Here are some resources for finding more about your strengths, style, and temperament, and how to match that to your work decisions.
Free Online Assessments and Tools
- Strong Life Test for Women – “Discover the role you were born to play” in both your personal and professional life. The online quiz provides a snapshot of your strengths and a career direction for you. (With only 23 questions, I was surprised at how accurate it felt for me.) You can buy the book, Find Your Strongest Life, for more details about how to use what you learn.
- O*Net Online – Provides many tools for exploring job ideas (by keywords, categories, strengths, etc.). There’s a simple Interest Profiler to help you match up your strengths to job ideas. Job listings indicate which jobs are currently in demand based on U.S. Department of Labor statistics. No listing of jobs is definitive but it makes a good research tool for getting started.
- Keirsey Temperament Sorter – Free online quiz to find your temperament or personality type. (At the end, you’ll find free and paid options for your results.)
Formal Assessments for a Fee
The most valuable assessment tools are well-researched and administered by a professional who can help you interpret the results. I recommend considering these to boost your exploration process.
Among thousands of profiles available, these are some of the most popular ones today. I recommend discussing the options with a professional who administers these assessments.
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) – This is one of my favorites. It opened my eyes in a life-changing way. It helped me understand the strengths within my introversion and other findings. This in turn helped me choose the right career direction.
- Strong Interest Inventory – Discover your interests, preferences, and personal styles, and receive a report with matching career directions to consider.
- DiSC – Ideal for leadership and team development. DiSC is a personal assessment tool used to improve work productivity, teamwork, and communication. DiSC helps people discuss their behavioral differences in a non-judgmental way.
Where to Take the Formal Assessments
- Your college career center or alumni office may offer these services for you.
- I recommend Jess Dods, a career transition coach, who is certified to administer nearly any assessment you’ll need. He’s great at helping you: choose the right assessments, interpret the results, and integrate your results into your career plan. My clients have been very happy working with him.
