Assess Yourself
Finding a career you'll love will involve reading about career options, networking with professionals, and getting experience -- but it doesn't start there -- it starts with you!
Career Development Center Resources
- Learn About Yourself-- start by assessing your values, interests, skills and personality.
- MyPlan helps students make well-informed decisions about their education and careers through tools for self and career exploration. The personality, interests, skills, and values tests are free for students with a valid IU username and password. Students with questions about their results are encouraged to talk with a Career Development Center advisor.
Click here for instructions if you want to take MyPlan!
The purpose of assessment testing is to get you to think about career options and to give you a place from which to start in-depth career exploration. No test can tell you what you should do. You might agree or disagree with the test results. If you disagree, remember that your thoughts and feelings about the test results matter more than the results you get.
- To start: Skim these instructions and then click on the MyPlan link below. You may want to keep this page open so you can refer to these instructions while you are navigating to MyPlan and taking the tests. When you click on the MyPlan link below, you will be prompted for your IU username and password before being taken to the Career Development Center webpage that shows the license code you will need to take the tests for free - write it down!
- Once you are on the Career Development Center webpage, click on the link on that page to go to MyPlan and then:
- Click on the "Account" tab.
- Click "Create Free Account."
- Fill in all required fields and click "Continue." CAUTION: Do NOT use your IU username or password for your MyPlan account!
- On the second page of the account creation, you will see a field for "License Code." To gain free access to the assessment tools on the site, you must enter IU's code. (The code was listed on the Career Development Center's page - if you forgot to write it down, then go back!)
- If you wish to have the option of sharing your results with the Career Development Center's advisors for a follow-up appointment, check the box entitled "share results with career advisor?"
- You will now have full access to the site's resources.
- Click on the Assessment Tab to reveal a menu with the tests you can take: Personality Test, Interest Inventory, Skills Profiler, and Values Assessment. I completed all 4 tests in a little over an hour.
- Pick one of the tests, read the brief description of that test and then click the "Start Test" button. Read the directions. Answer all of the questions. Take the time to read each question and think about the best answer, but don't second guess yourself.
- After you take each test, click on the links in the Test Report box to see your results, to see how you compare to others, and to learn a bit about the methodology of that test. When you've gotten the results of your personality test click here just for fun - if you want to learn more about Jung's Typology and see which famous people share your personality type.
- Click on CareerMatch after each test to see a list of suggested occupations. I suggest that you look at occupations for "Level 4: Four-Year College Degree" and "Level 5: Graduate Degree or Higher".
- You can click on the names of occupations in which you are interested and you will see up-to-date career descriptions, salaries, requirements, and outlooks.
- Don't be surprised if you get somewhat different lists of occupations after you take different tests. After you've completed all four tests, click on the Composite Score link in the menu on the left to see a list of occupations based on the results of all four tests.
- What I look for in the test results are the occupational categories that appear consistently in the results of the four tests. When I took the tests, I saw lots of job recommendations in Life, Physical & Social Sciences (college professor in psychology, computer science, or mathematics); Education (college professor, school psychologist, elementary school teacher, special ed); Counseling, Community & Social Services; Healthcare (internist, occupational therapist, physician assistant) and Environment (ecologist, park naturalist, environmental scientist). All of those career areas sound attractive to me -- my next step, if I were preparing for a career -- would be to explore those careers areas in more depth, network with professionals, and get experience.
- Click on MyPlan to go to the Career Development Center's website -- remember to write down IU's license code from that page before you click the link that takes you to the MyPlan website.
- Career Assessments. The Strong Interest Inventory and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are available at the Career Development Center. Students must have a referral from an CDC advisor and pay $15 to take this assessment. Learn about Undergraduate Career Advising at the CDC.
Online Self-Assessments
The Self-Directed Search. Are you realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional? Dr. John Holland's assessment provides a list of careers that most closely match your interests. click here to learn more about the SDS. The test takes 15-20 minutes and costs about $10. Note: The SDS was developed for diverse populations. Many of the job descriptions will be what you expect for people who have a college degree and many are appropriate for people who will not attend college. If you are likely to feel insulted if the test suggests a career as an electrician then this test may not be for you!
The Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential is a personal assessment that takes 15 minutes to complete. MAPP identifies your true motivations toward work and allows you to match yourself to job categories to see where you best fit. The free sample report will provide you with 5 job matches - once you complete it, you will have the option to purchase a more comprehensive assessment, with prices $19.95 to $129.95.
The Career Direct Complete Guidance System is an individual, personal growth resource designed to help you maximize your God-given talents and abilities. It analyzes four critical areas—personality, interests, skills, and values. Most other career assessments only analyze one or two. The cost is $80.00 per assessment and it can be completed in about an hour. You will receive a comprehensive, easy-to-read, personalized report that can be immediately viewed or printed, as well as many other audio and online resources to help you find your true calling.
