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Career Assessment
Assessment Battery
If you are not
sure what kind of job or career you want, a career assessment battery could
help. Find out what do you do well, what do you enjoy doing, how
do you prefer to interact in the workplace, and what motivates/ de-motivates
you. A personal inventory could assist in defining your strengths
and your weaknesses. The first step in the career life planning process
is self assessment, getting to know your interests, preferred and transferable
skills, personality, and values. As the needs in the workplace are
transitioning from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, it can
be difficult to understand which new opportunities would be a match for
your unique talents. Looking for a match between your strengths and
the work you are considering is the most important step before you write
a resume or search for a job. In fact, it is easier to write a resume
and prepare for a job interview when you know yourself well. You
will be seriously considered for a position only by showing the employer
that you know who you are, what you can offer, and where you are going.
Assessments
for an increasingly complicated and diverse society need to:
(a) measure a wide range of knowledge and skills; (b) measure more complex
learning behavior; (c) are demonstrably fair, based on just and understandable
standards; (d) are embedded in the whole learning process, giving feedback
for instruction; (e) reflect a global economy and society; and (f) responds
to students' and educators' technological needs by offering services such
as automatic scoring, online registration, and widely available testing
times (Educational Testing Service 1999 annual report).
Assessment Battery
Integration
The analysis
of the results from an assessment battery can confirm your choices or pose
counseling issues. If you discover the results of your assessment
battery match occupational choices you have thought about, you have confirmation
that could give you the confidence you need to move ahead with occupational
exploration to further refine your occupational direction and on to your
action plan. If you discover your interests do not match some
of the other measures, you may have uncovered counseling issues you and
your career counselor could address and resolve. For obvious reasons,
it is important to look at multiple measures, not just one test, when making
a decision about your future. Testing is only one of the measures
to consider when choosing a career, past successes, and other experiences
are important too.
Sometimes it
is difficult to examine what may be a weakness. Everyone is not equally
good at everything. Appropriate assessment could be used to identify
areas of weakness and provide clear focus for training requirements.
But, keep in mind, what might be perceived as a weakness in one occupation
may be considered a strength in another.
You will need
to commit some time to prepare your personal inventory. For the best
results, it is important to be honest with yourself. The process
will be time consuming but the data collected then becomes an important
resource as you continue in your career planning and job search activities.
Links for More Information
Assessment
Battery Results Integration |
