Career Test

As a way to help direct kids towards life goals and choices, many schools have begun to administer a type of career test to help identify a child’s interests and abilities as they might apply to their future career choices. Some schools give a career test to students at various grade levels beginning with middle school while other schools may administer a similar test only once in high school.

A career test administered to a child can be both interesting and revealing, but by no means will it dictate their future. After all, it is all together different to administer a career test to a child with changing interests and a still developing mind than to an adult who is mid-career already. However, a career test can offer some insight into areas where a child’s abilities and interests may align and thus provide them with a way to focus on elective classes and personal enrichment that is age appropriate. An on-site training career test may also help eliminate confusion over declaring a major in college.

At the core of the career test are interests and abilities, but it’s also designed to identify and match the roles of specific job types. Some job functions are right-brain while others are left-brain. Perhaps your child responds well to a mixture of both, or perhaps they perform one better than another. For example, an accountant deals with precision and analytical tasks and may not be an ideal choice for a student who’s predominantly a right-brain personality.

For students who may take a career test at various stages of their academic career, a portfolio is often kept that allows students to refer to trends in their abilities. This may further help them in their junior and senior years when the choice of college or trade schools is looming. In addition to a career test, many schools are implementing job-shadowing opportunities for kids to follow a certain job role for a day and learn more about a specific field. All in all, these extra insights into possible career choices may assist kids and their parents with certain decisions. However, it is important to not a let a child become discouraged if their test results do not seem to match their career goals. In the long run, half the battle of an individual’s working life is enjoying what they do for a living; the other half is being successful at it.