Quo Vadis Opinions: Career Assessments- Do they work?

There’s a multitude of career assessment tests around in various formats.
For a career assessment to be really useful it should look at a number of different aspects as follows:

1. Your interest in a particular area or way of working. Will you actually enjoy working in this area, for example- do you like shift work?
2. Your abilities, for example- verbal ability or numerical ability
3. Your personality,for example-are you more likely to be extrovert or introvert
4. Your values and beliefs- for example, work/life balance, or ethics

A useful idea is to think of the tests as a photograph. If you were trying to describe your appearance to some body online, prior to a first meeting, ideally you would send them a photograph. The photograph allows you to pick out the person at a first meeting in a crowded place. However when you actually meet the person you may obtain a totally different impression of them.
In the same way that a photograph can be taken on a “bad hair” day, you can get a very different result than you’d expect, if you take an assessment when you’re stressed or distracted.
This is one of the reasons why assessments with a professional qualified tester can provide more useful and relevant information than paper based or online assessments.

The information from these tests is designed to guide you in your decision making but don’t allow them to “label” or define you.
My first accountancy employer, insisted I do a psychometric test to assess my ability and interest in accountancy. Unfortunately, it showed I had no interest in accountancy, so I had a hard time convincing my employer not to withdraw the job offer. Some years later, working as a qualified accountant in a high status role, I realised the test was correct. I did not want to work as an accountant!

So was it a mistake not to act on the test results? Absolutely not. I developed a huge amount of analytical and decision making skills and gained some great experience which stands to me today. Additionally, I really wanted a 3rd level qualification and this was my only option as college was out, due to college fees which were charged in those days. As a bonus I also met my husband through accountancy, so have no regrets about the hard work I put in to qualify.

So yes, reputable career interest assessments do provide excellent useful information. We and our clients find them useful for quickly getting valuable insights. Like all information however, it’s how you use it that counts. If you feel the results do not reflect you, don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Note

Click for an introduction to psychometric testing