Online Career Test

There are lots of reasons why people can find themselves evaluating there careers and in particular how satisfied they are. This can happen when you start to lose interest in things or work tasks you previously enjoyed or perhaps just don’t feel challenged like you used to.  Or perhaps you are need to reevaluate your career direction due to external factors such as your company is downsizing having been retrenched from your position.   It is important that before starting the process you firstly make, and be comfortable with, a decision to change careers. The following the points will help you in the process of evaluating your career options and help ensure the path toward career change success is a smooth one for you.

(1) Assess your interests - A lot of people change careers because they dislike their job, their boss or their company. Identifying the dislikes and examining your likes is the first step for developing an alternative career path. What things or tasks do you really enjoy doing when you are at work? Do you have any hobbies or interests that may help you transfer into another career or job? At this initial stage of the evaluating your career path many people find it useful to take a quality career test or career interest inventory to help flesh out your interests.  There are many online career test providers but it’s important you select a quality provider that will provide a detailed report with action steps and recommendations for you to follow.  If you choose well you will likely get plenty of options and jobs matched to your specific interests which you will then be able to work through and narrow down based on your decision making. One good test provider to I can recommend is Personality Test HQ as they provide proper career tests and personality tests such as the Strong Interest Inventory which is used by psychologists and career counselors. Alternatively, just do a quick search for “Strong Interest Inventory” and that should provide you with plenty of options of which to compare and choose.

(2) Gather Information and Research new careers - Spend some time researching the types of careers that involve your passions. If you’ve taken a career test you will no doubt have a list of options to work through.  What you do not want to do is choose or discount options if you do not fully understand the ins and outs of what the particular role or career would involve.  A good place to start gathering information are jobs databases.  There are many large databases, often government run, which will outline some of the basic duties involved in particular role, the skills and training requirements, and often also labor market information on how competitive the labor market is for careers in the field. An Australian version of such a site is http://www.jobguide.thegoodguides.com.au/ search.

(3) Identify your Transfer skills – Get a sheet of paper and write down all the skills you think you hold that you may be able to bring to a new job or career.  These skills are often gained through work but can also be skills you have gained through hobbies or interests outside of work.  There are many skills (i.e. communications, leadership, planning, etc.) that are transferable and applicable to what you want to do in your new career.  Although a critical step in the process of finding a new career, people can often have difficulty identifying their transferable skills.  You may have been doing the same job for a long term and not realize you have gained a lot of skills that can be readily transferred to another employer or another career. If you get stuck and have difficulty finding your transferable skills it may be helpful to get help from a career counsellor. They are professions in the field and will help work through your skills and experience and pull out your transferable skills.

 (4) Training and further education – As you work through your list of possible career options which interest you, you will undoubtedly find some which you don’t currently have the skills to do or apply for. When this happens you will need to do some further information gathering on the courses or work experience you would need and make the decision as to whether you are willing or able to undertake further study at that point. While it can be a little disheartening to get excited about a career you would love to move into only to find out you would need to do years of study, one must be practical and realistic about the options available to them.  Often times it will take some time to achieve the goal of getting into your dream career.  In such an instance one should be give considerations to other options that may put you on the path to later on being able to move into that ideal career.  For example, you may like to be a psychologist but after researching the time and training required realize it’s not a realistic option for you at this time. Instead after doing some more research you may find that a lot of the things that draw you to a career as a psychologist would also exist if you were to work as a counsellor which requires a lot less training and study.  In addition, while working as a counsellor you may continue to do further study and work towards your long term goal of being a psychologist. By the time you finish your part time study to become a psychologist you would find that your work as a counsellor would have given you many valuable transferable skills that you would be able to use to help you gain employment as a psychologist, once you have done the additional training and gained the necessary qualifications of course.

(5) Network – An invaluable skill in changing careers is your ability to network. Friends, family or work colleagues in your network may be able to give you job leads, offer you advice and information about a particular company or industry and introduce you to others to expand your network. You may not think you have a network at the moment but you probably do – consider colleagues, friends and family members.

You may also like to do some part time volunteer work in a related industry which will not only let you get some skills that will be useful for the work you which to get into, but also let you meet people and make contacts with those already in a the industry.

(7) Find a mentor or make contact with people where you want to be – If you have a mentor they may help you in taking advantage of his or her network and provide you with guidance and direction.

(8) Job Search - Prepare your resume, cover letter and references. If you feel you need help get a professional career counsellor to help give you guidance and advice. This stage may not be easy but if you have done your homework and research working through the points above you will know what to expect and be ready for the challenges you will likely face.

Changing from a job you don’t enjoy to a role which will give you greater career satisfaction can be one of the most rewarding things you can do for yourself. It can also be very challenging and the process can involve a degree of uncertainty and stress. If you follow these tips however you will be in a position to minimize the uncertainty and maximize your chances of success.

To find quality career and personality tests for career selection and development go to www.personalitytesthq.com.  They have a wide range of assessments that can be taken online and have been designed under strict psychometric test development guidelines to ensure quality results.