Tools for Career Counseling – Tests, Forms and Questionnaires

If career counseling sparks your interest & you want to help your students or clients with tests and questions, this article is for you.

There are many career counseling tests and questionnaires you can use with your students and clients. They comprise both personality and aptitude tests. Let’s look at some of them now.

The Clifton StrengthsFinder

The Clifton StrengthsFinder (CSF) was produced after 40 years of ongoing research (Gallup, 1999). The CSF is able to successfully identify individuals more engaged at work, productive in their roles, healthier, and happier (Gallup, 1999).

Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator

The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI) is a popular forced-choice personality test used within career assessments (Hudson & Riso, 2000).

It is based upon nine basic personality types/roles:

• Investigator
• Loyalist
• Individualist
• Enthusiast
• Challenger
• Peacemaker
• Reformer
• Helper
• Achiever

Holland Code Career Test

The Holland Code Career Test, also known as the RAISEC test, is based on the work of John Holland (Nauta, 2010). This free test highlights which jobs suit the interests, aptitude, and talents of individuals.

In the test, there are six work themes based on six personality types that can be expressed within the workplace:

• Investigative
• Realistic
• Artistic
• Enterprising
• Social
• Conventional

The Big Five personality trait model

The Big Five personality trait model, also referred to as the Five-Factor model, (Loehlin, McCrae, Costa, & John, 1998) was developed by personality theorists. It is based on the theory that there are five main determinants of personality:

• Emotional stability (previously known as neuroticism)
• Extroversion
• Openness
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness

Values assessment

Values tests help individuals get to know more about their work needs and motivations.

This is done by ranking different aspects of work, representing six underlying work values (Leuty & Hansen, 2011). This ranking of values helps the individual decide what is crucial for them in a job.

The MAPP career assessment

The Motivational, Appraisal, Personal, Potential (MAPP) career assessment is a reliable and validated career assessment test available in six languages. It is suitable for students looking for a career and others looking for a career change.

The Keirsey Assessment

This assessment aims to help individuals better understand their temperament in the workplace. This is important, as temperament (as measured by this assessment) is thought to influence communication patterns and workplace contributions.

The test identifies four characters:

• Artisan
• Guardian
• Rational
• Idealist

The Career Resources Questionnaire

The Career Resources Questionnaire is a free questionnaire that assesses the resources of an individual critical to their employability.

It is also used to promote personal success in careers by discovering weaknesses, barriers, and strengths.

Career Assessment Questionnaire

This is not a validated tool of career aptitude or personality. Instead, it is designed to generate thought-provoking ideas concerning career selection and satisfaction in work.

The questionnaire examines factors, such as attitudes and motivation to work, and family considerations, which may also affect a person’s career choices.

Entrepreneurial Potential Self-Assessment

This questionnaire assesses an individual’s potential for setting up self-employment and going it alone. However attractive it seems, not everyone can work for themselves. The designers of this questionnaire assert that there are specific characteristics of entrepreneurs that are essential to be successful.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @  14 Career Counseling Tests, Forms, & Questionnaires for Your Sessions