Today we finished up are series on personality assessments
Gallup’s CliftonStrengths Assessment (formerly Clifton Strengths Finder)
Research conducted by Gallup, Inc. revealed that people are more productive, perform better, and are more engaged when they identify their natural talents and develop them into strengths.
The assessment measures your “talent DNA” based on the order of 34 themes of talent, which are sorted into four domains:
- Strategic Thinking: How you absorb, think about, and analyze information and situations.
- Executing: How you make things happen.
- Influencing: How you influence others.
- Relationship Building: How you build and nurture strong relationships.
Your distinct combination of the 34 CliftonStrengths themes is your personal code — the pattern of talents that make you unique. In fact, Gallup’s research has proven that the odds are 1 in 33 million that someone shares the same “top five” combination of themes as you!
This online assessment, which takes about an hour to complete, asks you to choose from 177 paired statements the one that best describes you. When you complete the CliftonStrengths, you will receive a personalized report, resources, and tools.
You can access the assessment here:
https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/home/en-US/Index
There are three options to choose from, with prices ranging from $19.99 to $89.99.
Interest Assessments
An interest assessment can help you identify careers that meet your interests. Interest assessments usually ask you a series of questions about what you like and don’t like to do. The premise is that when you choose a career that matches your overall interests, you’re more likely to enjoy your job.
Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential Assessment (MAPP)
The MAPP career assessment is perhaps one of the most widely used tools for finding a career that fits with your interests. It consists of 71 questions regarding your “likes” and “dislikes” and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. The results are correlated with the Strong Interest Inventory and linked to an O*Net database of over 1,000 jobs/career options. You can see what jobs are the best fit, along with the education needed and career outlook.
You can access the assessment online at http://www.assessment.com. There is a free option, which will provide you with some “teaser” results. Fees to receive a full report vary from $89.95 to $119.95.
The O*NET Interest Profiler is a free 60-question assessment that measures your interests and shows how they relate to different careers. At the end of the Interest Profiler, you are presented with a list of careers that match your interests and preparation level.
Try it here:
https://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip
CareerOneStop’s Interest Assessment is a quick 30-question assessment that identifies your interests and matches them to careers. Your profile considers the activities you like as well as those you dislike. Your profile is then compared to the profiles of a variety of careers, and the most similar matches are listed in your results. Access it here:
https://www.careeronestop.org/getmyfuture/toolkit/interest-assessment.aspx
The Skills Profiler identifies your skills and matches them to careers that use those skills. Plan to spend about 20 minutes completing your skills profile.
There is no charge to use the profiler. It is part of CareerOneStop’s free online services for jobseekers.
Take the Skills Profiler here:
https://www.careerinfonet.org/skills/default.aspx
Comprehensive Assessments
The COPSystem consists of three assessments:
- Career Occupational Preference System (COPS), which assesses your occupational interests.
- Career Ability Placement Survey (CAPS), which measures your vocationally relevant abilities.
- Career Orientation Placement and Evaluation Survey (COPES), which assesses your work values.
The CAPS measures your vocationally relevant abilities in eight areas:
- Mechanical reasoning
- Spatial relations
- Verbal reasoning
- Numerical ability
- Language usage
- Word knowledge
- Perceptual speed and accuracy
- Manual speed and dexterity
A defining feature of this system is the unique way in which your occupational interests, abilities, and work values are measured and displayed in a single, comprehensive report. Your responses to each assessment will generate a personalized career profile that is organized around groups of jobs categorized into occupational clusters.
The web-based COPSystem assessment takes a little more than an hour and a half to complete (20 minutes for the COPS, 60 minutes for the CAPS, and 20 minutes for the COPES). The cost is $19.50.
For more information:
https://www.edits.net/products/career-guidance/copsystem-3c-web-based.html
Self-discovery is almost always an enlightening and often entertaining process.
Consider taking one or more of the career assessments described in this report — and have fun!
