What is a Careers Assessment?
It’s a challenging time for many as they receive their exam results, and they feel relieved knowing all the hard is work is over. But, guaranteed, for some, the next question they will be asked is “are you going to college?” “Are you going to university?” “Are you going to find a job? “What are your plans for the future?”
Irrespective of the grade received how do you decide what you do next. Unfortunately, only you can decide what the best decision is for your circumstances but what I would say is, enjoy taking time out and when the time is right start setting your goals for next few months as part of a Career Plan. One of the decisions you may be faced with is deciding what career path to take.
The purpose of a Career Plan is to help you visualise the actions you need to take to achieve your career goals, as well as how to put those actions into practise. There are four stages:
- Determining your abilities and passions.
- Thinking about your options for a career.
- Deciding. and
- Setting goals that are attainable.
You may find yourself stuck finding a career that exactly matches your skills and interests, or you are tired of doing a job you already have because you feel no motivation? Whatever the case, a careers assessment can help you solve these issues by providing clear, objective answers.
It paves your way to choosing a career that you will be proud of and be able to pursue with your full potential. As your resume or CV doesn’t tell you and your employer what you can or cannot do a careers assessment makes this task easier.
Not sure what a careers assessment is? By definition, a skills assessment is a test that evaluates a person’s abilities in relation to a specific skill or set of skills. During a skills test, a person is asked to demonstrate what they know about a specific topic, subject, or issue, and this is then compared to what they should know based on the applicable guidelines.
It’s also a handy tool/process for organisations to gauge the abilities of job applicants and current employees. Most of the time, career assessments, questionnaires, observations, or interviews help you perform skills assessment. It has many purposes. Understanding yourself can assist you in determining what type of jobs you might enjoy, and its in this context that we will focus on how beneficial skills assessments can be when you are starting on your career path.
You are asked a series of multiple-choice questions to assess your skills, interest, and values. Once completed it will make suggestions of roles you may enjoy based on your answers.
When it comes to achieving your career goals, think about where you are now, where you want to be, and how you will get there. If you’re having trouble deciding on a career, start by asking yourself the following questions:
- What do I excel at?
- What are my passions, goals, and values?
- What was my favourite part of university?
- What kind of life do I want to live?
- What am I looking for in a job?
- What are the things that are most important to me?
Taking practise psychometric tests can help you identify your strengths, weaknesses, and character traits if you’re having trouble figuring them out.
Hopefully, this will help you to identify your skills and interest and guide you in a direction you are happy with. Remember, that there is nothing wrong with changing your career goals!
One of the best careers/skills assessments I have come across is National Careers Service Skills Assessment, give it a go start, setting your goals!
If you would benefit from one-to-one career coaching and mentoring, drop us an email.
