Success in a Career is not decided in a day, but it is definitely decided by the first move we make on the path we choose. The education system, especially in India, establishes that children make their first important career decision in secondary school. This decision largely dominates the future career-based endeavors of an individual. There is a master key to open the best-suited doors for career-based success and that master key is expert-led career assessment tools.
Career Assessment Tests give you Knowledge of Self to make Better Decisions for Self.
Career assessment tests are instruments that help you to know about your personal attributes like interests, personality, aptitudes, motivation etc. and depending on the current situation, support network & other life variables- knowledge about these attributes help you to plan ahead.
Benefits of Career Assessment Test
1. It gives you a certain degree of self knowledge and this is perhaps the strongest weapon you should have if you want to make better decisions in life & career.
2. If you are in class 10th, it can better guide & help you in choosing the “right” stream or “right” subjects.
3. If you are in class 12th, then it can help you in choosing the most suitable course/ field of study for your undergrad & future job-related scope based decisions.
4. If you are doing your graduation or have completed graduation and thinking about what next, then these tests can help you choose a higher education option or field of work.
So we can see that career assessment tests are like a master key that helps us to know about ourselves and help us unlock the mystery of the most suited career option. So it becomes imperative that we choose the best career assessment test available. There are various kinds of psychometric tests that are available in the market, online-offline, varied scales of assessment & other metric differences. With ample choice available out there, it becomes all the more important that you choose with more clarity & after thorough research, so you choose only the best!
How to identify a good career assessment test?
To make a relevant choice that works in your interest and helps you find a good career assessment test in that respect- you should keep the following pointers in mind –
1. What are the attributes that the test is assessing?
Is it interest, personality or aptitude, or anything else? Ideally, a good career assessment test for stream selection or courses after 12th should incorporate all three variables, vis-à-vis, Aptitude, Personality, and Interest. If any one of them is missing it translates to an incomplete assessment.
2. What are the reliability and validity tags of the particular career assessment test?
The test should be reliable and valid, there should be certifications & proofs about the research methodology protocols, a test that has been perfected after rounds of surveys on the target population on which it is aspired to be used upon. For example: if you are an Indian then the test should be tested on the Indian population. If you are taking an online assessment you should be able to check the website of the service provider about the expert panel, the test validity achievement process, protocols of prowess, reliability quotient, target population details etc.
3. What is the outcome & how descriptive is the report of the assessment?
Is the report only providing you with the scores for the said attributes or is it also giving the interpretations, a description of sorts? Without interpretations, the scores wouldn’t mean much to you unless you run with a psychologist or a third-party career counsellor. It may be difficult for you to make any sense out of that test & therefore the entire exercise and the investment will prove redundant for you.
4. Who is analysing and personalising the output that is provided?
It is very important that you check as to who is analysing the test results and is personalising the report because the results will eventually bear a heavy impact on your career decision-making. Ideally, your test scores should be analysed by experts and psychologists to give maximum benefits.
5. Ask yourself, is the report format solving my problem?
Think before you choose, is it narrowing down my career path? Well. not all output is relevant output- if the output of a career assessment test gives you 10-15 career choices from different streams and fields then your confusion will remain as it is, it might very well increase as well and that is not helping anybody!
Choose wisely, be smart about what will help you because this is one of the most important decisions of your life!
For maximum benefit choose a reliable, comprehensive career assessment test that helps you know your strengths and shows you the road ahead with confidence.