Career Assessment Tools

Career Assessment Tools

Reach Your Career Goals

Career assessment tests and tools are an integral part of defining one’s ideal career and the key ingredients needed to reach one’s career goals. A good assessment test, in addition to providing you with “3rd person analysis”, also provides a written synopsis detailing your career-related strengths, key skills, and personality attributes. It helps one to know thyself which is the first step in deciding on any type of career path, career change, or work setting.

An assessment test will also help you clarify such areas as what type of working environment you are best suited for, motivational factors, coachability and collaboration, what size company, the percentage of group work vs. solo work, and how much freedom you need. It will provide another perspective in addition to your own and scientifically quantify your strengths, attributes and interests. The key to using an assessment test is to look for the similarities regarding your test results as they relate to your key skills, traits and interests in comparison to other career-related exercises and discussions.

Ascend Career and Life Strategies recommends the following career assessment tools:

CenterMark

Evaluation and identification of your key work related personality traits that correspond to ideal career choices, performance improvement, and opportunities for growth.

MatchPoint

Determination of vocational interests across multiple sectors and business units (Example: Sales, Operations, Marketing, R&D, Human Resources, etc.) resulting in the recommendation of specific career choices.

ValueBase

Values clarification and determination of your key career ingredients. Criteria that must be present in your next position in order for you to feel fulfilled, energized, and engaged.

CenterMark (Myers-Briggs)

Understanding ourselves and others better is one of the keys to successful career development. The more you understand about yourself, the better your decisions will be and the more effectively you will be able to implement those decisions. Your personality preferences can help you define your ideal career and then how to improve your chances for success when making a career transition or change.

CenterMark is an assessment based on the research of Myers-Briggs. It has a comprehensive database for each of the 16 types and emphasizes twelve areas of success in one’s worklife, including:

  • Unique Characteristics
  • Contributions to the Organization
  • Successful Careers
  • Management Style
  • Communication Style
  • Learning Style
  • Approaches to Problem Solving and Decision Making
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Motivators
  • On a Team
  • Change Management
  • Opportunities for Growth
Taking the CenterMark inventory and receiving professional feedback will help you identify your unique gifts. The information enhances your understanding of yourself, your motivations, your natural strengths (when your preferences are developed) and your potential areas for growth. It will also help you appreciate people different from you. Understanding your MBTI is self-affirming and encourages cooperation with others.

CenterMark can be used for a wide variety of purposes:

  • Self understanding and development
  • Career development and exploration
  • Identifying potential career fits
  • Team building
  • Management and leadership training
  • Organizational development
  • Problem solving
  • Academic counseling

MatchPoint

One of the most important challenges facing individuals today is finding the type of work that will maximize their career satisfaction and productivity. Career satisfaction has been related to satisfaction with life in general, the turnover rate within the organization, and productivity. Individuals who are well matched to their jobs are more likely to be effective in what they do and more likely to enjoy their association with the organization.

Based on the work of John Holland, MatchPoint is a career development tool that:

  • Supports individuals in their career planning and increases their potential for job satisfaction
  • Helps individuals better understand their values and goals, world view, professional contributions, developmental needs, and potential pitfalls
  • Assists individuals in identifying where within the organization their interests, values and skills best fit
  • Better understand how they like to be managed, how they like to manage and delegate to others, and how they prefer to interact with their peers
  • Serves as a catalyst in job/career discussions between individuals and their career coach, interviewer, or manager
  • Reduces work-related stress by assisting in a better job/person fit

Click here for sample MatchPoint screen shots

ValueBase

The assessment is designed to help you identify your values and establish the important priorities at this time in your career/life. Understanding your values and priorities give you a foundation for evaluating your career options. This knowledge will help you decide whether the next phase of your career will be an all-out push for income and professional growth, for example, or time for more family and personal satisfiers.

Click here for sample ValueBase screen shots