Your Career in Focus

Career Choice Tests

What are they and how can they help?

You have probably come across a range of career choice tests, both online and in books and magazines.

They can be great fun to do, but how do they work and are they of any use to you in exploring your career change options?

Read on to find out more about the kinds of tests that are available and how they may (or may not) help you with your career change, or click here to try some out for yourself!.

What kind of tests are there?

There are many different career choice tests out there, but they can be broadly divided into two categories – formally designed psychometric tests and informal questionnaires and quizzes.

Formal tests

These are usually long and detailed. They are often only available through qualified career consultants though you can buy access to some formal career tests online. They take time to complete and cost money - often quite a lot of money! You generally get a detailed report that summarises what the tests mean for you. Read more...

Informal tests

On the other had, magazine readers will come across many variations on the career choice quiz. These free career planning tests are simple, tick box exercises which give you answers to questions about career interests, personality, work motivation and much more. And all in 10 minutes over a cup of coffee! Read more...

Which is best?

Well, it is like the old computer saying - GIGO – garbage in, garbage out! Tests are only as good as the effort that goes into creating them, so if you take a quick quiz in a magazine, the results will not be as useful as the information you will get form a properly designed assessment.

The other important factor is your approach to the test. If you treat it lightly and put little thought into your responses, then the results are less likely to be meaningful.

What do career choice tests measure?

The subject matter of career choice tests, whether they are formal ones or informal, can be divided into four main areas.

Aptitude Tests

Aptitude tests are designed to measure a particular aspect of your ability eg verbal or numerical, so may be relevant if you want to check if you have relevant skills for a certain area of work. Read more...

Personality Tests

Personality tests attempt to measure patterns of behaviour that you habitually adopt. These can be very important when exploring careers as a bad match between your personal style and you career can lead to a lot of unhappiness or frustration. Read more...

There is a free career personality test on this site for you to try.

Interest Tests

Interests
tests do what they say – measure your interests!

They can be a helpful
way of confirming and categorising what you probably have some idea of
already.

So are these tests worth doing?

First and foremost, it is important to realise that no career test will not provide you with a quick answer to your career change problems. No tests, however well researched and designed, can capture the full complexity of what makes you unique.

Nevertheless, if you take them seriously and respond honestly and thoughtfully to the questions, career tests can offer you some very useful insights.

So use the tests as guides, but then apply your own unique awareness and understanding of yourself and your own personal circumstances to the answers you get from them.

At the end of the day career choice tests can point the way, but it is down to you to make the final choice and commit to action.