How to Choose a Career Path
In this article, you won't find any job search websites. What you will find here are some useful tips on how to better understand and motivate yourself, how to set the right goals and achieve them. Also, we will provide you with the best psychological tests that will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses and choose a career that will not only pay well but also fulfill you emotionally.
8 Best Tests to Help You Choose the Right Career Path
For starters, we have two universal career aptitude tests for you. Although these tests were created a long time ago, they remain a powerful tool for people to choose the right career path.
The first one is The Career Anchors test. The Career Anchor theory and the relevant test were developed by Edgar Henry Schein, a Swiss-American specialist in corporate culture in the 1970s. Career anchors, or career orientations, according to Schein, are, essentially, a combination of your most important motives, priorities, skills, and perceived areas of competence. The Career Anchors Test was created to help people determine their fundamental values and match their career goals with these values. In other words, the test offers important insight into an individual's characteristics and capabilities, which will help them build a successful career and be satisfied with their life.
As for the second test, it is called The Holland Code and is otherwise referred to as RIASEC, which is the acronym for the six types of vocational choices it suggests. The test's author is John L. Holland, an American psychologist and professor at Michigan University. The original description of the six types of occupations was "motoric, intellectual, supportive, aesthetic, persuasive, and conforming". However, later John L. Holland changed them to the following: Realistic (Doers),Investigative (Thinkers),Social (Helpers),Artistic (Creators),Enterprising (Persuaders),and Conventional (Organizers). Practically, RIASEC is based on career development theory and occupation choices depending on personality types.
Find Out Your Personality Type and Your Key Qualities
Understanding your personal qualities is crucial for making the right career choice. We selected the three best tests for you that will help you decide on a career path.
Carl Jung's theory about archetypes had a huge impact on the branch of psychology that explores career choices. That's why we'd like to introduce you to the Jung Personality Test. Once you complete it, you'll receive a summary of your personality's strengths and weaknesses, your preferences in interacting with others, your approach to organizing your life, and careers recommended for your personality type.
The second test based on personality types we suggest you take is DISC Assessment. This test is based on the behavioral theory developed by psychologist William Moulton Marston. The acronym DISC stands for dominance, inducement, steadiness, and conscientiousness — according to the theory, these are an individual's four central personality traits. The test's results are very accurate, and it can help you understand what your perfect career path is, or what makes your employees tick if you're an entrepreneur.
We also highly recommend you take the Big Five Inventory (BFI). This test is designed to measure the Big Five personality traits. These five primary traits are: extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Fun fact: acronyms OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) or CANOE (conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion) are sometimes used to remember these traits effortlessly. If you take the Big Five test, you will better understand yourself and it will be a lot easier for you to choose the career path that suits you best.
Find Out What Your Temperament Is
A person's temperament significantly influences job satisfaction. A career that does not suit your temperament might lead to difficulties, conflicts, and stress. But how do you find out what your temperament type is? Temperament Test by H. J. Eysenck can come in handy. The test is based on a two-factor model that includes extraversion and neuroticism scales. We highly recommend you take this test and discover your personality type to understand what career is best for you and what to expect from yourself in everyday life in general.
Find Out Your Place in the Team and Your Leadership Qualities
The importance of teamwork in today's world can't be overstated. Team atmosphere improves dramatically when all employees understand the roles they play in pursuit of a shared goal. Our free Team Role Test will help you understand what responsibilities you'd be comfortable taking on in a team. Managers can also find this test useful for distributing roles more effectively, and it can help HR managers in their recruiting work.
Find Out Your Type of Behavior in Conflict Situations
Conflict is natural when we interact with other people because no two individuals have the same expectations, life views, and desires. That's exactly why conflict resolution is so important. Are you able to argue with your boss or employees constructively? Can you defend your interests and work-life balance? Do you find compromises easily in conflict situations?
If you need answers to these questions, we suggest you check out a questionnaire that is based on two dimensions describing a person's behavior in conflict situations: assertiveness and cooperativeness. This test is called The Conflict Mode Questionnaire inspired by the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument.
Set Your Goals and Start Working Toward Them
A wise man once said, "Money can't buy happiness." Although money plays a big role in our lives and matters to all of us, it's even more important to be happy. Because money shouldn't dictate a person's entire life and choices, what matters most isn't the salary itself but a clear understanding of your priorities. How much they enjoy their job and their lifestyle is what should matter most. For example, working in a great place with cool people for 20 hours a week, even for less money, can make someone much happier than a stressful job where they work 60 hours a week for a lot of cash but with a narcissistic boss or mean co-workers.
Conclusion
Now that you know much more about yourself — your strengths and weaknesses, your behavior in conflict situations, and your role in a team — you can think about what truly motivates you and make a list of 5–7 jobs that are best suited to your skills and interests. Examining each of them through the lens of your values, desired income level, competitiveness, and market demand will help you choose where to focus your effort.