career aptitude testing free?

[HollyDay]

Are there any free career aptitude tests online? 

 

If not, has anyone had any experience with the fee based ones??

[Lighthouse]

http://www.mynextmove.org/explore/ip

[Lori D.]

Many many years ago, I took the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory and a Meyers-Briggs Personality Inventory. Strong and Campbell have since split and each has their own test. Together, the interest inventory and personality tests were very helpful. I would also be sure to add in a Work Values test, which is helpful in looking at specific jobs and how they fit in (or don't) with your personal needs and goals. If possible, try and take career tests with a local career counselor, as that is esp. helpful to have someone mentor you through the test results.

 

If you or your student are taking classes at the local community college or university, you might look in to what is available for career testing there, as most schools have some free career exploration resources for their students.

 

And below, I'm copy-pasting from a previous post of mine. BEST of luck in the career aptitude testing and career exploration! Warmest regards, Lori D.

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Interest Inventory, or Career Aptitude Test
Helps you uncover the ways you like to work, and areas of work interests. (examples: Campbell Interest & Skill Survey; Strong Interest Inventory). Free online interest inventory = California Career Zone. Also explore with the New York Career Zone website.

Work Values Survey
Helps you see what brings meaning to you in your work, or what is of value/important to you in a job. Free tests:
Saint Anselm College (online)
Work Values Survey (printable)

Personality Inventory
Helps see how you fit in with others in a work place. (examples: Meyers-Briggs Indicator; Keirsey Temperament Sorter). Free online tests:
Fun Education
Team Technology
Personality Lab

Work Skills Test / Aptitude Assessment
Determines your specific abilities/skills in order to meet the qualifications to do specific jobs — i.e., can you type 120 words a minute, do you have a truck driver's license,  can you operate specific machinery, do you have certifications, etc.). Online skills profiler test: California Career Zone

Starting with an interest inventory test that helps you understand the ways you like to work, can then help you narrow down what kinds of jobs match up with the ways you like to work. These tests are variations on the Holland Code, which is organized with six interest areas and then the career fields and specific jobs that use those interests. The CA Career Zone website has a free online interest inventory test, and then you can explore the descriptions and videos of various occupations. The NY Career Zone also has a very nice exploration section once you know your "Holland Code" areas of interest.

Then once you know your specific interests and have an idea about some possible job areas, you can explore the US Bureau of Labor's free online Occupational Outlook Handbook for info on specific careers, plus different ways to do a search to come up with a list of careers to look at (by salary; by amount of education required; by how much growth that field expects in the next 10 years; etc.). 

Another type of test and method of exploration is through Career Clusters:

what is Career Clusters

List of 16 Clusters & 70 "Pathways"

Career Clusters Survey (the free printable test)

 

The U.S. Bureau of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) organizes hundreds of jobs under 25 occupational areas at the Dept. of Labor's O-Net website. The OOH also describes what the jobs are like, what education is required, where to find that education, and what the projected future outlook for that occupation is (i.e., a growing/declining job). O-Net (see the "My Next Move" section), has two different search engines: by industry or by key words, and also an interest profiler (a type of career interest test). The OOH is similar in organization to the career clusters, in that it loosely organizes the hundreds of jobs under 25 "occupational groups" (see the list going down on the lefthand side of the OOH home page). 

Edited September 16, 2018 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

PS -- Just went through my copy-pasted post above and updated all of the links, so they should all connect to working websites now. :)