Whether you recently landed in your first career or are considering a career shift, Career Aptitude Tests are worth a try. They help you understand yourself better. With Career Aptitude Tests, you will have the opportunity to choose which career paths are suitable for you. They offer a comprehensive overview of the different possible careers you can venture into, allowing you to use and maximize your natural abilities, talents, and gifts.
Although most students choose academic courses or degrees according to the career path they have in mind, many of them don’t land career positions that make them fulfilled in the long run. As a result, they become uncertain during the latter part of their degree program and find themselves back to square one.
The solution? A Career Aptitude Test that points you in the right direction!
Career Aptitude Test results may or may not be 100% accurate; however, they offer some insight into your strengths, weaknesses, and interests. From there, you can evaluate possible career choices.
While no Career Aptitude Test can guarantee your dream career, these types of tests can help you discover the working style that suits you best and the work environment where you’ll thrive better.
Are you ready to discover yourself even more for your future career? Check out this article to learn all the must-knows when it comes to Career Aptitude Tests.
What Exactly Is A Career Aptitude Test?
Used to identify candidates’ career capabilities, an aptitude test is an exam that evaluates the strengths and shortcomings of individuals—particularly as they relate to job prospects. They also determine a person’s ability to succeed or fail in specific areas based on their personalities.
Remember, however, that Career Aptitude Tests don’t assess knowledge; hence, they aren’t something that individuals can study.
In the work industry, aptitude tests are taken by applicants to identify the types of careers that best fit their interests, passion, and skillset. Some companies or employers use aptitude tests to come up with effective hiring decisions. In the professional industry, aptitude tests are referred to as career assessment tests. The Career Aptitude Test’s primary objective is helping hiring managers learn more about the candidate’s probability of fitting into the organization or otherwise. They can also be used within an organization to make effective decisions for promoting their employees.
A specific type of Career Aptitude Test commonly used in most hiring processes is a situational judgment test. This test helps evaluate how a candidate responds to particular situations in work settings. Situational judgment tests can also be used to identify an individual’s management skills and communication style.
Why Are Career Aptitude Tests Significant?
Hiring someone fit for the role is a crucial aspect for employers and companies. They invest energy, money, and time looking and screening candidates. Additional employees also cost a lot of financial resources. Companies spend more money investing in training and development for new employees. Without a doubt, hiring candidates is costly for every company. Accomplishing the right process and steps to find the right candidate, such as Career Aptitude Tests, is a worthy investment.
- Situational judgment tests or behavioral tests are one of the most popular forms of a pre-employment assessment test. A candidate’s response to specific situations is a crucial factor.
- Customer service, management, or leadership skills are some of the common emphasis of most aptitude tests.
- Formal interviews and background screenings are subjective. Through Career Aptitude Tests, companies obtain a more precise overview of your personality and how you respond to any given circumstances on your work.
Unlike civil service exams, you don’t need to prepare for Career Aptitude Tests. Don’t figure out what the company is searching for. Relax and stay true to yourself; answer each question as honestly as you can.
How Do Career Aptitude Tests Work?
The philosophy behind the majority of aptitude tests is that you will perform well in a career that utilizes and maximizes your interests, talents, natural gifts, and training. By definition, aptitude means the capacity to perform something better. These tests consist of a diverse range of questions that inquire about your current knowledge and skill set. If you have no work experience but recently earned a college degree, your responses will reflect an interest in a profession that aligns with your field of study.
The majority of Career Aptitude Tests highlight questions in various measurement components. The objective is to explore which measurement component you are highly proficient in and not so proficient. Some of the most common areas include verbal and numerical reasoning, helping you identify whether you’re a number or a verbal person.
Learn more about Career Aptitude Tests! Use these page jumps to explore this topic:
Types of Career Aptitude Tests
* Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
* Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS)
* Strong Interest Inventory
Pros of Career Aptitude Test
Cons of Career Aptitude Test
Top Sites For Taking The Career Aptitude Tests
* The Myers-Briggs Organization: MBTI
* 123 Career Test
* Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation
* Princeton Review Career Quiz
* Gallup: CliftonStrengths
* My Next Move O*Net Interest Profiler
* The Enneagram Institute
* MyPlan.com
* Self-Directed Search
* MAPP Career Test
* CareerFitter
* PathSource
* CareerExplorer
* Truity: The Big Five Personality Test
* What Career Is Right For Me
Types of Career Aptitude Tests
The following are the most popular and crucial types of Career Aptitude Tests:
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is the most popular aptitude test. For more than five decades, the MBTI has already helped many people search for career opportunities through inclusive personality analysis. Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs created MBTI under the influence of Carl Jung’s personality research. Due to its popularity and completeness, over 2M people have already taken the test and are still counting. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test offers individuals detailed information regarding potential college degrees, professional paths, and career interests by determining psychological traits and personality.
MBTI identifies areas of disinterest and weakness and professional strengths, letting individuals find compatible professions that best fit their strong points and talents. It presents career types that embody judging, thinking, perceiving, feeling, intuition, sensing, introversion, and extroversion skills. MBTI integrates the results and provides test takers with a comprehensive overview of work conditions and environments suitable to their personality types.
Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS)
David Keirsey’s Keirsey Temperament Sorter is almost the same as the MBTI; however, it evaluates different personality and psychological characteristics. KTS categorizes individuals into four major temperaments, namely rationals, artisans, guardians, and idealists. There are eight types of roles within the four temperaments and even more variants for each role type. By examining behaviors, role types, and temperaments, the Keirsey Temperament Sorter can identify well-suited career paths that advocate personal growth and success. Unlike the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator that determines how individuals think, the KTS evaluates through actual behaviors. KTS can also assess how work conditions and work environments influence work productivity and satisfaction.
Strong Interest Inventory
In 1927, Edward K. Strong Jr. developed the Strong Interest Inventory and was widely used as a psychological Career Aptitude Test. The Strong Interest Inventory consists of 291 questions that identify personal and professional interests. The test is suitable for everyone, ranging from high school and college students to professional adults. The exam will position candidates at a hexagon’s point based on six personality types, namely enterprising, social, artistic, investigative, realistic, and conventional. Career guidance is given depending on the person’s point on the hexagon.
Pros of Career Aptitude Test
A Career Aptitude Test’s primary advantage is that it relies on natural interests and logic for determining a suitable career for you. The overall basis is that if you’re passionate or have a natural gift in a specific area of expertise, you can succeed in that related industry or career path. Some people go above and beyond their roles and exceed expectations if they are passionate about their work.
Career Aptitude Tests are also necessary, especially if you’re experiencing a crossroad in your profession and expecting a career shift. Each result from a Career Aptitude Test will provide you with a minimum of three career possibilities worth considering.
Another benefit of taking a Career Aptitude Test is that you can narrow down your career choices and help you discover hidden gifts and talents. This type of test helps an individual with an unorganized skillset to focus on their strong points as a starting point.
Cons of Career Aptitude Test
The main drawback of Career Aptitude Tests is that they cannot predict how efficiently you can perform new tasks. For instance, if you’re passionate about helping people and medicine, but you don’t possess natural interests in science and mathematics, the results may not describe that you should pursue a career in the related field. However, if you are dedicated to learning and gaining a specific skill set, you can have a successful career as a registered nurse or doctor.
On the contrary, your Career Aptitude Test results can indicate you are a salesperson since you enjoy interacting with other people and natural talent for speaking. However, if you aren’t the aggressive type, then a career in sales isn’t the best option for you. As an additional option, some people can overcome the limitations of Career Aptitude Tests by integrating them with personality-based assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Top Sites For Taking The Career Aptitude Tests
If you need a more comprehensive insight into your career aptitude, you can try some top sites for taking Career Aptitude Tests. These sites will provide you with complete results interpretations once you’ve completed all the related questions.
The Myers-Briggs Organization: MBTI
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is applicable in almost all aspects of your life. As a result, many companies and career centers have MBTI as one of the most commonly used assessments. The MBTI provides you with an overview of your personality preferences. Some of these preferences include how you come up with decisions, how you observe the world around you, where you get your energy, and how you interpret information.
Besides providing you with career possibilities, the MBTI also gives a lot of relevant information about how you can best interact with colleagues, your working preferences and styles, and the kinds of work environments suitable for you.
The MBTI comes with a basic report; however, you can take a free MBTI test through 16Personalities.
123 Career Test
Instead of using traditional questions with agreeing and disagree choices, the 123 Career Test displays four images. Each image portrays work linked with a specific personality type. Individuals provide a yes or no response regarding the particular image, indicating that they prefer doing the kind of work or not. After completing 15 questions, you obtain a Holland Code result. The result is based on John Holland’s personality types and professions. Aside from the results, you will also get a list of recommendations that suit your specific preferences and personality.
Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation
Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation is a non-profit organization that has been learning human aptitudes and abilities since 1922. Their core objective is to help individuals make informed decisions regarding their career paths. Unlike other aptitude tests, the foundation’s aptitude testing is conducted only in accredited testing centers across the U.S. It evaluates 19 various aptitudes ranging from work personality to musical aptitude to reasoning skills. The test also involves games or puzzles instead of traditional questionnaires. About 50% of the aptitude test is provided individually by a professional test facilitator, and the rest is through audio-visual equipment.
If visiting a testing center isn’t your preference, you can have an overview of Johnson O’Connor’s aptitude tests through Oprah’s website. It’s a free Career Aptitude Test specially made for Oprah.com. Through this aptitude test, you can complete five short tests to evaluate a diverse range of skills, from structural visualization to abstract reasoning. You can identify which professions require that specific skill set and get a summary of career types that best fit your capabilities.
Princeton Review Career Quiz
Like 123 Career Test, Princeton’s Career Quiz provides you with examples of individuals performing tasks and lets you select which one you’d love to accomplish. The difference is that instead of pictures, Princeton’s Career Quiz gives statements such as “I would rather be a musician” or “I would rather be a wildlife expert.” If you prefer statements over images, Princeton’s aptitude test is perfect for you.
The career quiz comprises 24 questions. Once done, you’ll obtain a color that corresponds with your perceived style and interests. Princeton then provides a list of potential careers that are well-matched for individuals on a specific color grouping.
Gallup: CliftonStrengths
Officially named as Clifton StrengthsFinder, Gallup’s Career Aptitude Test shows individuals how they can enhance their talents into strong points, uncover their hidden strengths, and guides them to utilize these skills to progress their career strategically.
After completing the quiz, you’ll obtain a personalized report that highlights your top five dominant strengths, including supplementary materials and videos to help you achieve success.
My Next Move O*Net Interest Profiler
A project of the U.S. Department of Labor, the O*Net Interest Profiler will help you determine where your professional interests align, directing you toward career possibilities that cater to these interests.
This Career Aptitude Test asks you to answer 60 questions regarding different work duties and responsibilities. After responding to each activity with strongly dislike or strongly like, O*Net Interest Profiler identifies potential career options and career interests. With the Current Job Zone and Future Job Zone sections, you can either find a career with your current qualifications or explore how much training and experience you need for pursuing your dream job.
The Enneagram Institute
The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator tells you which Enneagram types that best describes your personality. There are nine Enneagram types: the peacemaker, the challenger, the enthusiast, the loyalist, the investigator, the individualist, the achiever, the helper, and the reformer.
Learning more about your Enneagram type won’t only help you get along well with colleagues. It can also determine which characteristics you require to thrive and be content in your career.
MyPlan.com
MyPlan.com has four assessment options: a career values assessment, a career skills profiler, a career interest inventory, and a career personality test. Like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test, it measures your career personality and helps you match with ideal professions.
You gain a new perspective on each assessment individually. For instance, the career values assessment offers you an insight into what to look for in a career that gives you satisfaction. On the contrary, the career personality test will show you 739 possible jobs, ranked according to how each profession matches your personality, preferences, and values.
If you’re uncertain of which career or industry you’ll pursue, MyPlan.com can provide you with essential insights.
Self-Directed Search
The Self-Directed Search is a Career Aptitude Test that matches candidates with career paths based on interests, activities, aspirations, and other factors. The result is a customized report describing and ranking how conventional, enterprising, social, artistic, investigative, or realistic you can be. It’s based on the Holland Code, RIASEC. Along with a personalized code, you also obtain a list of potential careers, educational opportunities, and income data that best align with your personality and results.
MAPP Career Test
Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential, the MAPP Career Test offers you insights regarding your professional aspirations and provides you with a list of the top ten industries best-matched for you. Also, the MAPP aptitude test matches you with specific professions in the site’s repository of more than 1,000 roles, narrowing down your potential career search.
Since 1995, more than 8M people have completed the MAPP career test, which is available in six languages. It has passed through reliability testing by a group of psychologists, and the results are related to the Strong Interest Inventory. While most Career Aptitude Tests on this list provide a general overview, the MAPP career test matches you with more specific careers.
If you prefer a more detailed and the most accurate insight, the MAPP career test is a reputable test to accomplish.
CareerFitter
CareerFitter is a 60-question Career Aptitude Test. It goes beyond decoding your personality and strengths; it also helps you uncover or reconsider a career prospect or profession you were unsure of. This Career Aptitude Test is offered in basic and premium service. With a premium service, you’ll get ten pages of the report describing the essential information for your career search. It includes your ideal work environments, potential weaknesses, and best careers for your type of personality.
PathSource
PathSource is a free Career Aptitude Test app for people who prefer using mobile devices instead of computers. Once you provide your interests and personality type, PathSource offers a list of prospective career options and supplementary information such as wage expectations and lifestyle for each career. Aside from that, the app includes 2,600 helpful interviews, highlighting an insider’s perspective of professionals coming from different industries.
PathSource also offers a repository of professions related to different educational programs. If you’re a fresh graduate and are uncertain which career you’ll pursue, PathSource is a helpful app.
CareerExplorer
CareerExplorer is a comprehensive Career Aptitude Test that measures personality traits, workplace preference, career aspirations, and interests. Once completed, you’ll obtain personalized career matches and recommendations. This 20-minute Career Aptitude Test helps you make informed decisions regarding your profession.
Truity: The Big Five Personality Test
Truity is another free Career Aptitude Test that helps you discover more about how you interact and relate with colleagues. The results highlight how you handle stressful circumstances, how much of an introvert you are, how much self-discipline you possess, and how open you are to new challenges. This Career Aptitude Test only takes ten minutes to complete. It is an essential tool for understanding yourself better when dealing with colleagues and the job itself.
What Career Is Right For Me
What Career Is Right For Me aptitude test is a straightforward assessment for learning more about yourself. You can rank your skillset along with your values, work styles, interests, and work environments. It also lets you rate how much potential growth you anticipate and how much money you’d like to earn in your preferred career. The results are concise, providing you with links to job openings and job descriptions.
Regardless of the venue you’ve chosen to take your Career Aptitude Tests, you can obtain an overview of the career that best fits your aptitudes, values, and personality. Always remember that the right career is always within your reach. If you don’t like the Career Aptitude Test results, you can always take them with a grain of salt. After all, it’s entirely up to you as long as it aligns with your preferences and needs.
While Career Aptitude Tests can assess the type of career and personality that appeal to you, they are not entirely accurate, and you can always venture into a different field. Through Career Aptitude Tests, you can also discover your hidden strengths and talents to help you in your future endeavors. Make sure that you accomplish a Career Aptitude Test genuinely to the best of your intentions. Answer them with an honest heart to have authentic results that will provide you with the best career possibilities.