Assessment Battery

If you are not sure what kind of job or career you want, a career assessment battery could help.  Find out what do you do well, what do you enjoy doing, how do you prefer to interact in the workplace, and what motivates/ demotivates you.   A personal inventory could assist in defining your strengths and your weaknesses.  The first step in the career life planning process is self assessment, getting to know your interests, preferred and transferable skills, personality, and values.  As the needs in the workplace are transitioning  from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age, it can be difficult to understand which new opportunities would be a match for your unique talents.  Looking for a match between your strengths and the work you are considering is the most important step before you write a resume or search for a job.  In fact, it is easier to write a resume and prepare for a job interview when you know yourself well.  You will be seriously considered for a position only by showing the employer that you know who you are, what you can offer, and where you are going.

Assessments for an increasingly complicated and diverse society need to:   (a) measure a wide range of knowledge and skills; (b) measure more complex learning behavior; (c) are demonstrably fair, based on just and understandable standards; (d) are embedded in the whole learning process, giving feedback for instruction; (e) reflect a global economy and society; and (f) responds to students' and educators' technological needs by offering services such as automatic scoring, online registration, and widely available testing times (Educational Testing Service 1999 annual report ). 

Assessment Battery Integration

The analysis of the results from an assessment battery can confirm your choices or pose counseling issues.  If you discover the results of your assessment battery match occupational choices you have thought about, you have confirmation that could give you the confidence you need to move ahead with occupational exploration to further refine your occupational direction and on to your action plan.   If you discover your interests do not match some of the other measures, you will have uncovered counseling issues you and your career counselor could address and resolve.  For obvious reasons, it is important to look at multiple measures, not just one test, when making a decision about your future.  Testing is only one of the measures to consider when choosing a career, past successes, and other experiences are important too.

Sometimes it is difficult to examine what may be a weakness.  Everyone is not equally good at everything.  Appropriate assessment could be used to identify areas of weakness and provide clear focus for training requirements.   But, keep in mind, what might be perceived as a weakness in one occupation may be considered a strength in another. 

You will need to commit some time to prepare your personal inventory.  For the best results, it is important to be honest with yourself.  The process will be time consuming but the data collected  then becomes an important resource as you continue in your career planning and job search activities.

Assessment Battery Results Integration