What is the best career test?
What is the best career test for you?
The best career test strategy is to take several quality assessments that help you self-reflect and accurately measure different aspects of your personality, strengths, values and skills. Our tips for finding and choosing them will help you do that. Career Key has been an expert in this topic for over 20 years, founded by a professional counseling psychologist, Dr. Lawrence K. Jones, who was first in his family to go to college.
We know it can be confusing and expensive to get high quality help. These days anyone can put a test online and claim they have the best career test. For some, especially free career tests, it’s a way for companies to acquire and sell your data. Often you get an up sell or in app purchase request after you’ve shared your data, just to see your complete results.
The good news is that you can find and take professional quality, affordable career tests and assessment – and not just our own, Career Key Discovery. Here are our tips to help you research your options.
Tips to find and choose the best career tests
Decide on your goals for assessment
Do you want to measure your personality, interests, values, skills and abilities? Your strengths? Are you looking for the best career or academic program fit? Do you want to assess your skills for pivoting to a new job? There are a number of research-based career theories and approaches like Holland’s theory (also known by Holland Code), the Big 5 personality theory, and strengths. Self-reflection and assessment in all these approaches will give you a more complete picture of who you are and set a few goals for what you’d like to do in the future.
Ideally you should take multiple self-assessments that measure different aspects of who you are.
Do what professional counselors do - try alternative Internet search terms to “career test”
Career assessment or inventory are terms professional career counselors use. “Test” implies the results are right or wrong so professionals avoid it. A science-based assessment will not use the word “quiz.” The “Assessment” term is less judgmental and you’ll find higher quality self-assessment options.
Ensure accuracy
To make more confident career and education decisions, you’ll want to make sure whatever assessment you take measures what it says its measures – scientific reliability and validity. It’s often hard to tell from a website if studies have been done that support accuracy. Look for a manual or research on the site.
Contact a professional career counselor or academic advisor
Professionals like these are specially trained to help you. They also must follow ethical rules for administering self-assessment; they must use accurate, science-based tools. You can find them in schools, colleges, non-profits, unemployment offices and in private practice. It’s worth it to seek out professional help, especially with important decisions like these. You can search for private career counselors on the National Career Development Association website.
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Valid career measures can help you make good choices about school, college, and your career. For example, studies of college students over the past ten years show that with a good personality-major match you are likely to,
Earn higher grades,
Stick with your choice of major through graduation,
Graduate on time, and
Be more satisfied and successful in your career.
Read Choosing a College Major Based on Your Personality What does the research say? for more.
Professional quality assessments we recommend
CareerHQ (Australasia) (Career Key partner)
Colby College Personality Lab (in particular, the Big 5 Inventory by Dr. Soto)
Explore My Purpose - Zoe (Career Key Discovery is one of 3 valid assessments offered in this one product: Gallup StrengthsFinder, Acclaro Values)
Motivated Skills Assessment (self-guided in Career Key Resources)