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High school graduation is coming up and you’re heading off to college soon. The panic begins to set in every time somebody brings up college majors. You still have no idea what you want to study, and definitely not what you want your career to be after college.
Don’t worry! A lot of students are in the same boat as you. The good news is that you have four years of college standing between you and your future. That being said, choosing a major that makes sense for your desired career can help you by saving you time and money in the long run.
For example, if you know what you want to do for a career you can take full advantage of college courses and internship opportunities. Graduating college with experience under your belt is an invaluable thing. It will definitely put you ahead of the game.
But how do you begin to figure out what you want to do after college? Taking a career assessment for high school students is a great first step. It can help you figure out a career that is right for you.
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What is a Career Assessment?
A career assessment is a quiz that you can take to determine a fitting major or career. The assessment consists of a series of questions, usually multiple choice. It asks you about your personality, values, interests and goals. Your results recommend various career paths based on your answers.
Career assessments may seem like a lot of work at first. Many of them have a lot of questions and take some time to complete. This is because the tests need to gather a lot of information about you to give you more accurate results.
You might feel like you need to answer in a way that you think is correct. But there are no right or wrong answers. Answer questions to the best of your ability. This way, your results will be more helpful.
Career Assessment Tests
There are a lot of different career assessment tests that you can take to help determine a good career for you. The tests are very insightful, and you might end up learning things about yourself that you didn’t know. Here are some popular career assessment tests you can take.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Career Aptitude Test
The MBTI is one of the most popular career assessment tests. The test can help you explore different careers that match your personality type. The test identifies your personality type through a series of statements. You must state how much you agree or disagree with the statement. For example “you like to be engaged in a fast-paced job.”
There are 16 possible personality types. Your personality type might be ESFJ (Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling Judging). An ESFJ personality type enjoys helping others, is sensitive to somebody’s needs and assumes a caregiver role. Suitable careers for an ESFJ may include nursing, teaching, and counseling.
The test can help you learn a lot about yourself and can be useful in your career exploration journey.
Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP) Career Aptitude Test
The MAPP Career test can help high school students figure out a college major and career path. The test involves 71 questions which cover a variety of areas like your interests, skills and learning style. It matches you against 1,000 potential careers and gives you jobs that match your answers.
The quiz takes around 20 minutes. It is free to take but you must pay for the results.
Holland Code Career Aptitude Test
The Holland Code Career Aptitude test matches your interests with an ideal career. The test measures your interest in several areas to find the perfect career for you. The areas include the following:
- Realistic – i.e. working outdoors or with machines
- Investigative – i.e. doing research, problem solving and experiments
- Artistic – i.e. crafts and design
- Social – i.e. counseling or medical care
- Enterprising – i.e. sale or politics sale
- Conventional – i.e. organizing or categorizing
The Princeton Review Career Quiz
The Princeton Review Career Quiz targets incoming college freshmen. The test measures students’ interests, motivation, behavior and the way they manage stress. It consists of 24 questions that each include two different scenarios. You must choose the scenario that fits you. For example, two scenarios might be “I would rather be a tax lawyer” or “I would rather be a newspaper editor.”
Based on your answers, you may be placed in the following categories:
- Red: Production-centered
- Green: People-centered
- Blue: Idea-centered
- Yellow: Procedure-centered
The results give you the areas that you are interested in the most, along with career choices. This is more of a light-hearted quiz that you may find fun to take with a few friends. Take the results with a grain of salt, as they are pretty general. It’s best to use this quiz with another career test.
CareerExplorer Career Test
The CareerExplorer Test asks questions that considers the following information:
- Your interests
- Your History and goals
- What type of workplace you prefer
- Your personality
The test uses this information and compares it to over 800+ careers to match you with suitable careers.
Career Exploration Activities
Career assessments are not the only tool you can use to figure out your career path. Career exploration activities can also be a helpful tool. Here are some different career exploration activities you can do.
- Apprentice for a day- This is a great classroom activity. Students imagine what it would be like to work as an apprentice in any job for a day. They should discuss what jobs they would pick and give their reasons for why.
- Shadow somebody on the job. This will allow you to see firsthand what the job is like.
- Take part in clubs or workshops related to a career you are interested in
- Tour a workplace to see what the environment is like
Final Thoughts
Choosing a career is no easy task. Career assessments and exploration activities may help you narrow down a career, or at least a direction that is right for you. Be sure to use them as a guidance rather than an end all be all. The tests can broaden your thinking and help you explore a range of careers.
