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Wondering which career is the best fit for you? These 30 personality assessments with help you find the career you want;
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Ranked as UK’s #1 spot for innovative and exciting stationery, Paperchase offers a rare selection of stylish office supplies. The unique designs are as attractive as they are practical.
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How many times have you wondered about finding the career you want? Or asked yourself if the career you’re in is a good fit for your personality? There are actually effective personal assessment tools out there to help match you with the career of your dreams.
Understanding your personality, strengths, interests, and values, is critical when picking or transitioning careers. It doesn’t require you to go on some soul-searching journey into the depths of your being. Actually, it can be as simple as using career assessment tools to find out what your best career matches are. Some of these tools are administered by professionals; however, they can be taken alone to get a sense of what your ideal career is.
Here are 30 career assessment tools that will come in handy when you or anyone around you asks the question: “How do I figure out the career I really want?”
One of the most popular and well-known career assessment tools out there is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). This assessment describes 16 different personality traits, and identifies basic personality differences. That’s how I found out I was an introvert after many years of questioning my social skills at work.
This Values Assessment will help you learn more about what your real motivations are in your career. It will measure and rank various components of work, to help you understand which jobs or industries fit your style.
This personality assessment test measures people according to their temperament: “artisan, rational, idealist, and guardian.” If you’re ready to go through the 71 questions (yes, it’s pretty long), you’ll get more insight into how you really communicate and what your actions tend to be.
This free personality test is inspired by the Myers-Briggs test. It will help you gain insight into your type of personality as related to your ability to form and maintain relationships. The good part? It should only take about 12 minutes to take.
As its name indicates, this assessment tool divides people into five categories: openness, extraversion, agreeability, neuroticism, and openness. It helps you pinpoint your learning style, work preferences, and includes a few hilarious questions too.
With this tool, you’ll be able to rank school subjects and activities you enjoy, as well as qualities you have. Your interests are then matched to a certain career cluster to reveal what type of work is the best fit for you.
This assessment test is sponsored by the U.S Department of Labor, and will help you pinpoint your work interests. The drawback? It has a total of 60 questions, so get ready!
This career assessment is perfect if you hate your job, or are just out of school or college. While it has a free component, the paid “starter package” costs $90 to get a list of your top 20 career matches. If you want the whole enchilada, you may have to fork over $149.95 for the “executive package”, which includes a full 30-page assessment and over 900 career matches. The free test matches you to five potential careers, which is not a bad start.
This personality assessment pinpoints the area you’re the most interested in career-wise, and translates it into suitable career interests. This is also one of the longer ones, with a total of 87 questions!
This test identifies your most prevalent workplace behaviors, in order to highlight your management style. It’s also based on your primary personality traits.
This unique app’s purpose takes you through a series of quizzes to help you uncover your personality traits and match you to your ideal career. It also helps you learn to work better with others.
This powerful test is meant to help you discover your own Enneagram type to understand your personality and the ways in which you operate. There are nine different Enneagram types, and your test results place you in one definite category.
This personality assessment, based on the Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance factors (DISC), is geared at providing insight into your communication style as well as ways to build stronger relationships with co-workers. It’s relatively quick and is composed of only 12 questions.
The Self-Directed Search categorizes people and jobs into 6 categories: realistic, investigative, social, artistic, conventional, or enterprising. It will help you narrow down the 3 types that best fit you and a list of matching careers. It costs $9.95.
This survey helps you uncover your best qualities in about 15 minutes. It’s based on a scientific assessment of character strengths to help you understand your core traits. Unlike many tests focusing on your shortcomings, the VIA survey focuses on your best qualities.
Based on a series of mind games, this career assessment tool measures your social and cognitive traits. You’ll end up with a list of your strengths and weaknesses, which can guide you towards your ideal careers.
This tool is a series of activities developed by the Johnson O’Connor Foundation for Oprah. It tests different skills and your strengths in it. The result is a list of jobs and careers which might fit you best based on your performance.
If you’re a college student, this personal assessment test is for you. It will give you an idea of what you’re already good at, and will point you to talent themes to achieve your goals. It costs $9.99.
This free Buzzfeed career quiz is not as comprehensive as the other tools in this list. Yet, it’s a quick way to gain some insight into your career match in between tasks during the day.
This personal assessment tool helps you uncover your strengths and weaknesses, how you communicate and how much value you add to any team. It’s based on a fun color game system to highlight your personality and style of interaction with others.
Dubbed as the world’s “leading behavioral style model”, this personality assessment tool’s goal is to help build more effective relationships. It has been used by thousands of organizations to improve leadership performance.
This romantically sounding tool will help you discover your own love language, so you can improve your relationships. 15 million people have already used this tool to connect better with others.
CareerHunter helps you explore your abilities and interests through 6 self-assesment tools. At the end of this very comprehensive process, you get a full career report suggesting your best career matches. It costs $9.99.
The Sokanu Career test is a free platform that takes you through some great career tests to help you discover how compatible you are with over 800 careers. It looks at five dimensions, including your workplace, personality, interests, history and career goals, to compare your test results with certain career paths’ characteristics.
This personal assessment tool highlights your work personality and ideal work environment. It guides you towards your perfect career. It also provides career research tips, as well as advice to get into the fields you’re most compatible with. Note there’s a free version as well as a paid one (the paid version is $11.99).
Renowned Psychology Today has come up with its own career assessment tool. The test contains a total of 240 questions, and matches you with one career field at the end of it. However, you can purchase the full report with more career matches.
You can find your unique career code with this career assessment tool. It’s composed of 180 true or false questions, and promises to provide you with a list of careers compatible with your interests. It’s priced at $49.95.
The Princeton Review came up with a 24-question career quiz, requiring you to pick the best answer to pinpoint your career wants. It’s relatively easy yet very revealing.
This career assessment tool takes a look at your skills and interests to help you narrow down your ideal career. It uses seven measures of ability including science, mechanical, mathematics, managerial, communication, interpersonal and artistic.
This personality assessment calculates your personal DISC profile, based on the Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance factors (DISC). It helps you build your own personality profile quickly, while analyzing your typical behavior.
What other career assessment tools would you recommend?
Welcome to our weekly career, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and fashion news roundup! Think of it as your online watercooler/work gossip station/coffee break spot for now…Want to add anything to our list? Email us at corporate@thecorporatesister.com!
Weekly News Roundup:
Black Enterprise lists 7 leading companies fighting racism post-Charlottesville;
Wear to Work: Leah Cap Toe Pumps – Photo credit: shopbop.com
Our Wear to Work feature presents various pieces of workwear at different price ranges and sizes.
These soft leather Sam Edelman cap toe pumps from Shopbop are perfect to transition from Summer to Fall. The slingback straps with insert elastic and buckle closure are flattering and practical. The covered block heel is as comfortable as it’s practical. They’re $120 at Shopbop.
You may have been thinking about transitioning to the career you want to work in. You may even have started taking a few steps to look into it. However, transitioning to a dream career is an important, and critical process.
I recently made the leap to the career I really want, from corporate life to being a full-time writer and entrepreneur. For the conservative accountant by trade that I am, it’s a BIG career transition. Yet it’s one that I’ve been anticipating for many years now. I’ve read so much about career transitions, and asked so many questions about it from others who went through it before I did, that when it was time to undergo my own, I had way too much information and not enough structure.
Here’s the thing about career transitions. They’re very personal, and quite complex. You have to make them your own, which means you also have to sift through all the available information out there, and turn it into simple steps you can follow. You know what they say about how to eat an elephant, piece by piece. Well, this is one BIG elephant, and you may want to tackle it piece by piece.
From my own experience and sifting through the gazillion types of advice available, here’s what I learnt about simplifying the career transition process down to seven manageable steps:
Get clear about your “Why”
This is a step that so many of us miss, because we’re too busy worrying about the logistics, finances, or other technical factors of career transitions. However, having awareness about where you stand at work and in life can mean a world of difference between a successful career transition and one that leaves you wanting for more.
Before starting anything new, especially something as new as a career transition, you want to identify your “why”. The last thing you want is to end up somewhere you hate more than where you initially were.
What to do: Ask yourself why you really want to do what you want to do? How will this make your life and career better? What are the risks and/or rewards involved?
Know what to expect
One of the biggest mistakes we make when doing a career transition is not being clear on what to expect. What does your new career consist in? Will you be using your skills and network to successfully transition from one career, or one job to the other?
It’s not just about following your bliss, and seeing where it will take you. Actually, according to scientific researcher and computer scientist Cal Newport, there’s a lower probability of being fulfilled in the long-term when you follow your passions then when using your existing career skills.
What to do: Research your prospective career and gather as much information as possible. Make an inventory of skills and connections in your prospective career and seek ways to connect with them.
Take your emotions into account
Very little is being said about the emotional toll it takes to undergo a career transition. It’s important to make space and room for your emotions during your transition There will be a certain amount of nostalgia as you leave one career, or job to another. There will also be a certain learning curve needed to adapt to your new career and environment.
One mistake I made when transitioning careers was to discount the role of my emotions. Instead, I tried to repress them, or blamed myself for them. I later learnt they’re a normal part of the process, and should be acknowledged for a better transition.
What to do:Acknowledge your feelings and use them as GPS to guide you through the process. Your emotions will serve you as a guide while you transition, pointing you to what fulfills you and what frustrates you. Being kind to yourself through the process will also help you ease into the challenges at hand.
Figure out the “How”
Once you’ve figured out your ‘Why”, and know what to expect, start working on your action plan. What are your goals when transitioning careers? How much time do you expect to need to meet your goals?
What to do: Write down each goal, focusing on the primary ones. Detail the steps necessary to accomplish these goals, such as trainings you’ll need to attend, events you’ll need to attend, people you’ll need to connect, etc. For each step, devise tasks to accomplish daily or weekly. This will help you get started, stay productive, while giving you the motivation you need to accomplish more.
Mind your brand
Your personal and professional brand shifts with each career transition. It’s not that you need to change who you are when transitioning to the career you want. As you progress and evolve, so does your personal and professional brand. Don’t hide all this progress, instead be willing to show and leverage it as you step on new grounds.
What to do: Adjust your resume, social media profiles (especially your Linked In profile), to reflect your evolving professional brand. Do not be afraid to show up as you are!
Track your progress!
Transitioning to the career you want is a process. It involves some ups and downs, as well as times when you may be accomplishing more than at other times. Track your progress, and learn from the process.
What to do: Keep a running list of tasks and deliverables associated with your transition. Assign yourself some deadlines and milestones to meet, and track your progress against these.
Get the support you need!
Last but not least, any type of career change or transition requires you to have the support you need to help you through it. Mobilize your posse, and share your journey’s ups and downs with your close family and friends. Take a break every now and then, and grab a drink with your favorite girlfriends.
In the same way, expand your professional network to include potential mentors and colleagues who can help you through your transition.
What to do: Get out of your shell, and let others help and support you! Ask your close circle of family and friends to take some things off your plate, like child support or administrative tasks, for instance. Reach out to and connect with potential mentors and colleagues who can help you through the process.
Here’s my YouTube video on the topic:
In Conclusion:
Get clear about your “Why”
Know what to expect
Take your emotions into account
Figure out the “How”
Mind your brand
Track your progress!
Get the support you need!
How did you prepare to transition to the career you wanted? What would you add to this list?
Our Coffee Break features answers to everyday work-related questions (otherwise known as watercooler/coffee break talk)! Send us your questions at corporate@thecorporatesister.com!
Q:My friend and I work in the same department, and are really close. An opening just became available in our team, and we’re both vying for the same position. However, I’m afraid this will ruin our friendships. What should I do? I really want (and need) the job, but I don’t want to lose my friend!
A: Dear “Friend at Work“,
I agree, this is quite the sticky situation. I remember being in a similar situation, and literally feeling stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, these situations are more common than we may think…After all, we do make friends at work, and more often than not, we can end up being in competition for the same positions and jobs.
First, don’t feel bad about the whole situation. You don’t have to feel guilty for being ambitious and wanting the best for your career and life. If your friend cannot understand this, then maybe you should re-evaluate your friendship.
Have an honest conversation with your friend about what’s happening at work. There’s no point avoiding the elephant in the room. It will only make things worse, and draw an an awkard divide between you two.
If possible, agree to keep the professional professional, and the personal, well…personal. If you can, commit to being your best at work without feeling threatened by your friend, and to respect whatever outcome ends up happening.
If the situation gets worse or ends up affecting your friendship, then you may want to reconsider whether you’re really friends. A solid friendship can, and should, survive work competition.
Welcome to our weekly career, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and fashion news roundup! Think of it as your online watercooler/work gossip station/coffee break spot for now…Want to add anything to our list? Email us at corporate@thecorporatesister.com!
