A career planning or assessment test, of which there are many types, can be a valuable tool in helping you find your career direction. There are values inventories, interest inventories, achievement and aptitude tests, personality assessments, and career maturity tests.

Many high schools provide a free career testing for students. Some colleges and universities will also provide a free career assessment test. Some companies even have free career assessment tests for new personnel. Very often, however, these tests come with a minimum fee. Some can actually be quite expensive.

There are plenty of Internet sites that offer free job related assessment tests and some charge a small fee. As with anything else, it makes sense to shop around these sites before making a financial commitment. You may take these tests for employment purposes and to find direction in your career. Or you may take the assessment tests just to satisfy curiosity you might have about yourself.

Here are some of the sites you might investigate to assist you in your career planning:.

The Princeton Review Career Quiz: Here you will find 24 questions based on the Birkman Method - which is explained on the site. The test enhances your understanding of your personality, and gives a list of occupations that might be of interest to you. You must register to use the site, but this is a free testing procedure.

Career Decision Making: This is part of the Job Search Tutorial at the Career and Employment Service of Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. You can go online and take the Personal Traits Inventory, the Work Values Inventory, the Influence of Significant Others and Significant Factors, Interest Inventory; the Working with Others Workshop, and the Skills Workshop. These tests are not standardized, but they can provide good self-assessment. Moreover, this is a free self-assessment test.

Holland Codes Self-Directed Search: This was designed by a career development theorist named John Holland. It is based on his theory that people have interests that fall into one-to-three of the following types: realistic (R), investigative (I), artistic (A), social (S), enterprising (E), or conventional (C). This is now called the RIASEC model. When a person does the test and gets a three-letter Holland code, they have a tool that can help them decide which occupations might be of interest to them. The Self Directed Search (SDS) can be taken right at the website and does not cost anything. However, this is not quite a free career planning test. You must pay a small fee - usually under $10 - to get the results of your test.

There are many other websites offering career testing. Those that charge a fee usually keep the cost to a minimum. Always thoroughly investigate a site before paying a large fee.

You might start with these free assessment tests. Then do some additional research and if you find something interesting and if it looks like the results will help in your career planning invest some limited funds to further your personal understanding. Another good source to help direct you to the most productive assessment tests are referrals from career counselors and career coaches.

John Groth is a former HR executive and career coach. Find Career Planning Ideas ,valuable articles and a Free seven day career planning guide on his web site. Discover up to date career and recruitment strategies at his Employment Network Site all to assist you in advancing and managing your career.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Groth

Related Articles: Career objective- Mapping Our Future

Related Articles: Resume Objectives... The Hidden Pitfalls

Related Articles: Landing The Perfect Telecommunications Jobs

Last update : 15-12-2007

Average user rating

   (0 vote)