A recent survey, reveals that 47% of adults aged 33 to 40 express regret over their initial career choices and wish they had pursued a different career path from the one they embarked upon.
Selecting the right career is a decision that deeply influences our lives. Career assessment tests and tools can assist you in making a more informed career choice by aligning your personal skills, interests and values with potential professional paths.
In this article, you will find what career assessment tools are, how to use them, where to find the best ones and more.
What Are Career Assessment Tools?
Career assessment tools help you find out what line of work best suits you by getting insights into your skills, interests, personality traits and more.
These scientifically designed instruments encompass various assessments, including:
- Career aptitude tests: These tests evaluate your inherent abilities and strengths.
- Interest inventories: These assessments look into your personal preferences and passions.
- Personality tests: These types of tests explore the unique traits that shape your work style and interpersonal interactions.
- Values surveys: These surveys help identify your core values.
- Skills checklists: These skill tests assess your proficiency in specific competencies.
How Do Career Assessment Tools Work?
Career assessment tools usually operate by having you respond to a set of questions or activities, often including psychometric assessments to analyze your personality, interests, values and skills.
These tools employ scientifically validated matching algorithms that compare user profiles with comprehensive data on various occupations.
Designed by professionals, the algorithms generate a ranked list of recommended careers based on compatibility assessments, ensuring a well-founded approach to career matching.
7 Best Career Assessment Tests And Tools
The list below includes seven self-assessment online tools and career aptitude tests that cover a range of factors, offering comprehensive support in discovering your optimal career path.
Please note that all of these tests are free to take while the final reports are charged in some cases.
1. Career Cluster Interest Survey
The Career Cluster Interest Survey is a free career test that helps you identify suitable career paths by assessing your skills, interests, values and other traits.
How It Works
It matches your skills, interests and personal traits to a broad list of careers, offering insights into your strengths, weaknesses and potential occupational fits. The survey typically takes about five to 10 minutes to complete.
It examines three different sides of your personality:
- Activities: You will be presented with a list of 72 activities and asked to mark the ones you enjoy doing.
- Personal qualities: You will be given a list of 58 personal qualities where you can mark the ones that best describe you
- School subjects: You will be presented with a list of 60 school subjects where you can choose the ones you are most interested in.
[Source: Career Cluster]
Upon completion of the survey, participants receive a list of career clusters that are considered a good match for their interests.
2. CareerFitter
CareerFitter is an advanced career assessment tool that provides you with insights into your preferences by incorporating a deeper context for each question.
The tool includes a progress bar for visual tracking of your assessment progress, allowing you to see how far you’ve come.
Additionally, real-time response charts provide an instant analysis of the frequencies of your personality traits.
[Source: CareerFitter]
How It Works
This test takes about five to 10 minutes to complete. You will be given multiple questions where you can choose between the two answers.
Some of the questions you will encounter include:
What is more satisfying at work?
- Going with the flow
- Organizing
In general, do you view life as:
- More black and white
- Grey
In general, would you describe yourself as more:
- Appreciative
- Questioning
The goal of this test is to reveal your personal traits, your views on life and how you handle different situations in the work environment.
Upon completion, you will get a free test summary with insights into the following:
- Your work personality
- Your work personality strengths
- Your optimal work environment
- Your income potential
[Source: CareerFitter]
They also offer a premium report for $19.95 that includes:
- The best jobs that fit you
- Your work strengths
- Ideal work environment
- Potential weaknesses at work
- Work-from-home careers
- Work personality chart
- How you work in a team
- Communication methods
- Management practice
- Primary job characteristics
- Occupational factors
- Famous people like you
3. Truity
Truity is a career assessment tool that analyzes your career aptitude, job interests and personality traits in just 15 minutes.
It uses the Holland Code and Big Five systems, scientifically validated models for career planning, to match your scores with ideal career interests.
How It Works
First, you will be given activities and statements to rate on a scale from “Dislike” to “Like.”
[Source: Truity]
This is followed by statements and personal traits that you can rate on a scale from “Inaccurate” to “Accurate.”
[Source: Truity]
When you finish the test, you will be presented with a report that describes what work style best fits your personality.
[Source: Truity]
A more comprehensive report costs $29 and is 37 pages long. You can see the sample of this report here.
4. Career Explorer
Career Explorer is another tool that can help you discover what profession is best aligned with your personality type and skills.
How It Works
This one takes around 30 minutes to complete and is made out of:
- Your personality archetype: You will be given a list of 32 activities that you can rate from “Hate it” to “Love it”.
- Your career matches: You will be presented with a list of 15 career types you can rate from one to five stars.
- Your degree matches: You will be given a list of 8 university degree types that you can rate from one to five stars.
Lastly, you would be given a set of statements that you can rate on a scale from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree.”
Upon completion, you’ll get the list of top career interests assembled just for you.
[Source: Career Explorer]
You will also get two comprehensive personalized reports about your traits and personality assessment.
[Source: Career Explorer]
Unlike the tools we covered previously, these reports are completely free of charge.
5. My Next Move
My Next Move is a website developed by the National Center for O*NET Development for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
It serves as a comprehensive platform offering accessible tools for career interest exploration, educational and training program information and job postings.
How It Works
Their career assessment test, O*NET Interest Profiler, includes 60 questions about various work activities.
Your task is to rate how you feel about each of them on a scale from “Strongly dislike” to “Strongly like.”
[Source: My Next Move]
The test usually takes no more than 10 minutes to finish. Upon completion, you will get the list of professions that best suit your preferences and personal traits.
[Source: My Next Move]
6. MAPP Career Test
The Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential (MAPP) career assessment is a tool designed for students, graduates and working adults to help them identify suitable career paths. The tool aims to assist you in finding your true calling by analyzing your motivational factors and aligning them with potential career options.
How It Works
The MAPP Career Test requires an email sign-up and it takes about 15 minutes to complete. You will be given 71 preferences, with three statements for each preference. To complete the assessment, you need to:
- Select the statement that aligns most with your preference.
- Choose the statement that least resonates with your preference.
- Leave one statement blank, without making a selection.
[Source: MAPP Career Test]
When you complete the test, you will receive a half-filled report containing your:
- Interest in job contents
- Temperament for the job
- Aptitude for the job
- Relation to people
- Relation to things
- Relation to data
- Relation to reasoning
- Mathematical capacity
- Language capacity
- Top career areas
[Source: MAPP Career Test]
To unlock your full report you choose between the following three pricing plans:
Introductory: $89.95
- MAPP Starter Assessment
- Top 20 general career matches
- Click & match yourself to 50 careers
Career Seeker: $119.95
- Top 20 general career matches
- Click & match yourself to over 1000 careers
Executive (Over 30 pages):$149.95
- Top 20 general career matches
- Unlimited matching to over 1000 careers
- All 1000+ careers ranked for you
- Personalized MAPP Resume Content
7. Work Values Matcher
The Values Matcher is a tool that helps you identify and understand your work values. These values can differ across careers, employers and specific roles.
How It Works
This tool is a free quick card sorting test where you’ll rank 20 statements related to your ideal job. You’ll need to:
- Read the statement on the top card of the deck and reflect on how important that specific quality is to you in your ideal job.
- Choose an importance level for each statement, ranging from most to least significant.
[Source: The Values Matcher]
When you finish the test, you will get your full report immediately and completely free of charge, with an emphasis on the work values that are the most important to you.
[Source: The Values Matcher]
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