Career Assessment Tests
What are they and why do they matter?
Career Assessment Tests are tests which use tools and techniques to measure an individuals personal attributes - thus contributing in helping a person know themself more objectively. These attributes may be preferences, motivational factors, values, skills, emotional quotient and/or facets of one's personality.
Prior to understanding how Career Assessments work - we need to throw light on the general trends in career exploration and career selection methods adopted by today's students. If we examine the process microscopically we can be reasonably assured that most students and career aspirants are blinded by the availability bias and are often attracted by icons of success which they witness in their daily lives, influenced by peers, neighbors, parental whims, digital/print media.
A child in a village with a scarcity of medical professionals witnesses a doctor being accorded the status of a deity and decides that he/she would become a doctor when he/she grows up without giving much thought to the fact that he/she may not have the inherent emotional construct to deal with a situation which doctors and physicians face on a daily basis.
A senior in college has achieved a Top 100 rank in the JEE (Advanced) Exam and is going to IIT Bombay and eventually a plush job in Google - WoW! There's no way I am doing anything else with my life - I am going straight into Engineering and then Google!
Sharma uncle's son - who lives next door - is living a dream. Gets up late in the afternoon, picks up his laptop and hammers the keys till late into the night and rides a fancy sports car. Wonder what he does - should ask him and start in his footsteps.
How do you think such situations pan out? If they are lucky then any of them will find a decent job - otherwise its a recipe for disaster. The success which they witnessed may have a compelling story behind them and could also be that they just happend to be in the right place at the right time. To make a career decision by aping others is a sureshot recipe for reaching a dead-end.
The most logical approach of choosing one's calling in life begins with knowing oneself. What we like, how are we motivated, where does our locus of control lie, how we behave under duress, how good/bad we are in certain skill areas, how we manage our emotions? These are some of the questions which we have to answer before we explore and make our career choices.
Career Assessment tools help us figure out answers to these very questions and when who you are matches the choices that you make - you are likely to become successful in life.
After you take the test, a career assessment is generated and emailed to you. It contains findings and comprehensive information about various parameters from the many dimensions of your personality. Further on, in order to make the right career choices and interpret the report it is suggested that you should contact a Certified Career Coach to help guide you in the right direction.
