What is a Career Assessment, a detailed overview.
A career assessment is a type of evaluation or test that is designed to help individuals understand how a variety of personal attributes, such as their interests, values, skills, personality traits, and motivations, relate to potential careers. Career assessments can guide individuals towards professions that are likely to be a good fit for them.
Career assessments come in a variety of forms and can include:
- Interest Inventories: Interest inventories identify an individual’s preferences for certain activities or tasks, then align these interests with various professions. The Holland Codes or RIASEC model is a prominent example of an interest inventory. In this model, careers and vocational types are divided into six categories, including Realistic (practical, hands-on), Investigative (analytical, intellectual), Artistic (creative, non-conforming), Social (helpful, cooperative), Enterprising (persuasive, leadership-oriented), and Conventional (detail-oriented, organized). The individual’s preferences are assessed, and they are then matched with the categories that best align with their responses, ultimately suggesting potential career paths. These tests measure an individual’s interest in different activities and then suggest careers that involve those activities. A well-known example of this is the Mapp Assessment and the Holland Codes or the RIASEC model, which groups people into six types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) based on their interests.
- Personality Assessments: Personality assessments, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), aim to understand an individual’s personality type and then suggest professions that commonly attract those personality types. The MBTI, for example, evaluates individuals along four dichotomies: Extraversion vs. Introversion, sensing vs. Intuition, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving. The result is one of 16 personality types, each associated with a unique set of strengths, preferences, and suitable careers. These tests identify key personality traits and suggest careers that may suit individuals with those traits. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a widely used personality assessment in this category.
- Skills Assessments: Skills assessments evaluate an individual’s skills and aptitudes. They may measure a broad range of abilities, including verbal and mathematical proficiency, mechanical aptitude, artistic ability, and more. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is one such test, commonly used in the military but also useful in the civilian world. It assesses abilities in areas such as word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, arithmetic reasoning, and mechanical comprehension, helping to identify suitable career fields. These evaluations measure an individual’s skills, such as verbal and mathematical abilities, to match them with suitable occupations. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is an example of a skills assessment.
- Values Assessments: Values assessments help individuals identify their work-related values, such as autonomy, security, creativity, influence, or helping others. These assessments can provide insights into the types of roles, industries, or work environments that might be a good fit for an individual’s core values. The Career Values Scale is one example of a values assessment tool, which assesses values across three main areas: intrinsic values (personal growth, helping others, intellectual stimulation), extrinsic values (affluence, stability, social status), and lifestyle values (family, leisure, community). These inventories help individuals understand what they value most in a job, such as helping others, being creative, or earning a high income. This can be useful in determining the type of work environment or company culture that would be a good fit.
- Motivation Appraisals: Motivation appraisals assess an individual’s motivations and drives in relation to their career. These assessments can provide insights into the types of tasks, roles, and environments that are most likely to motivate an individual and lead to job satisfaction. These are usually the top choices for Career Coaches. The Motivation Appraisal Personal Potential (MAPP) is an example of this type of assessment. MAPP identifies core motivations and links them with potential careers, thereby assisting individuals in finding work they will find fulfilling and motivating. These types of assessments, like the Motivation Appraisal Personal Potential (MAPP), explore an individual’s internal drivers and motivations and link them to potential careers.
Career assessments are often used by career counselors, in educational settings, and in career coaching and professional development programs to help guide career exploration and decision-making. They can be particularly helpful for students, career changers, or any individuals looking to gain insight into careers they might find fulfilling.
Why not try it for yourself! The MAPP Career assessment offers a well-rounded understanding of an individual’s interests, motivations, work preferences, personality traits, and skills, enabling them to make informed decisions about their career paths and align their choices with their unique attributes.
If you are an individual or career coach that’s interested in taking the MAPP Career Assessment
Click here to take the Career Assessment, its free to take.
