Career Assessments

   Career Assessments are designed to examine your interest, work values, and work skills. It is usually designed by psychologists and supplies you with a plethora of  information pertaining to occupations which match your outlook on careers, and their related majors. This assessment is given by asking a series of multiple-choice questions about the individual taking the assessment. There is no pass or fail method. The parameters to which the assessment identifies the persons career path, is associated with the answers given.  It typically outlines what the individual likes, doesn’t like, what’s important to the person, and the individual’s strengths and weaknesses. “Career decision making requires gathering information about one's preferences and abilities and the various occupational alternatives and training tracks, as well as the subsequent processing of this information.”(Gati, I., & Levin, N. (2014).  All of this is a part in identifying the potential assets a person has to offer a field of business, and the identification of the best possible career choices for the individual.

   Based upon the assessment I took on the O* Net sight, there were career choices matched to me by what my interests were. Some of those fields were: Credit Counselor, Human Resource Manager, Probation officer & Correction Treatment Specialist, General Operations Manager, and Social & Community Service Managers, to name a few. I found it interesting as some of the above positions, as well as some I did not mention, have not caught my attention in the past, as an interest. I have been told on so many occasions that due to my stern actions and having a zero tolerance for certain types of behaviors that I would fit best in a Corrections or, as a probation officer. To see it as one of the jobs on the assessment was interesting.

   To get a better understanding of what the assessment entailed I looked into the General Operations Manager, field. On the O*Net site, this assessment detailed the job with a description of what the job was about, a career video explaining the day to day operations of this job, an outlook into the future of this job, projected employment for 10 years, typical wages earned in this field, the education/experience needed to get started into the career, any certificates/licenses needed, the skills, knowledge, activities, and abilities all required for a position as a General Operations Manager. A career assessment is a good way to assess the strengths of the individuals according to the needs of the job. As mentioned in (), Career Needs Assessments are also of assistance in developing the longer-term goals, objectives and theoretical framework for aligning the office with the goals, mission, and vision of the institution. (Haviland and Gohn, 1983).

Reference(s):

Gati, I., & Levin, N. (2014). Counseling for career decision-making difficulties: Measures and methods. The Career Development Quarterly, 62(2), 98-113.  

Haviland, M.G., & Gohn, L.A. (1983). Career Planning Needs of College Students. NASPA Journal, 20(4), 28–33.