The Assessment in Career Transition Counseling

When people are considering making a change in their job, whether it’s simply to do the same job for a different employer, or a more wider change, they need to have a clear target. (Target is defined by geography, function and industry.)

If there is a lack of clarity about target, or if an individual would like to get objective data about their skills, interests and personality traits, I suggest an assessment.

The testing takes four to six hours to complete. There are no projective or intelligence instruments used, and the client completes the testing at their own pace. Two of the tests, the Campbell and the 16PF, are mailed to Minnesota for machine scoring. It takes about a week to receive the scored tests. The others are scored by the client or us.

The following are the tests used in the assessment:

• Campbell Interest and Skill Survey™ - This test is derivative of the Strong-Campbell, and is extensively validated. It looks at how your skills and interests compare with a variety of occupational categories and helps you explore patterns and themes.
• 16 Personality Factor® - Helps to identify those personality traits, which may predict success in vocational choice. The computer scored results correlate scores with various normed occupational groups, and give information about personality dimensions.
• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® - Based on Jung’s Theory of Psychological type, the MBTI reports your preferences on four scales, each of which represents two opposite preferences. Your score helps us to understand how you will respond to others, how you process information, make decisions, acquire information and how you adapt to the outside world.
• I Speak Your Language® - Is also based on Jung, and looks at four types in two situations – favorable conditions, and under stress. This test helps us to understand the likely differences in the work situation, and to look at work settings most likely to be conducive to you.
• Career Anchors Inventory – This test, developed by Edgar Schein at MIT, looks at the relative strengths of eight potential career anchors. It helps understand the motivational drivers in determining career fit.
• Career Reflections – This is a sentence completion instrument, which helps identify themes in your career and life to date. Your responses will help us understand better the issues behind career choices.
• Five O’Clock Club Self-Assessment Exercises – A series of self-assessment tests which come directly from the club literature, and have proven useful for thousands. There is a questionnaire on goals, on relations with bosses, interests outside of work and The Seven Stories Exercise™, which takes you through a series of tasks, designed to elicit core strengths.

The results are usually helpful in confirming and reaffirming in an objective way what a client has understood. Sometimes a break-through in understanding occurs, where it becomes clear which path is more appropriate. Everyone who does the assessment has found it a worthwhile investment of their time.