The Everything Career Tests Book

10 Tests to Determine the Right Occupation for You

A. Bronwyn Llewellyn, Robin Holt, A. Bronwyn Llewellyn

• Publisher: Everything
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781593375652
• eBook ISBN: 9781440523731
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Human Resource Management

A career advice book with the tests that make the difference! American workers are upwardly mobile movers and shakers who change careers often, always on the search for their perfect niche. But you can't follow your bliss unless you know what your bliss is.Enter The Everything Career Tests Book --your key to determining the career path you were destined for! This engaging, accessible guide boasts ten different tests that reveal the work habits, affinities, and interests you may not even realize you have!Ten tests help you find your way:

• Values Test
• Skills Test
• Interests Test
• Personality Test
• Work Environment Test
• Location Test
• Work/Life Balance Test
• Entrepreneurial Ability Test
• Managerial Ability Test
• Emotional Intelligence Test

Featuring extensive test result analysis and guidance as well as an easy-to-use format, The Everything Career Tests Book is all you need to make your dreams come true--at work!

Chapter 1
Know Yourself,
Know Your Career

When you were young, did you know what you wanted to be when you grew up? Are you in that career now? Maybe not, if you’re reading this. Some people never know what career they want, but most people change during their working years. Some outgrow their careers, others shift priorities, and still others find new interests. Twenty-six centuries ago, a wise Athenian named Solon lived by the motto “Know thyself.” Today, that bit of advice is the single best thing you can do to find or improve your career.

Self-Assessment Is Key

You may be in college and just starting to think about a career. Perhaps you’ve already had a succession of jobs that didn’t seem to fit or satisfy you. It’s possible that you’re in a career you love but you need to change the way you work, such as going from full-time to part-time. Maybe you need to re-energize your career, whether by refining your goals or increasing your responsibilities. You may want to move to a different organization or city or stay right where you are but change departments. It’s conceivable that you need a complete career overhaul.

The key to addressing each of these situations is assessing who you are, what you can already do or want to learn how to do, and what you really want. Once you have figured all of that out, you have a greater likelihood of making career decisions that will help you stay challenged, keep motivated, and be fulfilled as you progress through your working life. Yes, it’s going to take some effort, but as that wise observer Anonymous noted, “If we are not willing to spend the energy toward creating what we want, we get to spend the same amount of energy coping with what we get.”

Finding Your Passion

In generations past, people didn’t have as many career options, or at least they didn’t think they did. If a man worked for the electric company, chances were that his sons would, too. Daughters of homemaker mothers were supposed to follow suit. It didn’t really matter if a child loved to draw, dissect lizards, or build models. If the family owned a grocery store, the children were expected to one day join the business or enter some other “suitable” profession, such as teaching. People loyally stayed with an employer for decades, nose to the grindstone, until they could collect the gold watch and pension and fade away into the sunset of retirement. Not any more.

Workers Have Changed

It used to be that the exception was the person who knew there was something that she was meant to do and went after it. Today that can describe anyone, but fewer people than you might think really follow their passion. A 2005 Harris Interactive, Inc. survey found that only 20 percent of U.S. workers feel passionate about their jobs. Would that we all could share the singleness of purpose of filmmaker Roger Corman. He was enamored of movies, but because his father wanted him to be an engineer, he graduated with an engineering degree. Just days into his new job, he knew he had to make movies, so he quit and moved to Hollywood. Corman became one of the most successful filmmakers in history because he followed his passion.

That same 2005 survey found that 21 percent of workers are eager to change careers and 33 percent feel as though their careers are at a dead end. Many of those people longing for change probably ended up where they are because they took an opportunity that arose with no thought as to whether or not they could do it—or even liked it. Sometimes that’s just what you have to do to keep a roof over your head and food on the table. Many of those other dissatisfied people no doubt took jobs they enjoyed at the time—perhaps they even felt passionate about them—only to find out later that those jobs no longer suited their changed circumstances, perspectives, or interests.

Careers Have Changed

Choice in all aspects of life has increased exponentially, from what kind of car to drive to what detergent to use to which artisan bread to have with your soup. If you don’t choose, the choice will be made for you, whether by default, circumstances beyond your control, or someone else. The same holds true for careers. The job market offers a vast array of exciting and seemingly limitless options. But behind all that wonderful variety lie important decisions to be made. Are you meant to be a greeting card writer or podiatrist? Architect or computer engineer? Translator or flight attendant? Lepidopterist or veterinarian? Kindergarten teacher or social worker? Policeman or park ranger? Corporate president or entrepreneur? When you really think about it, a vast number of choices can be paralyzing, not liberating. You could flip a coin, but that method isn’t likely to result in a career that suits you or one that you feel passionate about.

If you are searching for more than a job, or if you want a satisfying career that uses your talents and abilities and engages your heart as well as your mind, then it’s going to require some introspection—and decision-making— on your part. The best way for you to find one of the careers that is perfect for you is to take a good honest look at yourself.

Self-Assessment Is Your Personal Checkup

If you are conscious about your health, you probably have a physical once per year. During this routine checkup, the doctor measures your height, weight, and blood pressure. Perhaps the exam includes an inspection of your eyes, hearing, skin, and reflexes. The doctor may press on your abdomen, tap on your back, or take X-rays to look at your lungs. Finally, lab tests check levels of cholesterol, enzymes, sugar, or platelets. The checkup provides a baseline of where your health is now. You may be healthy, but the tests will show you what you need to watch out for and what to change or tweak in order to stay healthy or get fit.

This book is designed to help you conduct a checkup of your values, skills and abilities, personality, creativity, and lifestyle and work preferences. Step by step, you will answer questions or make choices in a series of self-assessment instruments. Then you’ll record your answers in the chart found at the end of the book. The result will be a snapshot of you right now that can then be used to determine your next steps toward finding a new career or customizing the career you have, with the ultimate purpose of achieving greater career-related satisfaction.

You are unique on this planet, with your own interests, values, and predilections. The teacher and author Joseph Campbell recognized the value that individuality gives to the world. He knew our contributions had to spring from “our own experiences and fulfillment of our own potentialities, not someone else’s.” There is no “one-size-fits-all” when choosing a career. It’s a personal, highly subjective decision that is based on a set of criteria. Finding out what those criteria are is the purpose of The Everything® Career Tests Book.

Your Readiness for Change

You may be looking for a whole new career, but there are other reasons to do a self-assessment. There are lots of ways that you can improve your career without changing it completely. Put a check next to any of the following that describe you.

You’re burned out. That fire you exhibited for your job years ago is now little more than an ember. You gave it your all for as long as you could, and now, although you still like your career field, your current situation feels more like a treadmill than a career.

Your job is hazardous to your health. Some jobs are dangerous, and if you’re in one that is, you probably knew that when you signed on. Some jobs can affect your health in other ways, such as by being too stressful or emotionally draining, and those are things you may not have known when you took it.

You want to specialize. You’re in a career you love, but you want to focus on one specific aspect of it.

You’re bored. By midafternoon, you’re watching the clock. You miss the intellectual challenge that you used to find in your work and are now just going through the motions.

You want more autonomy. You are quite happy working by yourself at your own pace, without someone else telling you what to do or checking to make sure you’re doing it.

Your personal situation has changed. Big adjustments such as getting married, having kids, or caring for an ailing parent can change your priorities and affect how you view your career.

You want to advance. Perhaps you have been promoted as far as you can go in your present job, but you know you have much more to offer and crave more responsibility.

You can see the writing on the wall. Maybe you’re in a field without much future, your company’s about to be bought out, or the economy is taking a toll on your industry and it’s time for you to move on.

You want more money. Perhaps your responsibilities have increased but your salary has stayed the same. A 2005–2006 Salary.com, Inc. survey measuring employee satisfaction found that less than 50 percent of respondents believed they were adequately paid. The same survey revealed that inadequate compensation ranks as the biggest reason people leave their jobs. However, just because someone believes he is underpaid doesn’t mean he is, relative to his peers. There are many other things besides money that can help one feel adequately compensated, from more vacation time to appropriate recognition.

You want more creativity. You long for an opportunity that lets you think outside the box or dream up new things rather than adhere to a strict “we’ve always done it this way” mentality.

You May Not Be Ready for Change

If you checked one or two items, you are doing pretty well where you are. No job situation is perfect. It’s the lucky person who has found a career that satisfies every one of her goals, needs, and desires. But if you feel strongly about one or two of these things, you can take the self-ass...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Top Ten Things to Remember about Career Tests
• Introduction
• 1. Know Yourself, Know Your Career
• 2. Values and Your Career
• 3. Skills and Your Career
• 4. Interests and Your Career
• 5. Personality and Your Career
• 6. Work Environment and Your Career
• 7. Location and Your Career
• 8. Work/Life Balance and Your Career
• 9. Entrepreneurial Readiness and Your Career
• 10. Managerial Suitability and Your Career
• 11. Emtional Intelligience and Your Career
• 12. Your Career Checkup
• Appendix A: Published and Online Career Resources
• Appendix B: Career Counseling Services and Other Instruments