Chapter 25: Career Assessments
Graciela Martinez and Elizabeth Shaker
Career Assessments
Learning Objectives:
- Use valuable career assessments to help you gain a better understanding of yourself and visualize where you fit best in the world of work.
- Define and clarify your values and how they relate to your career choices.
- Identify your own personality type and how your preferences connect to choice of major and career.
- Distinguish your interests, confirm your skills, and character strengths and link them to potential major and career choices.
Getting Started With Career Assessments
If you do not know yourself, how can you possibly know what you want to do for a career? In this unit, you will be taking several career assessments to better understand yourself and make choices that are more informed when it comes to researching your career options. These assessments will help pinpoint your personality preferences, workplace strengths and direct you toward professions that best compliment your unique personality. You will also identify your values, underlying needs and motivations and make connections to how these play into your future career vision.
The first phase of career and life planning involves answering the question, “Who Am I?” This phase entails taking time to study yourself in depth and understanding things such as:
- What motivates you?
- What do you like doing?
- What do you not like doing?
- What work environments energize you and what environments drain you?
- What are your character strengths and what skills do you have or can you acquire that employers will pay you for?
Your answers to these questions will help you find “Your Meaningful Work.” Certified Dream Coach and Dream Coach Group Leader, Bill Johnson, has created a powerful diagram that illustrates this point. The center of the diagram where all components intersect is where “Your Meaningful Work” lies. Keep this in mind as we explore each of these components through the different career assessments.
Figure 25.1 – Finding meaningful work (Image by Ian Joslin is licensed under CC BY 4.0).
No assessment can possibly know more about you than you know about yourself. You are your own expert, however, these career assessments will help give you a frame of reference. They will help you make connections to your past experiences and help you apply them to your future career goals. Be sure to keep an open mind throughout this process. Ask questions and explore areas of uncertainty. You only know what you know, and the more time and energy you invest in self-exploration, the more informed you will be as you make decisions that impact your future career goals. This journey can be fun and exciting and at times a bit overwhelming, however the more you put into it, the more you will gain!
Values
Values are the characteristics that are most important to you. They make up your core belief system and serve as motivators that guide you in what you do and decisions you make. It is important to consider your values as you select a career. You will enjoy the work you do more if it aligns with your core values. If the work you choose conflicts with your values, you will most likely struggle with the position and this may create tension and discomfort in your life. It is important to consider your personal values along with your work related values.
For example, if you value good health and are assigned to market a product that may cause serious health concerns, you will likely find it difficult to market this item. If you are asked to do this on a continual basis, you will internally struggle with the role you play as this job forces you to go against your core values.
Let’s Take a Look at Work Values
According to the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), the nation’s primary source of occupational information, work values are defined as the “global aspects of work that are important to a person’s satisfaction.” Below is a screenshot of the six work values to take into consideration while researching career options. O*NET allows you to do a Work Values Search by entering your top three Work Values to see which occupations match your choices. https://www.onetonline.org/explore/workvalues/Achievement/
Figure 25.2 – Browse by O*Net Data (Screenshot from https://www.onetonline.org/find/descriptor/browse/Work_Values/)
You will have an opportunity to complete a values assessment activity in class using the values card sort along with other online resources such as:
- Work Values Search through O*NET: this assessment allows you to match your chosen work values with occupations that match. https://www.onetonline.org/explore/workvalues/Achievement/
- Kuder Journey: an online tool, which provides reliable inventories to assess your interests, skills confidence, and work values, and suggests occupations and majors that match your assessment results. Kuder Journey also includes resources like a resume builder and online portfolio, to prepare you for the job search and connect you to today’s jobs! Your instructor will distribute login instructions with an activation code. You will have the opportunity to take the three assessments: interests, skills confidence, and work values.
- Work Importance Profiler: this assessment helps you determine what values are important to you and how they line up with different careers. To complete the Work Importance Profiler go to the California Career Zone site at: https://www.cacareerzone.org/wip/. Below is a screenshot.
Figure 25.3 –California Career Zone (Screenshot from https://www.cacareerzone.org/wip/).
Your values will play an important role in each phase of the career and life planning process; therefore, it is important to take time to assess what is most important to you. When your values align with the work you do, you will feel more satisfied and invested in your career.
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Activity 25.1 – Identify Your Work Values |
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Complete the following three activities to review the work values that are most important to you.
After you have identified your top values, explore careers that would allow you to express your values. Do you see a common theme amongst these careers? Explain:
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VIA Character Strengths
We all have strengths and weaknesses and that is what makes us different and unique. Oftentimes it is easier to focus on weaknesses and in doing so strengths get neglected.
During counseling appointments with undeclared students, the counselor will generally start by asking if the student has any career ideas in mind. We oftentimes get responses such as, “Well, definitely nothing related to math and science, those are not my strong areas.” It is important to recognize our weaknesses; however, we do not want to neglect our strengths. The VIA Institute on Character has developed a FREE VIA Survey Character Strengths assessment you will complete. This assessment will rank your character strengths, which you can use to help explore career options, problem solve, improve relationships and enhance your overall well-being.
The VIA Institute on Character
The mission statement of the Via Institute on Character states:
“The VIA Institute on Character is a non-profit organization, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, dedicated to bringing the science of character strengths to the world through supporting research, creating validating surveys of character, and developing practical tools for individuals and practitioners”.
Take time to explore their website and learn more about the character strengths.
View the YouTube Video “The Science of Character” for an introduction to the VIA Character Strengths.
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Activity 25.2 – Identify Your Character Strengths |
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After viewing the YouTube video clip introducing “The Science of Character,” go onto the VIA Institute on Character website and take the Free Character Strengths Survey online at: https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register. This will take about 15-20 minutes and entails answering 120 questions. After completing the survey, download your free VIA character strengths profile and read the report summary. The report rank orders your character strengths from highest to lowest based on 24 different character strengths.
Keep your character strengths in mind as you research career options. Learn to put your strengths to work for you. |
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality assessment that was developed by Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers based on the framework of personality theory by Carl C. Jung. The MBTI is a personality assessment that measures the psychological preferences that influence how people perceive the world and make decisions. This assessment is widely used across the world and has been translated into two dozen plus languages. Many companies use the MBTI with their staff to help employees learn more about themselves and how they can strengthen their department team efforts and increase overall productivity for the company. Many colleges and universities use the MBTI to help with career exploration.
The MBTI will help you gain a better understanding of your preferences and work environments that best fit you. The MBTI does not measure abilities, skills, values or interests. It assesses your personality preferences. The MBTI instrument indicates preferences on four pairs of opposites called dichotomies.
Watch the following video to get an introduction of four facets that comprise the 16 possible personality types.
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Personality Theory: The 4 Facets |
These four preferences make up your type, which results in 16 rich, complex, highly differentiated whole types. You will have an opportunity in class to self-identify your preferences and this will be your “Self-estimated” type. Your instructor will give you more information on taking the MBTI personality assessment. Once the assessment is completed, your instructor will generate a career report and distribute your results to you. The results of this assessment will be your “Reported” type. After learning more about the MBTI and reviewing your self-estimated type and your reported type, you will confirm your “Best-fit” type. This will be addressed in more detail in class. |
Activity 25.3 – What’s Your Type?
Read descriptions for the four facets. Pick which is more like you.
- E (Extraversion) or I (Introversion)?
- S (Sensing) or N? (Intuition)?
- T (Thinking) or F? (Feeling)?
- J (Judging) or P? (Perceiving)?
Table 25.1 Personality Type Examples
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Could be described as: |
Could be described as: |
Then you prefer (E) Extraversion |
Then you prefer (I) Introversion |
Then you prefer (S) Sensing
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Then you prefer (N) Intuition |
Then you prefer (T) Thinking
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Then you prefer (F) Feeling |
Then you prefer (J) Judging
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Then you prefer (P)Perceiving |
What is your 4-letter personality type? __ __ __ __
The following are brief descriptions of the 16 personality types from Humanmetrics. Click on your personality type or a similar type to see which describes you best.
Table 25.2 Personality type descriptions
Each type is unique and presents its own strengths and challenges. No one type is better than the other. Any type can do anything if motivated!
Your instructor will generate your career report based on your responses to the online MBTI assessment. The career report will help you:
- Identify job families or broad occupational categories to help you get started in your career search.
- Choose a specific job or career.
- Select a college major or course of study.
- Identify strengths and potential weaknesses of your type for the career search process.
- Increase your job satisfaction.
- Make a career transition or shift.
- Plan your career development strategy and action steps.
John Holland’s classifications of work environments
Video: RIASEC at Work Matching Your Personality to Career
Figure 25.4 – The RIASEC Model (Holland Codes by QVhighschool01 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)
You will have an opportunity to complete the Strong Interest Inventory in class. Your instructor will give you more detailed information on completing this assessment. Once you complete the assessment, your instructor will generate a career report and distribute your results to you.
Read over the different RIASEC work environments below and consider your first, second and third choice interests.
- Realistic: These people describe themselves as honest, loyal, and practical. They are doers more than thinkers. They have strong mechanical, motor, and athletic abilities; like the outdoors; and prefer working with machines, tools, plants, and animals. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
- Investigative: These people love problem solving and analytical skills. They are intellectually stimulated and often mathematically or scientifically inclined; like to observe, learn, and evaluate; prefer working alone; and are reserved. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.
- Artistic: These people are the “free spirits.” They are creative, emotional, intuitive, and idealistic; have a flair for communicating ideas; dislike structure and prefer working independently; and like to sing, write, act, paint, and think creatively. They are similar to the investigative type but are interested in the artistic and aesthetic aspects of things more than the scientific. Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
- Social: These are “people” people. They are friendly and outgoing; love to help others, make a difference, or both; have strong verbal and personal skills and teaching abilities; and are less likely to engage in intellectual or physical activity. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.
- Enterprising: These people are confident, assertive risk takers. They are sociable; enjoy speaking and leadership; like to persuade rather than guide; like to use their influence; have strong interpersonal skills; and are status conscious. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
- Conventional: These people are dependable, detail oriented, disciplined, precise, persistent, and practical; value order; and are good at clerical and numerical tasks. They work well with people and data, so they are good organizers, schedulers, and project managers. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Activity 25.4 – What’s Your Occupational Type
Using the descriptions above, choose the three types that most closely describe you and list them in order in the following table. Most people are combinations of two or sometimes three types. Then list the specific words or attributes that you feel describe you best. After determining your primary, secondary, and tertiary occupational types, take the first initial for each type, in order, to establish your occupational code.
Table 25.3 Occupational Types
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Occupational Type |
Word and Attributes That Closely Describe Me |
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Primary type (the one I identify with most closely) |
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Secondary type |
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Tertiary type |
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Note: Your occupational code is made up of the initials of the three personality types you selected, in order.
My occupational code: ___ ___ ___
(For example: if Social, Enterprising, and Conventional are your top three occupational types, your occupational code would be: S E C)
Exploring Careers and Your Occupational Type
Now that you have determined your top three occupational types, you can begin to explore the types of careers that may be best suited for you. Holland studied people who were successful and happy in many occupations and matched their occupations to their occupational type, creating a description of the types of occupations that are best suited to each personality type. Just as many individuals are more than one personality type, many jobs show a strong correlation to more than one occupational type.
This is a rough beginning to finding your occupational type, but you will soon be seeking out more detailed results from the Strong Interest Inventory assessment as a part of this course.
Use the top thee occupation types you defined in the exercise, “What’s Your Occupational Type?” to help identify careers you may want to consider from the table below.
Table 25.4 – Occupational Options by Type
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Type |
Ideal Environments |
Sample Occupations |
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Realistic |
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Investigative |
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Artistic |
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Social |
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Enterprising |
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Conventional |
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You can use the Department of Labor’s O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/find) to get a deeper understanding of your occupation. For each occupation, O*Net lists the type of work, the work environment, the skills and education required, and the job outlook for that occupation. This is a truly rich resource that you should get to know.
You will have the opportunity to complete an interest assessment using one of the following online resources:
- Careeronestop: http://www.careeronestop.org/ExploreCareers/assessments/self-assessments.aspx (go to “Interest Assessment”)
- California Career Zone: https://www.cacareerzone.org/ (go to “Assess Yourself – Interest Profiler”)
- O*NET Interest Profiler: https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
- iStartStrong – your instructor will provide you with login instructions for this assessment. Once completed, your instructor will generate a customized career report based on your responses. Your results will give you a great deal of information to help you make informed decisions about your future including:
- careers that reflect your interest
- possible education and training programs
- satisfying work environments
- enjoyable activities for your free time
Skills
Skilled Labor
Employers seek skills. Many of the skills you will need are career specific: we call those specific skills hard skills or technical skills. These include knowing how to use equipment that is specific to your career and mastering processes that are used in your field. While some of these skills are learned and perfected on the job, you may be in a vocational track program (such as for homeland security officers, nurses, aides, or paralegals) where you are learning your technical skills.
These are not the only skills you will need to be successful. The second set of skills you must have are called soft skills or transferable skills, which contribute to success in any number of occupations because they can be used in almost all occupations. Some soft skills include thinking skills, communication skills, listening skills and leadership skills. This skill set is very broad, and your extent of mastery will vary from skill to skill; therefore, you should identify those skills that are most important to your career objective and develop and master them. Search on O*Net (http://online.onetcenter.org/find) to determine which skills you need to demonstrate to potential employers you have mastered based on your career interest.
Employers want individuals who have the necessary hard and soft skills to do the job well and adapt to changes in the workplace. Soft skills may be especially in demand today because employers are generally equipped to train new employees in a hard skill—by training them to use new computer software, for instance—but it’s much more difficult to teach an employee a soft skill such as developing rapport with coworkers or knowing how to manage conflict. An employer might rather hire an inexperienced worker who can pay close attention to details than an experienced worker who might cause problems on a work team.
In this section, you will look at ways of identifying and building particular hard and soft skills that will be necessary for your career path.
Table 25.5 – Transferable Skills Inventory
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Active listening |
Decision making |
Negotiating |
Researching |
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Active learning |
Editing |
Observing |
Selling |
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Analyzing |
Evaluating |
Organizing |
Speaking a 2nd language |
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Budgeting |
Forecasting |
Perceiving Feelings |
Supervising |
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Coaching |
Goal setting |
Persuading |
Teaching |
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Communicating |
Handling a crisis |
Planning |
Teamwork |
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Consulting |
Handling details |
Problem solving |
Time management |
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Creative thinking |
Manipulating numbers |
Public speaking |
Training |
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Critical thinking |
Mentoring |
Reading |
Visualizing |
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Customer service |
Motivating |
Reporting |
Writing |
These skills are transferable because they are positive attributes that are invaluable in practically any kind of work. They also do not require much training from an employer—you have them already and take them with you wherever you go. Transferable/Soft skills are a big part of your “total me” package.
So, identify the transferable/soft skills that show you off the best, and identify the ones that prospective employers are looking for. By comparing both sets, you can more directly gear your job search to your strongest professional qualities.
You will have the opportunity to complete skills assessments using different online resources such as:
- Kuder Journey: an online tool, which provides reliable inventories to assess your interests, skills confidence, and work values, and suggests occupations and majors that match your assessment results. Kuder Journey also includes resources like a resume builder and online portfolio, to prepare you for the job search and connect you to today’s jobs! Your instructor will distribute login instructions and you will have the opportunity to take the three assessments: interests, skills confidence, and work values.
- Skills Matcher: an online “Skills Assessment” through Careeronestop. The Skills Matcher helps you identify your skills. Use the Skills Matcher to create a list of your skills and match them to careers that use those skills. Click here to complete the Skills Matcher: https://www.careeronestop.org/toolkit/Skills/skills-matcher.aspx
- Skills Profiler: an online skills assessment through the California Career Zone. This tool that allows you to identify skills you have acquired through your jobs and other activities. The Skills Profiler can help you explore occupations that require your skill set. https://www.cacareerzone.org/index – go to the “Explore” tab at the top right hand corner, then go to Skills Profiler listed under the “Assess Yourself” heading.
21st Century Skills
Due to the rapid changes in the global economy and the advancement of technology, the workplace has changed dramatically. As a student it is important for you to gain the knowledge and skills employers are seeking. To help train the new generation entering the workforce, a team of educators came together with employers, workforce development boards, and research organizations across the country to build college/career-ready, 21st Century Employability Skills Program called New World of Work (NWoW) 21st Century Skills Training.
Watch the Part 1 21st Century Skills video:
New World of Work (NWoW) was developed under the Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy framework of the California Community Colleges system, which is the largest higher education system in the nation with 72 districts and 115 colleges serving over 2.1 million students each year.
Starting in 2012, the New World of Work team began tracking futurist projections, economic reports, and national research related to the correlation between education and employment.
The group conducted a series of Skills Panels to gather feedback from employers, entrepreneurs, human resources specialists, educators, and students to determine the essential employability skills required in our emerging global economy.
From the research gathered, NWoW established their “Top 10” list of 21st Century Employability Skills. They worked closely with expert curriculum developers, including the NWoW Co-Creators, video crews, college faculty across disciplines, and digital badging teams then created lessons and badges to go along with each of the skills.
They identified the following “Top 10” list of 221st Century Employability Skills:
Figure 25.5 – Essential 21st Century Skills (Image by New World of Work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)
For more information about NWoW, read the Executive Summary report titled “Community Colleges and 21st Century Skills: Skills Panels to Assist Student Career Success.”
What is a Digital Badge?
Preview the short video by the MacArthur Foundation to get an overview of what a Digital Badge is and how it can be used.
The New World of Work awards “Learner Badges” for all 10 of the 21st Century Skills. This is available to you for FREE! The NWoW Learner Badges are based on the NWoW High School/opportunity youth video series paired with multiple-choice questions. These can be used with high school, post secondary, adult learners or the general public to provide an introduction to the 21st Century Skills and the process for earning badges. Assessment pages launch directly from NWoW website by clicking on the Learner Badge icons. Below is a screenshot of the Learner Badges series.
Figure 25.6 – 21st Century Skills Learner Badges (Image by New World of Work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
In addition to the Learner Badges, College of the Canyons is proud to provide the NWoW curriculum and award digital badges through the Continuing Education Department Career Skills Program. For more information, reach out to the Continuing Education Department – Career Skills program. The Career Skills Courses offered through Continuing Education are FREE and available in an on ground and online format to meet the needs of diverse learners and all courses are open to the community! Completing the Career Skills training is a great way to show employers you are equipped with the skills necessary to be successful in today’s workforce and allows you to earn digital badges you may post on your LinkedIn and social media profile.
One other benefit of the NWoW – 21st Century Skills Curriculum, is the LinkedIn Crosswalk, that provides the following:
- Partnership with LinkedIn to provide suggested next steps after each skill lesson
- Instructors and students can utilize the LinkedIn Learning/Lynda.com videos that have been crosswalked with NWoW skills to take a deeper dive into the traits of that skill
- Completion of these video courses generates certificates that can be hosted on LinkedIn profiles along with skills badges, school/alumni information.
- Also, Career Education students at COC who participate in the Continuing Education FREE Career Skills courses receive free Lynda.com access.
View the YouTube PBS News Hour video titled ” Giving students a leg up with job skills a resume won’t show” to learn more about digital badges and how they can help you be more marketable.
Activity 25.5 – Identifying Your Skills
Self-identify your Top 5 transferable (soft) skills, skills you are good at, and those skills you wish to learn or develop further.
Review the list of transferable skills list and additional checklist of transferable skills above to complete the chart below. Describe specific ways in which you have used each skill successfully. This will come in handy when we discuss interviewing strategies. Consider skills important to your career that you have not yet mastered and how you plan to master them. Give examples.
Table 25.6 My Transferable Skills
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Number |
Top 5 Skills I Enjoy Using |
Top 5 Skills that Come Naturally |
Top 5 Skills that I Want to Learn |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
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5 |
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Putting It All Together
You have actively engaged in Phase 1- “Who Am I?” of the career exploration process and now, it is time to take a snapshot view of your assessment results. Take a moment and summarize your findings from the different career assessments you have completed in this unit. Record your findings in the chart below:
Activity 25.6 – Putting It All Together: My Snapshot View of Phase 1: Who Am I?
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My Top 3 Work Values: Name 2 career titles that you are most interest in that will allow you to express your values:
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My Occupational Code based on Holland Codes (RIASEC Model – refer to your iStartStrong assessment results): ____ ____ ____ Name 2 career titles you are most interested in that will allow you to express your interests: |
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My top 5 Character Strengths: How will your character strengths contribute to your career success?
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My Top 5 Transferable Skills Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that will allow you to utilize your skills. |
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My MBTI 4 Letter Personality Type: ____ ____ ____ ____ Name 2 career titles that you are most interested in that fit with your personality type. |
My Additional Notes/Reflections: Common Themes…. Of all the career titles you have explored, which career would you be interested in researching more in-depth?
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Take a moment and reflect on your findings:
- Did anything surprise you? Explain.
- Do you see any overlapping themes from your assessment results?
- How do your results confirm what you already know about yourself? Explain.
- How will this information guide you as you move into exploring Phase 2: “What’s Out There?” conducting career research, and researching industry expectations?
Chapter Summary
Now that you have completed Chapter 25, let’s revisit the learning objectives. In this unit, you have:
Used valuable career assessment tools to help you gain a better understanding of yourself and visualize where you fit best in the world of work.
Defined and clarified your values and how they relate to your career choices.
Identified your own personality type preference and how your preferences connect to choice of major and career.
Distinguished your interests, confirmed your skills, and character strengths and linked them to potential major and career choices.
Each of the assessments you completed is an important piece of the puzzle of you and what you have to offer the world of work! Now that you have completed these assessments, you are better equipped to answer the question, “Who Am I?” While self-discovery can take a lifetime, you now have information that perhaps you did not have before. Some of the results may change slightly over time depending on experiences and life circumstances. The key here is “knowing thyself.” You are off to a great start and we are hopeful you have enjoyed learning more about yourself in the process of self-discovery!
Licenses and Attributions:
Original content: CC BY Attribution:
Career and Life Planning – An Open Educational Resource Publication by College of the Canyons Unit 2 Engaging in Self-Exploration. Access for free at: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kTVzQ6mKcTPEVnK_YUl6UkZLd1mn7wa4
Martinez, G., & Shaker, E. (2019). Engaging in Self-Exploration. In Career and Life Planning. College of the Canyons.
Modifications: Videos embedded, minor formatting edits, figures/tables/activities renumbered.
Footnotes from Career and Life Planning:
Career/Life Planning and Personal Exploration by Lumen Learning references Understanding Decision Making University of Minnesota is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Career/Life Planning and Personal Exploration by Lumen Learning references Professional Skill Building by Linda Bruce, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0
RIASEC at Work Matching Your Personality to Career by readable is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0