If you are looking for some career direction, or perhaps just want to learn more about yourself and your personality,
then taking one or more of these assessment tests can give you a better idea of your attitudes
and interests as they relate to discovering more about yourself -- and possible career choices.
Quintessential Ratings -- a guide to free or inexpensive ($40 or under) career assessments on the Web
(ratings are based strictly on our own experiences and those of our clients and students):
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Assessment
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Measures
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Ease of Use
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Detail of Results
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Rating
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Campbell Interest and Skill Survey
Online version of a well-known and reputable assessment containing
320 multiple-choice items.
Cost: $18.00 |
Interests and Skills
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Easy to use but time-consuming: 25-40 minutes.
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Very comprehensive results, covering nearly 60 occupations and a
comprehensive career planner to help you interpret your results and
plan for your new career. |
QQQQ |
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Career Maze
An on-line tool designed for people to find their future by
increasing self-knowledge. Has you choose from among 2 sets of 82 characteristics.
Cost: $19.95
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How you see yourself and how you think others see you in terms of the
82 characteristics.
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Very fast and easy to use.
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Highly detailed, multi-page report tells your approach to goals, how
you interact with the world around you, your natural pace, what you
seek when given responsibility, career implications for these traits,
and jobs that fit your behavior pattern.
Sample report available. |
QQQQ |
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Dependable Strengths for the Internet
Helps users identify their strengths and learn how their strengths can be used in future careers.
Cost: Cost: $24.49
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Dependable Strengths (strengths used many times in the past, strengths the user enjoyed using, strengths the user was to use in the future).
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Easy, but can be time-consuming. Time needed to go through the six steps varies by user, but users can save their work and go back and finish later.
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Detail of Results: Takes users through a six-step process that includes:
- Identifying many past good experiences
- Selecting the top four good experiences
- Completing the Strengths Chart
- Identifying the Top Strengths
- Determining a Career Pathway using the Top Strengths
- Selecting occupations from that Career Pathway
In this assessment, the process is just as valuable as the results. The more the user puts into the assessment, the more he or she will gain.
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QQQQ
The ability to explore occupations in great depth is a major plus.
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Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS)
Developed to assist high school and college students, and adults with educational and career planning, this test contains 289 pairs of job-related activities.
Cost: $19.95
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Vocational Interests
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Though quite long (takes 45 mins.), the JVIS
provides encouraging screens that tell your
progress and give you a little pep talk. |
Highly detailed report. A particular strength is the
results' comparison of your similarity to college students
in specific majors, thus suggesting possible majors for young people to consider.
Detailed results. JVIS graphs your scores on 34 work roles and workstyles.
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QQQQ
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Keirsey Temperament Sorter
This 70-question assessment is related to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Cost: Free for mini-report |
Personality
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Easy to use, but a little time consuming. Registration required. |
Results, in the form of partial Myers-Briggs Types, give descriptions of the types. Several levels of more
detailed report available: Career Temperament Report, $19.95; Classic Temperament Report, $14.95;
Learning Styles Temperament Report, $14.95; Temperament Discovery Report, $4.95.
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QQQQ
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CoachCompass® Assessment
Cost: Free
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Defines an appropriate starting point for
career services and coaching delivery, thereby allowing
for the targeted development of effective client strategies
to ensure career success.
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Easy. Choose 1 appropriate statement among 6 for 16 sets of statements.
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A short report appears on-screen, and a very detailed report with graphs attached is e-mailed.
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QQQ1/2
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StrengthsFinder 2.0
This well-researched instrument asks you to choose to what degree
either of a set of paired statements applies to you.
Cost: "Free" with the purchase of book, Strengths Finder 2.0, which provides an access code and cost varies, depending on bookseller.
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Areas in which you have the greatest potential for strength.
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Easy. Takes about 25 minutes.
Warning! There's a 20-second limit for answering each question before it vanishes from the screen.
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Online results consist of a good sized paragraph describing your five most
dominant themes of talent, your signature themes. Accompanying book provides
more detail on each theme.
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QQQ1/2 |
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Careerlink Inventory
A 36-question assessment based on the premise that your
self-estimates are a valid basis for career decision-making.
Cost: Free
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Interests, aptitudes, temperaments, physical capacities, preferred
working conditions, and desired length of time preparing for
employment.
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Easy
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Tells which career clusters fit you and provides details about each cluster.
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QQQ |
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Career Test by CareerFitter
The 60-question assessment describes itself as a "hybrid." Questions
very similar to those on a Myers-Briggs-type test.
Cost: $9.95
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Work personality, including strengths, weaknesses, styles, optimal
environments, and other in-depth characteristics of the test-taker at
work. |
Easy. Takes 15-25 minutes. |
10-page Career Report includes summary of test-taker, personality
chart, career choices for test-taker, occupational factors, primary
characteristics, the test-taker at work, potential weaknesses,
personality details, business points, communication method, ideal
environment, team-building approach, management practice, and famous
people like test-taker. You can view a
sample report.
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QQQ |
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MAPP (Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential) Career Analysis
This test has 71 triads of three statements. You must select the
statement you MOST agree with and the statement you LEAST agree with,
leaving one blank.
Cost: Free for very minimal report; detailed reports start at $29.95
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Interest in Job Contents, Temperament for the Job, Aptitude for the
Job, People, Things, Data, Reasoning, Mathematical Capacity, Language
Capacity.
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Registration required; fairly easy to use, but requires some thought. |
Free results are essentially a teaser to encourage purchase of paid
results; however, free MAPP Match features that compares your results
with 5 chosen jobs is helpful.
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QQQ
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Mazemaster
This 6-part assessment is geared to high-school and college students.
Cost: Free |
Interests, Skills, and Values.
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Fairly easy; takes about 30 minutes. Registration required.
Registration is set up for Canadians, but others can use it.
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Rather than interpretive results, the report is a compilation of the
Interests, Skills, and Values, the test-taker has chosen, along with
Goals, Next Steps, and Action Plan. Links provide additional
information on careers suggested by the Interest results.
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QQQ
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The Career Key
25-question test, providing another variation on Holland's 6 personality types.
Cost: $9.95
Organization also offers The Self-Employment Key.
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Holland's 6 personality types (how similar you are to six basic types of people)
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Easy to use. Takes 15 minutes.
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Results are in the form of Holland Codes w/lists of jobs that match users' personality types organized into
"work groups" based on the original Guide to Occupational Exploration. This feature enables users to find similar
matching jobs in context to their personality match. See this classification of jobs in the article
"Match Your
Personality with Careers."
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QQQ
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Career Fit Test
This 72-item well-researched forced-choice assessment has users view successful workers in their ideal work settings.
Cost: $6.00 scoring fee
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Pattern of workplaces in which people would probably make the same picture choices as the user.
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Very easy; takes 10-15 mins. Users choose between two pictures of people in occupations. Occupations are
occasionally difficult to determine from photo, but black and white graphic images further elucidate.
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3-(Web) page report that tells characteristics of the types of work the user would likely enjoy, offers a
"carefully researched job career list representing successful persons who have also chosen those same job
photos when completing this career test," and suggests further resources. Even at only $6, the brevity of the
report detracts from its value. Works as a quick and very basic assessment.
There is no disclosure of the $6 scoring fee until after the user has completed the test.
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QQ1/2 |
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Carolyn
Kalil's Personality Assessment (True Colors)
True Colors is a personality system that has been around since 1979 and is modeled as a
graphical presentation of both Keirsey's Temperament and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
The assessment asks you to choose one of two ways to finish 36 statements. The results can
help you define your skills and talents -- and possibly direct you to various career paths.
Cost: Free |
Personality
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Easy. Takes just a few minutes.
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Gives Web-based results in terms of one of four colors, explained with a one-paragraph description
of your type. (You can also read about your other colors.) More detailed results are supplied on the
next Web page after entering your email address, and ebooks ($4.95) and other publications are
available for sale to offer even more insight.
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QQ1/2 |
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CareerDirect Personality ID Survey
Cost: Personality ID Survey is free; full CareerDirect Assessment is $80.
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Personality |
Assessment involves ranking 16 sets of 4 descriptive words as to how well
they describe you. |
Gives reasonably detailed results about personality type. |
QQ |
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Career Interest Profiler from testingroom.com
This 180-question assessment is a measure of occupational and career interests.
Cost: Free
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Six fundamental categories of interests that capture most
characteristics of people.
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Very easy interface. Takes about 15 minutes.
Registration required. |
Three-paragraph report; more complete results available for $14.95.
Free sample of full results available. |
QQ for free report; QQQQ for paid report |
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Career Interest Test from LiveCareer
This 100-question assessment identifies your career interests and then tells you what jobs are out
there for you.
Free for basic results.
Site also offers Career Satisfaction Test, Resume Test, and Start a Business Test.
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Interests, personality, values, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
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Easy. Takes 25 minutes. You can stop and go back to the test later.
You also have the opportunity to review your answers before submitting them. |
Free 14-page overview report shows interestsm personality, and workplace fit.
Deluxe Report available for $15.
Free samples of both regular and deluxe reports are available.
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QQ
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CareerPlanner
This test, based on the RIASEC system developed by Dr. John Holland, has 180 questions in which
you either choose likes and dislikes or answer true/false.
Cost: $29.95 premium report; $24.95 for regular report.
Site also offers a version of the Myers-Briggs assessment.
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The "fundamental nature of the careers that are good for you"
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Easy. Takes 10-15 minutes.
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A 15-page PDF report is available between an hour and five days after completing the test. Speed of
delivery depends on fee paid. Results include dominant RIASEC codes and numerous careers matched to
the test-taker's interests, values, and skill sets. Users should note that submission of most personal information
is optional. Similar RIASEC-based tests are available free or are less expensive. Recommended in every
edition of Richard Bolles' What Color Is Your Parachute since 2002.
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QQ |
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Career Values Scale from testingroom.com
This 88-question assessment looks at values to see how they relate to
the test-taker's world of work and help to identify areas of career
satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Cost: Free
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Ten work values: service orientation, team orientation, influence,
creativity, independence, excitement, personal development, financial
rewards, security, and prestige.
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Very easy interface; questions seem somewhat repetitious. Takes
about 10-20 mins. Registration required. |
Two-paragraph report; more complete results available for $14.95.
Free sample of full results available. |
QQ for free report; QQQQ for paid report |
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Career Zone
An extremely bare-bones, 3-question assessment.
Cost: Free
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Combinations of six broad interest areas known as RIASEC codes.
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Ultra fast and easy
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Very bare bones, but gives lists of occupations for each type.
Test-takers will need to do more research on the RIASEC types.
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QQ |
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Personality Index from testingroom.com
This 90-question assessment examines key personality features that
influence your approach to tasks, interaction with people, and the
activities you enjoy.
Cost: Free
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17 traits: ambition, initiative, flexibility, energy,
leadership, concern for others, teamwork, outgoing, democratic,
innovation, analytic thinking, persistence, dependability, attention
to detail, rule-following, self-control, and stress tolerance.
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Very easy interface; questions seem somewhat repetitious. Takes
about 10-20 mins. Registration required.
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Two-paragraph report describes two key features of
your personal style; full report with an additional 20 traits
available for $14.95. Free sample of full results available.
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QQ for free report; QQQQ for paid report |
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The Insight Game
Quick, fun visual take on the Myers-Briggs.
Free for basic report.
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Myers-Briggs Type
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Very easy, fast, and fun, with the ability to flip and place "cards" that result in revealing one's type. Takes less than 10 mins.
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About one page about your Myers-Briggs type. More in-depth career information and extensive loving
relationship profiles are available for only $6.95, or $12.95 for the Comprehensive Personality Profile.
Not useful for those who already know their Myers-Briggs type since letter codes are revealed on the "cards."
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QQ
(fun, but basic results are not comprehensive about career)
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Work Preference Inventory
This 24-question forced-choice assessment that tells your work style.
Based on the premise that the process of values clarification is very important in career planning.
Cost: Free
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Values
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Quick and easy; interactivity depends on having a JavaScript-enabled browser |
Results are in a chart with very brief descriptions of work style;
tests with more detailed results available for a fee.
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QQ
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Big Five Personality Test
Formerly called All About You, this test measures personality aspects that can be applied to careers.
Cost: Free
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Five fundamental dimensions of personality |
Easy to use; takes 5-10 minutes |
Fairly bare-bones chart assessing Openness to New Experiences, Extraversion, Nervousness, and others. |
Q
(interesting personality assessment, but only marginally applicable to careers) |
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Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI) SAMPLE
This 38-question assessment, a sample of the full RHETI which has 144
questions, looks at personality types.
Cost: Free
Site also offers the 44-question "The New Enneagram Test."
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Personality |
Easy to use. Takes 5-10 minutes.
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Fairly good description of 1 of 9 types |
Q
(interesting personality assessment, but only marginally applicable to careers) |
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Career Liftoff Interest Inventory (CLII)
This 240-question test uses activity-based questions
to create a report with Holland/RIASEC codes.
Cost: $19.95
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Interests.
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Takes 20-30 minutes to complete.
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Detailed profile and narrative reports instantly available in PDF format.
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QQQQ for paid report |
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Hollands Self-Directed Search
Online version of widely used and highly respected career assessment.
Cost: $4.95
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Interests, Values, and Skills
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Contains 5 section and takes 20-30 minutes.
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An 8-16 page personalized report appears on screen after payment and provides a description of each of the 6
RIASEC types, your 3-letter RIASEC code (a combination of the 3 RIASEC types that most closely match your
interests), an explanation of how to use your code in career planning, a list of occupations, fields of study, and leisure
activities consistent with your 3-letter code, and next steps for career exploration and decision-making.
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Not rated |
