What Are Online Career Assessments And How Can They Help You Choose The Right Career Or Business?

​When you are not sure what type of job you want or what you want to do next with your career post-baby, online career assessments can help you to...

1. Identify your strengths, skills, personality, interests, motivations for working and preferred working style, allowing you to make better, more informed career choices that are in line with your unique self

2. Discover careers that you didn’t know existed

3. Narrow down your choices from the variety of jobs, careers and business options that are available to you
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4. Choose the ‘best fit’ job, career or business for you

Career assessments are also useful further down the line: when completing job applications and applying for jobs. With employers looking for a close match between the job specification and the candidate, it is essential to tailor your application to the job at hand. Knowing your strengths, personality and interests will help you to explicitly match them to the job specification, greatly increasingly your chances of getting hired for your ideal role.

What career assessments are available? 

A variety of different career tests are available online. Some are complicated, others are quick and easy. There are fees for some assessments, others are free.

Start with the free tests to see how they work for you. Then consider the more in-depth analysis provided by the top rated assessment instruments like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator or the Strong Interest Inventory. They charge a fee for products and services but may be well worth the investment because they are known to be reliable and effective tools for career assessment.

Remember that the test results provide you with relevant information to assist you in your career exploration and decision making process, they should not be relied on as an absolute assessment of which job or career is best for you.

What career assessment should I choose?

There are lots of good career assessments to choose from, many of which give you a list of occupations to think about based on your personality and preferences.  Here is our recommended selection of both free and paid-for assessments.  

Free Career Assessments

Work values
MyPlan Values Assessment
This assessment will help you decide what is important to you in a job or business by giving you a ranked list of your most and least important career values. It also provides an extensive list of occupations that are rank-ordered according to how well they match to your values.

Personality type
Jung Typology Test
Based on Carl Jung's and Isabel Briggs Myers' typological approach to personality, this test will help you discover your personality type. You will also discover careers and occupations most suitable for your personality type, and be given examples of educational institutions where you can get a relevant degree or training. 

Interests
The O*NET Interest Profiler
The O*NET Interest Profiler provides you with a score in six different interest areas. You can then explore a list of occupations which relate best to your scores. The tool also shows you what specific tasks and skills are required for all types of careers. 

Key strengths
University of Kent Strengths Test
Developed by The University of Kent, this 52 question test will help you to identify and understand your key strengths.

Entrepreneurial type
Rachel Elnaugh Entrepreneurial Profiler
The Entrepreneurial Profiling Test comprises 12 questions and takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete. At the end of the test, you will receive an immediate result telling you which of the 9 unique entrepreneurial types you profile as.

Paid-For Career Assessments

Personality type
The Myers Briggs Type Inventory
Developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs, the Myers Briggs Type Inventory is the most widely used personality test around the world.  The MBTI helps making career decisions by identifying occupations and working environments that may fit your personality. The MBTI identifies individual preferences and relates these preferences to those of others in various career fields. The instrument is also useful in identifying possible strengths and areas of needed improvement, which can be very helpful in the interview process. The instrument takes about thirty minutes to complete, and is priced at 49.95 USD (plus tax). 

Interests
Strong Interest Inventory
Priced at 9.95 USD, the Strong Interest Inventory assesses your interests and how they line up against a broad range of occupations, work and leisure activities. The Strong also includes scales that measure leadership style, risk taking, team orientation, learning environment, and work style.

Key strengths
Clifton StrengthsFinder Assessment
The Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment tool from Gallup allows you to identify your strongest talents, and how you can best utilise and maximise those strengths in your career.  The 15.00 USD version of the tool results in a report detailing your top five strengths, each broken down into explanations of how you can apply them in your life and career. 



If you decide to take one or more online career assessments and would like to talk through your results and what they could mean for your future career, please do get in touch.