Career & Self-Assessments

Making a major or career decision involves asking yourself a number of self-reflecting questions. Key and poignant questions can help determine what motivates you, where your skills or potential lay, and what you want out of life. This process is called a career- or self-assessment. The outcomes of these assessments can be quite enlightening and are designed to help you choose a career or major that best suits you as an individual.

Myers & Briggs Personality Type

• http://www.myersbriggs.org/type-use-for-everyday-life/personality-and-careers/

Knowing your personality type, as measured through the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® instrument, can help you both in your choosing a major or career but also once you’re on the job.  The Tri-Valley Career Center can administer the shorter version free of charge to students and clients.

Strong Interest Inventory

• https://www.cpp.com/products/strong/index.aspx

You can choose a major and career direction that matches your inherent interests. The complete Strong Interest Inventory should be given and interpreted by a career counselor. Contact the Tri-Valley Career Center for an appointment. Alternatively, there is a shorter version for self-interpretation for a small fee.

Self-Directed Search

• http://www.self-directed-search.com/

The Self-Directed Search (SDS) asks questions about your aspirations, activities, competencies, and level of interest in different occupations. From the responses, the SDS generates a code used to help you find your educational and occupational matches. Contact the Tri-Valley Career Center for an appointment. Alternatively, there is a shorter version for self-interpretation for a small fee.

O*Net: My Next Move & Interest Profiler

• http://www.mynextmove.org/
• http://www.onetcenter.org/IP.html

These free, online assessments can help you determine your interests and how they relate to occupational choices. The results can then be used to compare them to a large, national database of occupational descriptions. The Tri-Valley Career Center offers workshops on these and its relation to CalJOBS.

California Career Café

• http://www.cacareercafe.com/

The Career Cafécan help you identify your strengths, talents, interest, discover career paths, and explore career opportunities. There are over 50 online lessons for you to discover your path and career direction.

Career One-Stop

• http://www.careeronestop.org/explorecareers/assessments/self-assessments.aspx

The Department of Labor is sponsor and partner in the national network of One-Stop Job Centers, similar to the Tri-Valley Career Center. Its site has a host of information for your career exploration, including self-assessments. It includes separate assessments for your interests, skills and work values.