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Career Assessment
About Career Assessment
Career assessments are a big industry in this country, with billions of dollars being spent annually on career change and career transition, staffing selection, talent development, team building, outplacement, leadership development, and succession planning, just to name a few. Consumers, corporations, government and non-profits alike are using assessments to make serious job and career change, hiring, promotion, and leadership decisions.
With millions of people relying on career assessments to produce meaningful results for decision-making, it is important to address common myths about career assessments. These myths perpetuate a system of assessments use that may be potentially quite harmful.
Myth 1: Career assessments are created equal; no one assessment is better than another. Assessments on the Internet that have a fast turnaround, are available 24/7, and are relatively low-cost really make the most sense to use.
Googling the terms “career assessment” or "career tests" yields millions and millions of hits. The majority of these are free or low-cost career tests that anyone can take online. These self-scoring assessments, quizzes, and tests can be fun, but may lack the research-based underpinnings to support their results.
Trustworthy career assessments, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, have researched test norms and construction, validation, and reliability studies to lend credibility to their results. Validity answers the question, “Does this test measure what it sets out to measure? Is it effective in predicting future performance?” Any career test that appears to be assessing what it purports to assess, possesses a certain degree of “face validity”. That means, on the “face” of things, given the content of the questions, it may be valid.
The degree of validity is expressed as a validity coefficient, a number from 0 (no validity) to 1.00 (100% validity). A validity coefficient above 0.30 is considered very useful and can be found in the manual of a reputable, research-based assessment.
For a minority or a person with learning disorders or disabilities, what resonates with their culture or experiences may not be relevant to the questions asked in an assessment. That would have an impact on both validity and reliability, which measures the consistency of test results over a period of time. If the context of a questions or the assessment instructions was misread, for example, taking the assessment a second time would alter the results obtained.
Myth 2: There is a central core of reality about a person that a career assessment can tap into without fail. Like a Rosetta Stone, an assessment’s results hold the key to what career to pursue and need only to be “deciphered”.
Many career tests claim to be the only one needed to make a sound career decision. These often are the same career tests without any research, validity or reliability data. There are many online that have no mechanism for support or feedback from a careers industry professional, like a professional career counselor.
Career assessments come in many “flavors” – skills, abilities, aptitudes, interests, personal or behavioral style, personality type, values, passions, career attitudes and beliefs, career obstacles, and many more. This diversity of assessments reflects the multi-dimensional aspect of human beings – the richness and depth of our “beingness”.
To relegate career choice to one assessment and its results, would mean basing that crucial career decision on just one aspect of ourselves. Human beings are far too complex for such simplistic answers. A well-trained professional career counselor, career coach, or HR consultant typically gets to know their client first, establishes a trusting relationship, and then determines which combination of assessments would be most likely to jumpstart the career exploration process.
Myth 3: Assessments deliver results based on reality; therefore, the results are unambiguous and can be counted on to be clear. If we do not understand the results, it’s likely there’s something wrong with our thinking.
Assessment results may prove daunting for interpretation, even by a professional. Many career changers may want to move right into making a career choice based on the first assessment result they get. But that may not be the whole picture.
Assessment results may be wrong for any number of reasons. Re-validate each piece of assessment data subjectively by asking questions like, “Does this sound like me? What examples from past experience support this assessment result?”
Myth 4: Assessment reports, written in plain English and detailing assessment results, can be read by anyone. There is really no need for any “expert” consultation.
Trustworthy career assessments are typically administered and interpreted by pre-qualified and trained career counselors, coaches, HR professionals, and career consultants. These professionals' goals are to facilitate understanding and apply the assessment results with objectivity and sensitivity to background, culture, challenges, perceptions, and beliefs.
The authors of the Kuder Career Search assessment, a highly reliable and valid for the student/entry-level population, put it best: “Users of interest inventories over-interpret their results”, and may come to simplistic conclusions. They acknowledge “the best possible circumstance for understanding the results of one’s Kuder Career Search is with the assistance of a knowledgeable counselor. The counselor can elaborate on new concepts, correct misinterpretations, urge further exploration, and in many ways assist survey-takers in realizing the greatest benefit from their results.”
Assessments suggest, not tell. When used as a tool to open the door of possibilities, understanding that many more career possibilities lie beyond, they may spark exciting insights, discussion, and sound career decision-making.
The sheer volume of career tests may contribute to confusion and indecision. De-bunking assessment myths helps to clarify what career assessments can and cannot do, and how they can properly be used for career choice and career transition.
Career assessments are a big industry in this country, with billions of dollars being spent annually on career change and career transition, staffing selection, talent development, team building, outplacement, leadership development, and succession planning, just to name a few. Consumers, corporations, government and non-profits alike are using assessments to make serious job and career change, hiring, promotion, and leadership decisions.
With millions of people relying on career assessments to produce meaningful results for decision-making, it is important to address common myths about career assessments. These myths perpetuate a system of assessments use that may be potentially quite harmful.
Myth 1: Career assessments are created equal; no one assessment is better than another. Assessments on the Internet that have a fast turnaround, are available 24/7, and are relatively low-cost really make the most sense to use.
Googling the terms “career assessment” or "career tests" yields millions and millions of hits. The majority of these are free or low-cost career tests that anyone can take online. These self-scoring assessments, quizzes, and tests can be fun, but may lack the research-based underpinnings to support their results.
Trustworthy career assessments, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, have researched test norms and construction, validation, and reliability studies to lend credibility to their results. Validity answers the question, “Does this test measure what it sets out to measure? Is it effective in predicting future performance?” Any career test that appears to be assessing what it purports to assess, possesses a certain degree of “face validity”. That means, on the “face” of things, given the content of the questions, it may be valid.
The degree of validity is expressed as a validity coefficient, a number from 0 (no validity) to 1.00 (100% validity). A validity coefficient above 0.30 is considered very useful and can be found in the manual of a reputable, research-based assessment.
For a minority or a person with learning disorders or disabilities, what resonates with their culture or experiences may not be relevant to the questions asked in an assessment. That would have an impact on both validity and reliability, which measures the consistency of test results over a period of time. If the context of a questions or the assessment instructions was misread, for example, taking the assessment a second time would alter the results obtained.
Myth 2: There is a central core of reality about a person that a career assessment can tap into without fail. Like a Rosetta Stone, an assessment’s results hold the key to what career to pursue and need only to be “deciphered”.
Many career tests claim to be the only one needed to make a sound career decision. These often are the same career tests without any research, validity or reliability data. There are many online that have no mechanism for support or feedback from a careers industry professional, like a professional career counselor.
Career assessments come in many “flavors” – skills, abilities, aptitudes, interests, personal or behavioral style, personality type, values, passions, career attitudes and beliefs, career obstacles, and many more. This diversity of assessments reflects the multi-dimensional aspect of human beings – the richness and depth of our “beingness”.
To relegate career choice to one assessment and its results, would mean basing that crucial career decision on just one aspect of ourselves. Human beings are far too complex for such simplistic answers. A well-trained professional career counselor, career coach, or HR consultant typically gets to know their client first, establishes a trusting relationship, and then determines which combination of assessments would be most likely to jumpstart the career exploration process.
Myth 3: Assessments deliver results based on reality; therefore, the results are unambiguous and can be counted on to be clear. If we do not understand the results, it’s likely there’s something wrong with our thinking.
Assessment results may prove daunting for interpretation, even by a professional. Many career changers may want to move right into making a career choice based on the first assessment result they get. But that may not be the whole picture.
Assessment results may be wrong for any number of reasons. Re-validate each piece of assessment data subjectively by asking questions like, “Does this sound like me? What examples from past experience support this assessment result?”
Myth 4: Assessment reports, written in plain English and detailing assessment results, can be read by anyone. There is really no need for any “expert” consultation.
Trustworthy career assessments are typically administered and interpreted by pre-qualified and trained career counselors, coaches, HR professionals, and career consultants. These professionals' goals are to facilitate understanding and apply the assessment results with objectivity and sensitivity to background, culture, challenges, perceptions, and beliefs.
The authors of the Kuder Career Search assessment, a highly reliable and valid for the student/entry-level population, put it best: “Users of interest inventories over-interpret their results”, and may come to simplistic conclusions. They acknowledge “the best possible circumstance for understanding the results of one’s Kuder Career Search is with the assistance of a knowledgeable counselor. The counselor can elaborate on new concepts, correct misinterpretations, urge further exploration, and in many ways assist survey-takers in realizing the greatest benefit from their results.”
Assessments suggest, not tell. When used as a tool to open the door of possibilities, understanding that many more career possibilities lie beyond, they may spark exciting insights, discussion, and sound career decision-making.
The sheer volume of career tests may contribute to confusion and indecision. De-bunking assessment myths helps to clarify what career assessments can and cannot do, and how they can properly be used for career choice and career transition.
Latest page update: made by HR4Change
, Sep 14 2007, 12:37 PM EDT
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About This Update
Edited by HR4Change
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Edited by HR4Change
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- complete history)
Keyword tags:
career assessment
career change
career choice
career testing
career transition
Kuder Career Search
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
More Info: links to this page