Self-assessment for career decisions
When making decisions about careers, it helps to understand yourself, so you have a basis for deciding what might work for you.
What you’re looking for is a career which ‘fits’ with you.
A ‘good fit’ career is one which enables to use your strengths to contribute to something that interests you.
So, the key things that are useful to know are:
- Your interests – What do you find interesting, motivating? What do you care about? What would you like to contribute to?
- Your strengths – What are your ‘natural’ abilities? What are your personal strengths? What sorts of activities do you tend to be good at and find more enjoyable?
Work values are also important. What you want from your working life (job security, work which contributes to society….), and what style of workplace you prefer (structured, relaxed, creative….)?
But the place to start is with interests and strengths.
A career or occupation involves working in a particular industry or industry sector (largely determined by interests), performing a particular role (largely determined by strengths).
As a simple example, if you are interested in health and have practical and caring strengths, you might consider a health-helping occupation such as nursing or physiotherapy. If you are interested in health and have strong IT and organisational skills, you might consider a career in health information management.
Self-assessments clarify your interests, strengths, work values or all of these. Some use this information to generate a list of careers.
Self-assessment options
Prompt questions and check-listsThese simply stimulate your thinking about the key elements. They do not provide ‘answers’ but leave you to apply insights to come up with career ideas or to evaluate ideas you may have read about.
Some examples:
- What are your interests?
- What are your strengths?
- Transferable and Adaptive Skills Checklist (PDF file | Opens in new tab)
- Values Checklist (PDF file | Opens in new tab)
These ask questions about interests and strengths and give you a ‘result’. This might be a prioritised list of your interests and strengths, or a 'typing' (as in the SDS or MBTI). They may also match these to occupations.
Some examples:
- Self-Directed Search (SDS). The SDS uses information about interests and abilities to determine your vocational type. The type profile is useful for understanding the sorts of work roles that might suit, and it can also be used to identify occupations. The test appears quite basic but the model of vocational types is a highly useful way of thinking about work. You can also use the type model to reflect on your style without taking the test. Available online for a small cost (about $20).
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Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This is a very good model for thinking about your likely strengths. The MBTI asks questions about how you prefer to operate, and provides a personal style typing. These have correlations with work roles that may suit. Though some MBTI materials suggest occupations for the types, these are very broad ranging as the MBTI does not assess interests. A good reference is 'Do What You Are' available to use in the Careers Resource Centre. The MBTI is available online for a fee, or by appointment with MBTI accredited practitioners.
Note: There are some 'lookalike' versions of the MBTI that use a similar model and are either free or much cheaper. For example, Humanmetrics (free) and Kiersey (about $20)
- Computer-based self-assessment packages - Adult Directions can be completed via Online Career Tools. It takes about 30 minutes and provides a summary of your interests and strengths and also occupations to consider.
Choosing assessments
- Keep the ‘good fit’ definition in mind. As you learn more about your interests and strengths, try coming up with your own ideas.
- Start with the simple activities – the key questions and checklists.
- Think about what sort of career decision you’re making and what sort of information the assessment will provide.
For example,If you are looking for ideas about new careers or courses, try Adult Directions (available in Online Career Tools).
If you are deciding on a career role or occupation, the key thing to understand is your strengths - to decide what sort of work role is going to suit you. Try 'What are your strengths?', the Transferable and Adaptive Skills Checklist and / or the MBTI.