Teen Career Test
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| Assessment | Format | Measures | Ease of Use | Audience | Rating |
| Career Explorers Guidance System has the following resources - Self-Exploration Assessments Occupational Exploration Resources Career Search Tools Record Keeping Portfolios Access to Database of Career Resources Cost: $20.00 | On-line | Career planning readiness, Interests, Values, Personality, Skills, and Leisure Time Activities | Easy to use with multiple tests Career Database: More than 700 occupations. You will be able to learn about the duties, educational requirements, skills and abilities needed, specific working conditions, training, salaries, typical work activities, and additional information. | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUUU |
| Kuder Career Planning System has a Kuder Test Survey, an on-line Holland Code test, and career portfolio. Kuder Career Planning System has helped youth and adults discover their interests, skills, and work values. Cost: $18.00 | On-line | Interests, Skills, Work Values | Easy to use with multiple tests There are three lists of Career Clusters – Kuder Career Clusters, Federal 16 Career Clusters, or state-specific cluster/pathway system. The report for the work values test displays 12 work-related characteristics in rank order of preference. | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUUU |
| Make a Career Profile Guidance System has the following resources - Self-Exploration Assessments Occupational Exploration Resources Career Search Tools College Search Tools Record Keeping Portfolios Bonus Item: Unlock Your Treasure Chest Guidebook Cost: $40.00 | On-line | Interests, Values, Personality, and Skills, Career Search Tool College Search Tool | Easy to use with multiple tests Career Database: More than 700 occupations. You will be able to learn about the duties, educational requirements, skills and abilities needed, specific working conditions, the training employers look for, the job outlook, the current and expected earnings, the type of activities you would typically encounter, and where to find additional information. | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUUU |
| Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) measures how people think, communicate, and interact. MBTI identifies strengths and weakness that may influence the career exploration process. MBTI identifies job families or potential careers, provides information on colleges or other forms of training, creates strategies to evaluate a possible career transition or job shift, and develops a career plan. Cost: $50 | On-Line Assessment | Interests, Matches Holland Codes to careers | Easy to use, computer generated report | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUUU |
| Self-Directed Search Assessment & Finders Form R Assessment provides students with information on the relationship between job personalities, key characteristics, careers, hobbies, abilities, and related, college majors. Cost: $10 | Printed Assessment and Finder On-Line Assessment | Interests, Personalities, Skills Matches Holland Codes to careers | Easy to use, Self-scoring. | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUUU |
| Self-Directed Search Assessment & Finders Form E Assessment provides students with information on the relationship between job personalities, key characteristics, careers, hobbies, abilities, and related, college majors. Cost: $12 | Printed Assessment and Finder | Interests, Personalities, Skills Matches Holland Codes to careers | Easy to use, Self-scoring. | Adults and High School Students who need “Easier to Read Format” | UUUU |
| Self-Directed Search Assessment & Finders Form Career Explorer (CE) Assessment provides students with information on the relationship between job personalities, key characteristics, careers, hobbies, abilities, and related, college majors. Cost: $15 | Printed Assessment and Finder | Interests, Personalities, Skills Matches Holland Codes to careers | Easy to use, Self-scoring. | Middle School Students | UUUU |
| Assessment provides information on the relationship between interests, work activities, skills, values, work styles, learning environments, leadership styles, and college majors. Scores on the level of interest on each of the six Holland Codes or General Occupational Themes. Holland Code Themes include – Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Scores on 25 Basic Interest Scales (e.g. art, science, and public speaking) Scores on 211 Occupational Scales which indicate the similarity between the respondent's interests and those of people working in each of the 211 occupations. Scores on 4 Personal Style Scales (learning, working, leadership, and risk-taking). Scores on 3 Administrative Scales used to identify test errors or unusual profiles. Strong Interest Inventory Editions – Standard, High School, and College. Cost: $50 | On-Line Assessment | Interests, Matches Holland Codes to careers and college majors | Easy to use, computer generated report | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUUU |
| The Transferable Skills (TS) Scale is a researched and validated assessment. The TS Scale is a short assessment that identifies an individual’s strongest transferable skills. The eight (8) TS Skills are:
Cost: $7 | Printed Assessment | Transferable Skills | Easy to use. The results match Transferable Skills to hundreds of related occupations. Supplemental sheet matches Transferable Skills to | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUUU |
| Career and Life Explorer is a Holland Code assessment that helps students to explore careers. Cost: $7 | Printed Assessment | Interests, Values | Easy to use. Look up related jobs in a chart listing hundreds of job titles from the Occupational Outlook Handbook. | Middle School Students and High School Students | UUU |
| Career Interests Inventory is a version of Dept. of Labor's O*NET Interest Profile. Career Interests Inventory is a 6-panel foldout inventory with 180 statements. The inventory takes about 30 minutes to complete. The responses are added. Cost: $7 | Printed Assessment | Interests | Easy to use. The results are matched to the | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUU |
| The Career Planner Test has 180 true/false - like/dislike questions that will assess your interest and skill levels. The CareerPlanner Test will show you what types of careers are a good match for you and what types you should avoid. Cost: $19.95 | On-line | Interests Skills | Easy to use. Your test report will be approximately 8 to 11 pages long and will includes 30 to 100 careers that match your interests, values, and skill sets | Adults, High School Students, and College Students | UUU |
There are five steps in the career planning process.
Step One: Preliminary Assessment
Teen should access computerized, online, or printed teen career test. From these teen career tests, the teen gains knowledge and understanding of his or her abilities, ambitions, aptitudes, identities, interests, life goals, resources, skills, and values. During this assessment period, the teen will evaluate his or her readiness for career planning.
Gary W. Peterson and others of The Center for the Study of Technology in Counseling and Career Development University Center, discussed the differences in career planning readiness. The categories were -
- Decided
- Decided yet needing a confirmation
- Decided yet not knowing how to implement his or her decisions
- Decided choosing to avoid conflict or stress
- Undecided
- Undecided with a deferred choice
- Undecided yet developmental unable to commit to a decision, and
- Undecided and unable to make a decision because the individual is multi-talented.
The parent, teacher, or counselor will assist the teen in making the transition from indecision to decisiveness.
Step Two: Educational and Occupational Exploration
To explore careers and college majors, teen should gather information about -
- The benefits of educational achievement
- Educational choices
- Training opportunities
- The relationship between work and learning
- Positive attitudes towards work and learning
- The economy or labor market
- A typical working day for a specific occupation
- Occupational choices
- Specific occupations and programs of study
- Personal responsibility and good work habits
Sample activities include -
- Performing career research
- Identifying potential careers
- Narrowing career options
- Identifying career interest
- Identifying the desired salary path
- Identifying the working conditions desired
- Identifying possible educational courses required
- Determining major courses required
- Determining typical type and size of college or university desired
- Determining college or university location
- Determining financial requirements
Step Three: Problem solving
The teen will then solve career problems by -
- Identifying educational and career planning obstacles
- Creating solutions or courses of action
- Setting achievable goals
- Resolving conflict and tension
- Making a commitment to reach your potential
Problem solving should take into consideration personal values, interests, skills, and financial resources. Big problems are broken down into smaller, more manageable steps. Achievable goals result in the production of new competencies, attitudes, solutions, as well as educational and training opportunities.
Step Four: Goal Setting and Decision Making
As individuals, the teen-
- Set, formulate, prioritize, and rank goals
- Clearly state your vocational interests, abilities, and values
- Derive plans or strategies to implement the solutions
- Make a commitment to complete the plans
- Understand decision-making processes
- Evaluate the primary choice
- Consider a secondary occupational choice, if necessary.
Decision-making processes include -
- Developing learning and career plans
- Identifying suitable occupations
- Selecting appropriate educational programs
- Figuring the costs of educational training
- Considering the impact of career decisions.
Step Five: Implementation
While implementing and executing the learning and career plans getting closer to a career, the teen will use teen career assessments to translate vocational interests, abilities, and skills into occupational possibilities. The teen do reality testing through interviewing current workers, job shadowing, part-time employment, full-time employment, and volunteer work. The teen will obtain skill training, for example, social skills, resume writing, networking, and preparations for interviews.
Teens put what they know into action by -
- Performing information interview
- Performing career shadowing
- Performing internship/ apprenticeship
Read about an example of another teen career test.
