to accelerate college and university students’ exploration of self and to uncover what’s most important to them in their career. They are:

1. Myers Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®) or Golden Personality Type Profiler (GPTP);
2. Career Liftoff ^® Interest Inventory (CLII);
3. SkillScan™ Career Driver; and,
4. O*NET™ Work Importance Profiler™.

Both the MBTI^® and the GPTP, based on Jung’s Theory of Psychological Type, are excellent and reasonably priced assessments to administer to college students to uncover their personality type preferences on the following four scales:

• Extraversion—Introversion,
• Sensing—Intuition,
• Thinking—Feeling, and
• Judging—Perceiving (or Organizing—Adapting, GPTP).

Based on the individuals’ preferences students discover their four-letter personality type, one of sixteen possible types. The GPTP has an additional scale: Tense—Calm that shows how they react to stress. After students know their personality type, they discover more about who they are, careers that best fit their personality, and aspects of the social work environment that will fit them best.

The CLII is an inexpensive assessment to administer to college students to uncover college majors and occupations that best link to their interests. The CLII gives them their highest Holland Themes, top occupational interest scales (OIS), and occupations that link to their OIS’s. Students can compare their highest scoring Holland themes with occupations' highest Holland themes in O*NET^® OnLine; it provides detailed descriptions of occupations. For example, read the description of an occupation in O*NET^® Online and note what are its highest Holland themes.

The SkillScan™ Career Driver is an inexpensive assessment to help college and university students become more aware of their current skill sets and occupations that link to them, skills they’re most motivated to use, and their highest priority skills to develop for the future.  Additionally, they gain knowledge and tools to link their skill results with their Holland-based interests and their four-letter personality type; doing so, enhances their understanding of their multifaceted selves.

Often college and university students are unaware of their career values. The O*NET^® Work Importance Profiler™, a free online assessment, helps students become aware of their highest career values and the needs that underlie them.  With that information, they can compare the highest career values for various occupations in O*NET^® Online with their top career values.

In summary, administering and intrpreting these four assessments to students will enable them to choose a college major that suits them well, and thus, ensure they’re educated to land a job in a enjoyable career field. The best news is that the above four assessments can be administered for a total of less than $50!

© 2011. Nancy Branton.