The Career Test - Taking The Mystery Out of Career Choices

When researching career choices, often one of the first things you may stumble upon is the Career Test. Just as there are a variety of career choices out there; there are a variety of career tests as well. Knowing which is suitable for you is an excellent first step in making the right decision. Here are some things to keep in mind when researching your career choices.

All Career Tests Are Not Created Equal

"Career Test" is a generic term for what can be a variety of assessments. Some measure interests, some measure skills or strengths, some measure learning styles, and some may even measure personality traits. The kind of careers test you take will determine the type of career choices you receive.

Following are some commonly used career tests and how they can help you make your career choices.

Strong Interest Inventory

This is a popular assessment tool, which assesses your interests and then compares those interests with people working in different careers. By taking this test you also find out which of the six "Occupational Themes" best align with your interests, such as: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, or Conventional, as well as suggested occupations for each.

How This Test Can Help You Make Career Choices: Taking this test gives you access to suggested occupations in your dominant themes.

Strengths Finder

The code for this online assessment can be found in the book, "Now, Discover Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton. This assessment is geared towards identifying your personal strengths. The Gallup Group, after interviewing almost 2 million professionals, determined that there are 34 basic strengths, with each individual exemplifying attributes of their "Top 5" themes. How This Career Test Can Help You Make Career Choices: Understanding your unique strengths can help you focus your research on areas you might not previously have considered. Knowing your strengths can also deepen your interview skills.

Learning Styles

There are many online assessments geared towards helping you find your unique learning style. Try http://www.brainboxx.co.uk for a start.How This Can Help You Make Career Choices: Understanding the methods that work best for you can help you make decisions more effectively, as well as gain a greater understanding of the types of work environments that will best suit you.

Myers Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator test is designed to measure the way you perceive the world as well as make decisions. It has been called, "a personality test" and can provide perspective on how you interpret the world.

How This Career Test Can Help You Make Career Choices: Knowing your "type" can provide great insight into how you process information, as well as how you cope with the world. Suggested careers are listed by "type".

This is Diarmuid Haughian, writing articles, blog and exploring on new interesting topics such as job, education, career etc. You can find more details about Career Test and Career Choices.

Job Tips - Planning A Career Sabbatical? Factors To Consider Before Taking The Career Break

So, what are the factors to be considered before taking a Career Break or Job Break?

Taking a break from job or career is a big career decision. And one needs to ensure all options are weighed properly before taking the decision.

Well, most people write to me to ask How and When to take the career break? What I hear them ask is:

"How do I know When is the right time to hang the boots temporarily?"

You would agree that its one of the toughest career decisions to take a break whether it is designed or by default. I am going to try to make it easy for you if you are considering a career sabbatical or career break.

Below are the key factors you need to consider before you decide on taking a break from your current job:

1. Deal with the insecurities

If you have worked for a while, suddenly deciding to quit may not be easy. One needs to be prudent about this decision and deal with the insecurities it brings along with it. Whether you admit it or not, your mind somewhere thinks about it and it is better that you deal with this before taking the break rather than deal with it later. The manifestation of this insecurity can be quite detrimental to your overall peace and mindset. Whatever may be the reason ( the career break being designed or by default), you need to think through it objectively considering an aspect of your life will not be the same going forward. Look up for career advice to get guidance.

2. You don't need the money

Most people hold on to their jobs because of the stable income flow at the end of every month. Whether the money is spent to meet personal commitments or to buy the latest gadget or to invest in being the 'fashionista' in office, the money that flows in, increases the independence. It not only makes the wallet but you happy too. That is a big one to let go.

Have you thought about it? You may not need the money but you may still want to protect your purchasing power and independence.

The important think is to ensure that you have made provisions in your mind that month ends will not look and feel the same anymore. A proper career consultant can help you ask and answer the relevant career questions before plunging into a career sabbatical.

3. You have a bigger reason to say NO

The fact that you have decided to call it a day at work (albeit temporarily) would mean you have a bigger reason to say to YES to.

The key is to have that bigger reason spelt out loud and clear

You will have conviction to deal with the change once you are clear about the reason why you want to take a career break. Whether for further studies, learn a new skill, cultivate a full- time hobby or spend days in leisure, the reason for the career sabbatical should be clear. Usually, I advice professionals to discuss with a Career Consultant to help zero in on the reason for taking a career break. While it may seem that you know why you are taking a career break but often the reason is much-deep rooted than you think and manifests very differently once you have taken a career break.

4. Failure in an assignment should not be the reason for taking a break in career

Lot of professionals make this career blunder by deciding to take a break in their career if an assignment or job does not work for them. It is a gross error and a sure career limiting mistake. Not only is it a weak moment to take this important career decision but also professionals are not in a state to deal with this crucial change in their professional and personal lives post the break. The critical timing of a career break can multiply the problem and challenges or an enjoyable and fruitful career break depending on when one takes the break.

Like a career start helps one build a successful career, a well planned career break re-shapes the career. If you are planning a career sabbatical, plan it well.

Whether one gets back to the same career or changes the course of the career, impressing upon the factors to consider before taking the career break will help you make an objective decision about your career.

A Career Sabbatical has help people surge in their careers upon return.

Sudakshina Bhattacharya is a practicing HR professional for over a decade in various organisations in Telecom, Hospitality, Entertainment and Financial Services industry. She is currently leading the HR team for a reputed Financial Services Company. Visit HRCrest.com for more on Career Tips and Career Sabbatical, views, suggestions and contributions.

Taking Career Tests - Good Way To Understand Your Career Option

Selecting a career option is not easy for most people. This is not because they lack focus. They may be unsure of their own talents or have more than one interest. This can make it difficult to effectively come to a decision about the one thing that they will stay interested in over a long period of time. A career test can make things a lot easier in such a situation. There are numerous types of personality assessments. However, a career test focuses on categorizing answers to a series of questions. Issues like whether the temperament of the examinee is that of an introvert or an extrovert, if the person or emotional or intellectual, critical or perceptive, and the values of the person are easily uncovered through such a test.

In a career test the choices are not right or wrong; it is just a matter of degree. As the questions describe personality traits in the form of statements, the examinee marks the most appropriate choice from a gradation that could have options like somewhat true, extremely true, neutral or not applicable. Usually these tests are short and can be completed quickly. Generally such a test may take only about ten minutes to fill up. There are a number of free to use career tests for livelihood found online but they would be just a part of the complete test. A career test per se is extensive and has to be taken through a professional assessor by paying a small fee. Such an assessor will tally the answers, study the results and come up with a career map.

It is easy to see from the results the areas that the examinee is strong in and those he or she may need further development. For example, if the person is an extrovert and makes decisions based on feelings, then a career of working in job that requires interaction with people is an excellent choice. On the other hand, research work or scientist is a good career choice for a person who is an introvert and an intellectual. When the results of a career test for livelihood are combined with the skills and abilities of the person, making a career choice becomes easy.

A long lasting career can result only when a person is happy with the work. And that in turn happens when skills and abilities are put to best use. Sometimes people go in for a career test even when they have been working for some time, since they may have started a career for reasons like advice of other people or glamour and so on. Eventually, they realize that the present career is not suiting their ability. Such people also benefit from career tests for livelihood.

Abhishek is a Career Counselor and he has got some great Career Planning Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 71 Page Ebook, "Career Planning Made Easy!" from his website http://www.Career-Guru.com/769/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

Are federal buyout incentives worth taking

Wednesday 4th January, 2012

Are federal buyout incentives worth taking?   
     Tuesday 3rd January, 2012  Source: GovExec

More than a few employees in and outside government dream of being paid to leave their jobs.
In an ideal world, workers would take the money and run, as the Steve Miller Band advised in the 1976 song, to another job or to a well-deserved retirement.
But this is not an ideal world, and when it comes to buyouts, federal employees might be better serv...
Barack Obama may well be down in the popularity polls, but not because of the Republican Party. Indeed the incoherent Republicans are struggling to come up with a viable candidate to take on Obama in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

Breaking News
Wednesday 4th January, 2012

Our network flyer service provides a medium for putting your important news into a flyer on the web.
Whether it be a new product launch, announcing a community event, promoting a Web site, or advertising your business, then our Network Flyers service is for you.
Click here for more details

View the original article here

Find Your Dream Job by Taking Career Tests

Would it not be great, if your dream job were delivered right to your door?

Unfortunately, it does not work like that. But at least, you do have natural talents and abilities that your creator instilled within you the day you were born. You were delivered complete into this world, not incomplete.

They say the individual is formed around five years old through part nature and part nurture. This means that fifty percent of our development is out of our hands, and predetermined - through the genes we inherit.

You find out who you are and what your purpose is by putting one foot in front of the other through the passage of time. If you listen to your heart, the natural born steps to success we always knew we should take, will be eventually be revealed to you. The moment we doubt ourselves, we lose faith in our ability to bring forth positive change in our lives.

If you have not found your true dream job, or do not know who you are yet, there must be something holding you back...

If you are young, this could be reason in itself. I, personally found myself much later in life. Is something blocking your view of yourself and your potential? Ask yourself this question - posing questions to yourself tends to help clarify. The thing in your way may be emotional, or mental - but, it has now become your responsibility to resolve. Through patience and determination, one can sharpen the tools he already has, to get a handle on his career situation.

Discovering your ideal career may not be immediate, because it took you a while to drift away from your own sense of you. It will not take forever to discover your best career choice. This situation can be turned around and corrected.

You can do this, because you are in charge of your own human potential...

Why some have not found their true calling in life, through the right career choice is...

It could be as simple as a submerged belief that speaks to you and says - you do not deserve your dream job.

The key to turning things around and discovering your dream career, is having faith in your own ability to come up with your own answers to solve your own life dilemmas.

If you are getting nowhere in life, spinning your wheels, and do not already have the dream career you want...

The question to ask yourself is - what is standing in my way, or holding me back?

Who is it that will not let you get what it is you want?

Is it someone?

Is it something?

What could it be?

These are additional questions to ask yourself.

You can blame yourself, blame the world, or blame whoever - but, does that help?

Not really.

Blaming solves nothing.

Blaming keeps you stuck right where you are.

Action is a career finding tool. There can be no success without action. There can be no attainment without action.

How one silently speaks to himself, and the action steps he takes can lead him closer to his ideal dream job.

There are reasons why we settle for what we do in life, even though we would love something entirely different

One reason - is because we may feel we do not deserve something better, or we think we are not good enough, or we doubt our own abilities to change our lives.

A few more reasons could be...

We get too lazy to change anything.
We get comfortable in our old habits and living patterns.
We may not like change, because change can bring unknown conditions.

One has to find his own motivation for achieving positive change, and that motivator will help him discover what it is he is passionate about doing for a living.

If you let time keep passing you by, and still do not have what it is you truly want out of life - the older you get, the less time you have left to make your move toward finding, then being in your dream career.

It is never too late to discover your ideal dream career, as long as you are alive, but one can eventually run out of time.

Maybe you have believed wrongfully, that you do not deserve a career you could have the greatest passion for doing. Ask yourself, why would you not deserve to have a career you would enjoy doing? Who said you did not deserve the best career?

Why do some have their dream careers, and not you - yours? Sometimes, life just does not seem fair.

People preferably seem to judge themselves unfairly.

You can change this, if you step to the side of yourself.
You can change this if you examine, detect, isolate, replace, and destroy your self limiting, defeatist opinions and beliefs.
We can change our self conversation habits and become like truly successful people, and tell ourselves good things.
We can basically learn to talk nicer to ourselves. And if we want to experience any degree of success at all, we will learn.

Success comes in three steps (maybe, a few more) -

Believe in you - believe you can find your ideal dream job.
Make a doable plan, and a goal with a timeline to be in your dream career.
Take action toward the goal, balance thinking with taking action steps. You will get nowhere without action steps.
Correct your course along the way by changing direction, or modifying your plan. Be more flexible than you are rigid. If a bridge does not bend in the wind, it will break. Be flexible, roll with the tide.
That's it. Well, almost.
You learn along the way through trial and error - through your own life experiences.
Then, you adapt to each new situation.

In conclusion, if you learn about you, believe in you, and take a few personality and career tests, you can eventually find your ideal dream career. These tests will usually give you a readable print out of career choices that match your preferred working personality.

That does not mean you will stay in that particular career forever once you have found it, because peoples values and interests change. People can change their minds daily, weekly, or whenever the fancy strikes them.

And, the younger the person is, the more likely they may change their mind about things. The older you get, the less you want changes in your life, but tend to seek employment with more meaning, purpose and mission.

Those who do not believe in themselves, pick careers which reflect their own view of themselves - and the choice is always a career mismatch. Career mismatches bring unhappiness at work and at home.

Once you believe in you, your ideal dream career then, may be close at hand.

Once you believe in you, anything becomes possible.


If you believe in your own resources, you will find yourself and your truest dream career.
If you think for yourself, you will come to know yourself better, because you are open to your own self improvement and self growth.

You will find yourself when you have defined your purpose.


Valid, researched career and personality tests, are career tools that verify what you already know about your working personality and career aptitude.
You do not need a leader or a guru, or even advice. No one but you has the answers to your own life and career destiny.
Develop a plan of action with clearly defined goals. You have to know where you want to go, in order to get there.
Your own plans will take you to where you know you should be next.
You will find your dream career when you are ready for it. It is just like the saying that goes - when the student is ready, the master will appear.

Steve Humphreys

http://www.career-test-for-teens.com

Key to ideal career discovery is self-knowledge. Find, develop, and plan your career choice with our self-help resources. Teens, career changers, or job searchers will find helpful advice and articles about career tests, resumes, interviews, and more. Let us help you find your dream career on your journey.

Free ebook http://www.career-test-for-teens.com/career_ebooks_download.html

Find Career Options Through Taking a Teen Career Quiz

Finding where you fit through a Career Quiz

It is hard to know oneself well when one is a Teen, because you are still learning things about yourself and trying to decide where it is you fit in the world of working. You are growing all the time. A job chosen while one is a teen, may not suit him well in his thirties and forties. We all change, at different speeds. We change our interests, change our minds in the middle of the stream, and sometimes change our minds about those things we value and hold dear to ourselves.

There are many types of career tests online, and offline. They are made to help you choose the right career, but each test does it from a slightly different angle. For example, a Career Interest Test assesses your interests, while a Career Aptitude Test will test your skills and abilities. On the other hand, a Career Personality Test will try to match your personality to careers that are best for those with your unique personality style.

The Key is to Know Yourself

Tests can help guide your career path, but the paradox is that you have to know yourself well enough to know which career path is best for you. You also have to know yourself well enough to answer the test questions honestly and accurately. Although, there are no right or wrong answers, you get out of the test what you put into it. So, if you are confused about what you want or who you are, this can complicate being able to make the right decision about which career to choose.

A test can help you learn about what things you are interested in and passionate about, but it cannot tell you what you should do for a living. It also cannot tell you who you are. You must decide that for yourself. But, when you are young, you are experimenting, learning, and deciding what values in life are true for you. You may not know enough about yourself and what you like, to make a decision about which careers you'd like to be in.

You are making choices right now, which make you unique and different from all other people. It will be hard to choose that special career that will last a lifetime. It is normal for everyone to change careers more than once in his lifetime, no matter what age they are. And, this may be for a variety of reasons. You can get bored with your job, or simply outgrow it and desire a change, because you want more meaning or more of a challenging job. You may have chosen a job you thought was cool while a teen, but in midlife the passion for it has disappeared.

Purpose and Mission

This is particularly true for those in middle age. People looking for a second career or final career, often forfeit money for meaning, purpose and mission. They may have never found their Dream Careers, because they were too busy trying to raise a family. Now with the kids gone, it is their turn to rediscover themselves within a new career. That is why many older citizens also volunteer for a particular cause.

Along with the extra income generated, it's the meaning and purpose those in midlife seek. Some Teens know what they want to do with their lives, and some don't. This is common. You just aren't ready for some things until you are ready. This holds true for teens searching for their first jobs, as well as those seeking their second careers. The old expression comes to mind - When the student is ready, the master will appear. You can't make a fine wine ready before it's time, either.

You are who you are, and although you are in control of your life for the most part, life can take you to
where it wants you to go, so you learn your life lessons. We learn that not everything is under our direct control. Unfortunately, life can take us sometimes where we don't want to go. There may be a death in the family, divorce, circumstances may change beyond our control, there may be health problems, acts of nature disasters, wars, and other misfortunes. At this point in your life, decide to take a Career Test to learn more about yourself and where you fit in the work world.

These types of tests will give you career choices in the form of a printable readout. Take your time, and even try out some of the recommended jobs through volunteering, or part time jobs after school. You can even learn what you like and don't like, through haphazardly taking jobs you didn't plan for. Talk to those already within those jobs you are interested in, for first hand knowledge and advice. A Career Test will also tell you what education is a match for your particular career choice. Make sure you talk to a Certified Career Guidance Counselor at your High School, College, or University, as he can interpret the results of each test and offer excellent career planning and career direction advice.

Steve Humphreys

http://www.career-test-for-teens.com

Key to ideal career discovery is self-knowledge. Find, develop, and plan your career choice with our self-help resources. Teens, career changers, or job searchers will find helpful advice and articles about career tests, resumes, interviews, and more. Let us help you find your dream career on your journey.

Free ebook http://www.career-test-for-teens.com/career_ebooks_download.html