Career Exploration Assessments
Career assessments are valuable tools for helping students learn more about themselves and potential jobs that might be a good fit. However, they are just one tool among many you should use to determine a career path (see Career Planning guide). Whereas assessments give you information about your interests or personality type with careers to consider, they do NOT tell you what you should do. Only you can determine what would be the best fit for yourself. You should not necessarily pursue careers listed on your assessments if they do not interest you, nor should you be discouraged if the career you most have in mind is not listed on your assessment(s). Simply use them to see if they can provide any new insight to yourself and possible jobs.
You may have taken a career assessment in the past, but not taken it seriously or things have changed. Three reasons to take one are:
- Understanding your type can help with choosing major and career paths
- Knowing your preference can help you do well academically
- Communicating your strengths is an essential part of the hiring process
The assessments available to you at YVC are CIS (Career Information System) and TypeFocus. CIS and TypeFocus offer various assessments you can take for free and we encourage you to use as many as you would like. However, if you are looking to take just a couple, we most recommend taking the Interest Profiler in WOIS and the Personality Questionnaire in TypeFocus. The Interest Profiler is based on psychologist John Holland’s Occupational Themes while the TypeFocus Personality Questionnaire is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Jungian theory of psychological types.
Below are additional handouts for each assessment and your particular Holland Code or MBTI Type that provide valuable information for learning more about yourself and potential career fits. You must first take the assessments to determine your code or type to select the appropriate handout.