Affordable and fun online career tests
Career tests can be a really helpful way to explore who you are and to open up your mind to new career possibilities. They can also be very expensive, longwinded and spit out results that you either don’t want to hear or that are so obvious that you wonder what you spent the last two hours ticking all those boxes for. That is why I wanted to share the following three affordable online career exploration tools that I believe are helpful without being longwinded or over the top. Enjoy and I would love to hear what you think or if you have any other recommendations!
My Career Story
This is undoubtedly my favourite reflective career exercise. Developed by prominent vocational psychologist Mark Savickas this workbook style exercise is not your normal ‘tick and pick’ career test. Drawing on your career story it explores who you are, where you like to be, how you can rewrite your career story and how you can move to action. You will need to print this PDF and this exercise takes about 30-60 minutes. It is definitely worth it and I really love the interesting insights that come out of how your favourite magazines, heroes, sayings and hobbies can inform your career search.
eParachute
EParachute has been developed by career author Richard Bolles and is a great online career exploration test that takes about 15-20 minutes. At the end of the test you will have on hand your personal Holland Code (nerd career researcher speak for the types of people you like to work with), your favourite fields or industries and your favourite skills to use at work. The site also connects you to career ideas and suggested majors. I really enjoy using this tool and at only $4.99 for a yearly membership it is definitely worth a go. Below is a little sample of what my online profile looks like.
VIA Character Strengths Test
Developed by the not-for-profit VIA Institute on Character this free character strengths test is scientifically tested and easy to complete. It takes about 15 minutes and culminates in an email containing a range of your personal strengths. To get the most out of this task requires a little more than just saving the PDF. This will be a rich reflective exercise if you take some time to marry these strengths to your story, in particular your success experiences. To do this, first print the PDF, then get a separate piece of paper and write down five of your most profound and rewarding personal experiences. Can you match the personal strengths from the VIA results to those experiences. This step will really help to bring this inventory to life. Below are some examples of the strengths tested in this survey.
