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Career Testing-knowing what to major in/do with your life


mjmuse04
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Do any of you know of a solid testing that can give a list of possible careers/majors? My son is a junior this year, and has NO idea what to pursue. He is very much not a math person, and so far the few things we have thought about (Computers especially) require a good bit of math. He is very skilled on a computer though. Anyway, our local university won't let us use their career center because we don't go there. We have found a couple online, but so far the results of those have been, well, to put it bluntly, lame. I was just wondering if there was something out there that we just haven't come across yet. I don't mind paying for it, if it ends up being useful.

 

Thanks for any help you can give us,

Michelle

PS-I apologize if this is something you have already touched on. I have been through several pages of posts and haven't seen anything.

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I would just have him take an many different classes as possible to see what clicks. My leaving -for-college-in-four-days son thought he would be a history major until AP Bio - now he is a Biology major, interested in research, possibly pre-med. (Unless he changes his mind again after taking the two years of required chemistry!!! )

 

He had thought he might be interested in accounting...took a class..ruled it out forever.

 

The next kid was thinking of being a chef. She took a foods class. She is no longer interested in being a chef. ;-) This year she will take a Health Occupations class to see if she wants to pursue becoming a nurse or Physical Therapist or ???

 

Every college we looked at for ds had something somewhere on their websites noting that most kids would either be Undeclared as they entered, not knowing what they wanted to do, or would declare a major then switch at least once.

 

I was often told I was not the norm - I knew I wanted to study film history from age 11 !!!!! I did, too. See where I ended up ;-)

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We used this as part of SAT Prep/Study Skills Class when I was MS/HS Principal and now I use it in my consulting. It does have a Christian origin and does have spiritual/ministry type questions sprinkled throughout to see what ministry or service the student has interest toward in addition to the career questions. The student needs to be as honest with the answers as possible to get the clearest picture of career choices for them.

 

I am in no way associated with this company. When I originally used this it was marketed by Larry Burkett but he is no longer alive and his ministry was bought by Crown Ministries. I don't know if Career Direct was part of that or not. The students I work with come with the Career Direct in hand that they have taken online.

 

http://www.careerdirectonline.org/personalityID/

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I would just have him take an many different classes as possible to see what clicks. My leaving -for-college-in-four-days son thought he would be a history major until AP Bio - now he is a Biology major, interested in research, possibly pre-med. (Unless he changes his mind again after taking the two years of required chemistry!!! )

 

He had thought he might be interested in accounting...took a class..ruled it out forever.

 

The next kid was thinking of being a chef. She took a foods class. She is no longer interested in being a chef. ;-) This year she will take a Health Occupations class to see if she wants to pursue becoming a nurse or Physical Therapist or ???

 

Every college we looked at for ds had something somewhere on their websites noting that most kids would either be Undeclared as they entered, not knowing what they wanted to do, or would declare a major then switch at least once.

 

I was often told I was not the norm - I knew I wanted to study film history from age 11 !!!!! I did, too. See where I ended up ;-)

 

 

 

 

So where did your kids take these different classes? At the jr college?

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There is also a free help on the collegeboard website called "my road" (you will need a log) that has a survey then gives suggestions for major. I remember using it for my oldest though his interest was pretty well defined at the time.

 

Now with my youngest, a junior this year, it is not so clear so I will be looking for ways to help him explore and determine his way too.

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I would recommend the Strong's Interest Inventory. Both dh and I took it in college, and dh says it was one of the single biggest factors in convincing him to pursue his career path. He now regularly suggests it to clients as a Family Mental Health Therapist & Counselor.

 

The inventory correlates your personal interests with those of people who report that they are very satisfied in their careers after 5 years of employment. For example, when working with the data for the test, researchers discovered that female lawyers who reported high satisfaction with their jobs 5 years into employment, also reported that they did not care for babies. For some reason this dislike of young children, correlated with success as a female lawyer, and these kinds of interest questions are what comprise the inventory.

 

You will probably have to go to a Community College, or counseling center to have the test proctored and you have to have the results interpreted as they are not self-explanatory, but both dh and I found the results to be invaluable in future career planning.

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We used this one early in high school to just see what it would say...some of the feedback was good, some of it not. I think a teenager really does need to 'sample' a few courses/jobs to determine actual career interests but this was an interesting tool. I think it cost us $65 at the time. I still pull out the report from time to time to see if any of the current interests for ds are there:tongue_smilie:!

 

http://www.discoveryourpersonality.com/highschool.html

Edited by OLG
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  • 2 weeks later...

FairProspects wrote _-" For example, when working with the data for the test, researchers discovered that female lawyers who reported high satisfaction with their jobs 5 years into employment, also reported that they did not care for babies."

 

Just another indication that dd is completely correct in her assessment to become a prosecutor. She is not one who finds babies cute and appealing.

 

I do think that it is important to match both skills and personality to the job.

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