the allure of career assessments
I’m an INTJ. My strengths are Intellection, Futuristic, Input, Empathy, and Focus. My Holland code is SAI (Social, Artistic, Investigative). My creative type is The Thinker and according to this Buzzfeed quiz, I should be an astronaut. In case you haven’t caught on, I love career assessments. I also don’t think they work.
The idea that I can take a test and have it magically present insights about me as a person is incredibly appealing. Just think of all the time saved not needing to go through the hard work of self-reflection and trying new things to see how I like them. But this is exactly the problem—they’re a shortcut.
For a lot of career counselors, these assessments are a great way to get a conversation started. The results never exist in a vacuum and are always part of a bigger discussion, but that doesn’t stop people from reading a bit too much into the results. It’s just easier than looking inward. There’s so much to think about already, so much distraction—who wants to take the time to figure out what their personality is when they can take a test and have it spit out an answer key?
And, let’s be honest, they’re so fun. They’re fun because it’s actually kind of comforting to be defined, I suppose. “I can’t work like that because I’m an INTJ. I need structure.” “This place is suffocating me. I’m an ESFP.”
It’s so tempting to do this—to put yourself in a box. “This is just the way I am!” But it’s not true and it’s incredibility limiting. It’s an excuse to not change, a way to avoid self improvement. The fact that many of career assessments claim that your result will never change reinforces this. (Not all of them do this, thankfully.)
Career assessment are useful, if you’re approaching them with the understanding that they’re just a snapshot in time, one that can be an interesting place to start if you’re trying to learn more about yourself. That’s about it though.
All that said, they’re still fun as hell. Here are a few free career assessments to try:
“The Creative Types test (by Adobe) is an exploration of the many faces of the creative personality. Based in psychology research, the test assesses your basic habits and tendencies—how you think, how you act, how you see the world—to help you better understand who you are as a creative.”
The 16Personalities test is a tiny MBTI. Take this if you’ve always wondered what your MBTI results would be, but didn’t want to pay for the actual test. (Or maybe to see if your results are still the same.)
Here’s a career aptitude test based on Holland Codes that will help you “learn what kind of work environments and occupations suit you best. The results of this career test provide you with a list of professions and occupations that fit your career personality.”
interesting reads
“There’s a new use for America’s dying malls: co-working” Read here.
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Reads by theSkimm
cool jobs
There’s a career services role at Tufts, my alma mater! Apply here.
My team is looking for a director of academic program administration. Apply here.