CareerExplorer is a comprehensive career test that can be completed in 10-20 minutes. While testing, it may ask you to rate careers, interests, or aptitudes on a scale of 1-5. When you hover over that career while taking the assessment, a small box with a succinct description of that particular job or profession pops up. These short descriptions are very helpful if someone isn’t completely clear about the differences between say a mechanical engineer and a civil engineer, and this probably contributes to an overall more accurate result.
After completing the CareerExplorer test, you can click on the Careers tab and find incredibly detailed profiles of all the suggested careers (including the reasons for your compatibility with that specific career, followed by an overview of the career, salary, job market prospects, what sort of education and training is needed, work environment and so forth). In addition, you can access these detailed profiles for over 800 careers either before or after you test – the only difference being that your specific compatibility won’t be part of the narrative.
You can access the free version (and explore over 800 careers with incredibly detailed profiles) here. Pathway Admissions offers a license code to the more expansive paid version for $30 as an add-on service.
YouScience is another career assessment that we offer as an add-on paid assessment (license fee is $10). YouScience is a longer investment of time, as it includes 11 blocks of 8 minutes each (total of 90 minutes) and is designed to be taken over the course of several sessions rather than all at once. You can read about what YouScience measures (and doesn't measure) here. YouScience generates a very detailed and lengthy report, and it may be helpful to discuss your results with us in a session.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MTBI)® is a personality test based on Jungian psychological functions. It is one of many tools that may prove useful in assessing the best college majors and career paths to suit your strengths and interests.
MTBI® consists of 4-letter types as follows:
Where you focus attention:
E – Extraversion types direct energy outward to people and objects
I – Introversion types direct energy inward to ideas and concepts
Information:
S – Sensing types perceive through the 5 senses and deal with the “here and now”
N – Intuition types perceive through observation and intuition, make connections
Decisions:
T – Thinking types make decisions based on facts, logic, and rationality
F – Feeling types make decisions based on emotions and personal/social values
Structure
J – Judging types make decisions based on order, rules, plans, and organization
P – Perceiving types rely on spontaneity, flexibility and improvisation.
Your assessment will assign you one of the 16 possible 4 letter combinations, one from each of the 4 above categories. I vacillate between INFJ and ISFJ for example.
Free Online "Knock-Off" Tests
While you can locate a certified MTBI® administrator and pay to take an official assessment, there are also numerous websites that host a free "knock-off" test. These online assessments typically take under ten minutes to complete. While the results are free, many of these sites will ask you for payment to “unlock the full results.” You can ignore that and simply focus on the basic results – that’s really all you need at this stage.
Below are sites that I used in taking my own assessment. Note: you shouldn't need to use more than one or two of these, but I've listed more than that so that if you, like me, struggle with one or more of the two-letter categories, you will have other testing options to take.
16 Personalities Test
Truity Test
PsychCentral Test
Personality Hacker Test
Personality Perfect Test
Career Planner Test
Careers by MBTI®
Once you have your MBTI® type, you can visit the links below to learn more about how your type may be well-suited to particular career paths or college majors. Keep in mind that these are merely suggestions. You may not love the sound of any of the suggested majors or career paths -- don't worry, it's just one of many tools we can use to find out more about your strengths and interests. We can also consult with you in a session through a book called "Do What You Are," which correlates MBTI® types with career suggestions and provides detailed career trajectory profiles for people in various stages of life.
Ball State University Career Center -- MTBI®
Personality Junkie Careers and Majors by MTBI®
Illinois Community College Board Careers by MTBI®
Career Assessments
The Holland Codes/Inventory (RIASEC) is another career interest tool. Developed by American psychologist John Holland, this tool surveys your interest in a variety of occupation-related tasks, grouped into six broad categories. These categories correspond with the RIASEC acronym: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Your top three preferred interest domains can then be combined into a three-letter Holland Code.
Free Tests
Again, you can take one or more of the following tests (or pay to have a professional certification rather than these online tests).
Open Psychometrics RIASEC Test
Truity Holland Code Career Test
PsychoTests Holland Career Test
Majors and Careers by Holland Code Types:
These compilations of suggested majors and/or career paths, organized by Holland RIASEC codes, may prove useful as you explore your career options.
Purdue Holland Hexagon
Career LifeSkills Occupations Assessment
California State University Stanilaus Majors by Holland Code
Western Illinois University Holland Code
Ohio State University Majors by Holland Code
Rivier University Career Planning by Holland Code
After completing the CareerExplorer test, you can click on the Careers tab and find incredibly detailed profiles of all the suggested careers (including the reasons for your compatibility with that specific career, followed by an overview of the career, salary, job market prospects, what sort of education and training is needed, work environment and so forth). In addition, you can access these detailed profiles for over 800 careers either before or after you test – the only difference being that your specific compatibility won’t be part of the narrative.
You can access the free version (and explore over 800 careers with incredibly detailed profiles) here. Pathway Admissions offers a license code to the more expansive paid version for $30 as an add-on service.
YouScience is another career assessment that we offer as an add-on paid assessment (license fee is $10). YouScience is a longer investment of time, as it includes 11 blocks of 8 minutes each (total of 90 minutes) and is designed to be taken over the course of several sessions rather than all at once. You can read about what YouScience measures (and doesn't measure) here. YouScience generates a very detailed and lengthy report, and it may be helpful to discuss your results with us in a session.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MTBI)® is a personality test based on Jungian psychological functions. It is one of many tools that may prove useful in assessing the best college majors and career paths to suit your strengths and interests.
MTBI® consists of 4-letter types as follows:
Where you focus attention:
E – Extraversion types direct energy outward to people and objects
I – Introversion types direct energy inward to ideas and concepts
Information:
S – Sensing types perceive through the 5 senses and deal with the “here and now”
N – Intuition types perceive through observation and intuition, make connections
Decisions:
T – Thinking types make decisions based on facts, logic, and rationality
F – Feeling types make decisions based on emotions and personal/social values
Structure
J – Judging types make decisions based on order, rules, plans, and organization
P – Perceiving types rely on spontaneity, flexibility and improvisation.
Your assessment will assign you one of the 16 possible 4 letter combinations, one from each of the 4 above categories. I vacillate between INFJ and ISFJ for example.
Free Online "Knock-Off" Tests
While you can locate a certified MTBI® administrator and pay to take an official assessment, there are also numerous websites that host a free "knock-off" test. These online assessments typically take under ten minutes to complete. While the results are free, many of these sites will ask you for payment to “unlock the full results.” You can ignore that and simply focus on the basic results – that’s really all you need at this stage.
Below are sites that I used in taking my own assessment. Note: you shouldn't need to use more than one or two of these, but I've listed more than that so that if you, like me, struggle with one or more of the two-letter categories, you will have other testing options to take.
16 Personalities Test
Truity Test
PsychCentral Test
Personality Hacker Test
Personality Perfect Test
Career Planner Test
Careers by MBTI®
Once you have your MBTI® type, you can visit the links below to learn more about how your type may be well-suited to particular career paths or college majors. Keep in mind that these are merely suggestions. You may not love the sound of any of the suggested majors or career paths -- don't worry, it's just one of many tools we can use to find out more about your strengths and interests. We can also consult with you in a session through a book called "Do What You Are," which correlates MBTI® types with career suggestions and provides detailed career trajectory profiles for people in various stages of life.
Ball State University Career Center -- MTBI®
Personality Junkie Careers and Majors by MTBI®
Illinois Community College Board Careers by MTBI®
Career Assessments
The Holland Codes/Inventory (RIASEC) is another career interest tool. Developed by American psychologist John Holland, this tool surveys your interest in a variety of occupation-related tasks, grouped into six broad categories. These categories correspond with the RIASEC acronym: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Your top three preferred interest domains can then be combined into a three-letter Holland Code.
Free Tests
Again, you can take one or more of the following tests (or pay to have a professional certification rather than these online tests).
Open Psychometrics RIASEC Test
Truity Holland Code Career Test
PsychoTests Holland Career Test
Majors and Careers by Holland Code Types:
These compilations of suggested majors and/or career paths, organized by Holland RIASEC codes, may prove useful as you explore your career options.
Purdue Holland Hexagon
Career LifeSkills Occupations Assessment
California State University Stanilaus Majors by Holland Code
Western Illinois University Holland Code
Ohio State University Majors by Holland Code
Rivier University Career Planning by Holland Code
