Assess Yourself!

Staring to plan your career might seem like a daunting process but with the right tools you can confidently navigate this path. Career assessments are a great place to start to gain a better understanding of who you are, especially in relation to your personality, skills, and values. Recognizing these traits plays an important part in finding a work environment that is best suited for you and the type of work you would like to do. Career assessments are also helpful in that they help identify your strengths and the areas in need of improvement. Before we get into the Career Assessments here are a few tips to keep in mind during the process.

·      Be honest with yourself. The key to getting the most out of an assessment is by being truthful and taking the time to think realistically about what you would actually like in a work setting.

·      Make conclusive decisions. Refrain from not caring when it comes to answering questions. Answering “maybe” or “do not care” will lead to inaccurate answers in your assessments.

·      You are not limited to these results. One thing we tell students all the time is to focus less on the list of jobs and more on the skills. It’s important to be able to recognize transferrable skills that could be used in various work settings.

·      You change, and so do your results. Your personal and professional experiences allow you to grow and learn more about your skills, likes, and dislikes. It’s important to take career assessments more than once as your interests and needs will change over time

At CareerZone there are three different career assessments that we suggest students check out, each focusing on different aspects of your career planning process.

1. Career Cruising

The Career Matchmaker matches your preferences for doing specific tasks with a list of potential careers. The top 40 careers are listed and each job title links you to specific information about that job including a job description, salary/wages, working conditions, educational requirements, and much more. Career Cruising is a great way to narrow down career options and the more questions you answer, the better the results.

2. Talent Today

Talent Today is a questionnaire that assesses your personality and motivations in relation to career options. There are three aspects of this assessment, the motivations radar, talent id, and the personality radar. After completing your profile you can discover jobs that match best with your results. Another great aspect of this assessment is that it provides you with graphs and charts utilizing your own personal data, which looks great in a Career Portfolio or LinkedIn profile

3. Type Focus

Your profile provides you with detailed information about your personality, interests, and values. This assessment suggests careers that align with your strengths and evaluates success factors that can help you to become better prepared to do well in your occupation of choice.

As a Brock University student or alumni, these three assessments are available to you for free. To access Career Assessments

·      Log onto careerzone.brocku.ca using your login and password

·      Click on the “Resources” tab from the Campus Career menu on your dashboard

·      Click on the “Career Assessments” section

Now go, choose an assessment to complete. I hope the results provide you with the information you need to successfully navigate your career path.