From early on, we’re encouraged to consider what we want to be when we grow up. But with so many options, how do we choose? Not to mention, the career path you choose is probably one of the most significant decisions that you’ll ever make. After all, true career satisfaction requires not just competence, but drive and alignment of purpose.
When you’re stuck in a career that isn’t your best fit, it’s likely that you’ll always feel a little out of sorts. Fortunately, taking a career test can help you assess your interests, work values, and personality to choose the best career path based on your results. Or, a career assessment can help put you back on track if you feel you’re out of sync or would like to change careers down the road.
What exactly are career assessment tests, and how do they work?
A career test, sometimes known as a career aptitude test, is a set of questions targeted at helping you discover more about yourself so you can seek out those types of jobs that more suit your needs, objectives, and personality. Finding a role where you wake up every Monday morning full of the joys of spring, rather than dreading the commute, is tricky.
With that in mind, it makes sense to identify which path to take before embarking on your work journey — with a little bit of help from these career tests. They cover aspects such as your strengths, skills, values, motivations, emotional intelligence, and interests.
The best way to achieve this is probably with a career professional who can easily interpret your results. But the 10 career quizzes below (with a couple of bonuses thrown in for good measure!) are a great way to establish a first step approach to determine which direction you should be heading. Best of all, some of them are free!
Personally assessment vs. career assessment tests
The quizzes below are separated into two categories: personality assessments and career assessment tests.
Personality tests provide results that indicate the type of personality you have and how that personality interacts with other personality types.
Career assessments often take into account your personality and provide the types of jobs and work values that align with your personality. Additionally, some career assessments consider your skills and abilities and provide results based on those.
We recommend trying both personality and career assessment tests to get a thorough picture of what kind of job and workplace would generate maximum career satisfaction for you. Pick one, or more, of the following tests and get a glimpse into your future.
How do I choose which career aptitude tests to take?
With so many career assessment tests to choose from, which ones should you select? That’s a great question.
It depends on various factors, including your budget, goals, and available time. Some assessments are free, while others cost a fee to take. In terms of time commitment, generally speaking, career assessments take 5 to 20 minutes to complete, though some can take 30 minutes to an hour.
When it comes to selecting career quizzes based on your goals:
If you’re seeking to identify the type of work environment that aligns with your values, you’ll choose an assessment that focuses on your work values.
If you’re looking to identify what jobs best align with your interests, you’ll select a career assessment that provides insight into that, and so on.
Here is the list, followed by a summary of what each career test can offer and how much they cost.
1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
2. Keirsey Temperament Sorter
3. MyPlan.com
4. MyNextMove
5. CareerFitter
6. Rasmussen College
7. Self-Directed Search Test
8. MAPP Test
9. Sokanu Career Test
10. Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment
11. Bonus: Red Bull Wingfinder
12. Bonus: free resume review from ZipJob
Top 10 Career Quizzes
To help find the right career assessment tests for you, ZipJob’s team of career experts compiled a list of the top 10 career assessments. We looked at prices, information, and insight gained, as well as popularity among job seekers and career coaches.
1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is recognized as the most effective option for job seekers who want to assess their preferences and suitability for any given career path. That’s why it’s the preferred choice for many companies and career coaches.
With it, you can assess your values, work style, energy, and decision-making techniques. The paid version is a one-off fee of $49.95, and includes a report you can download and an interactive learning session as well as various tips.
However, there is a free version available here.
Visit The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator website
2. Keirsey Temperament Sorter
This personality assessment test has about 70 questions that help you identify your personality type. There are four basic personality types used for the assessment - idealist, rational, guardian, and artisan.
This career test can help you better understand your motivations and decision-making style, which can offer critical insight when choosing a career path. The Keirsey assessment is available in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese.
After taking the assessment, you learn which personality type you have and some basic information about how common that type is, common characteristics, and related keywords. It costs between $24.95 and $59.95 to view your full report.
Visit the Keirsey Temperament Sorter test website
3. MyNextMove
The O*NET Interest Profiler from MyNextMove uses a specific methodology to determine your work interests. You’ll be asked to rate your interest in certain tasks, rather than career fields. As career assessment tests go, it’s a unique way to help you narrow down interests.
Warning: this is a bigger time commitment than many other options on this list, but it’s worth finishing. The free results include detailed descriptions of your best job fit as well as an outlook estimation for the field, required education, and common skills on a resume.
Check out our list of the top job search sites to research opportunities that match your aptitudes.
4. MyPlan.com
The free version of this career test is a values test providing insight into your motivations and career needs. These can help you to better identify those factors that are the most critical for job satisfaction. It’s a useful tool for providing broad guidance for your career path selection.
When you’ve completed the test, you’re provided with 739 job options that could potentially fit your needs. There are three additional quiz options, including a career personality test, career interest inventory, and career skills profiler that cost under $10 (or $19.95 for all three).
5. CareerFitter
It’s important to discover your work personality. CareerFitter is an assessment test that does just that! By the time you’re done, you should know more about which job environments, careers, and tasks are best aligned with your personality. The insights this quiz offers are your quest, your style, and your strength.
The quiz is free, and you can take it limitless times. There is also a premium option available, which costs $29.95, and includes additional information about your best-fitting careers and hundreds of career reports.
Visit the CareerFitter website
6. Rasmussen College
The Rasmussen College test provides you with job suggestions that are based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It couldn’t be easier to use: adjust the seven sliders to match your skills, update the report, and view multiple job titles or careers that fit your skill set.
It’s one of the more effective career assessment tools when it comes to identifying your interests and unique skills, and it’s completely free.
Visit the Rasmussen Career Aptitude Test website
7. Self-Directed Search Test
This career assessment test matches people with jobs based on their competencies, aspirations, interests, and activities, resulting in a truly personalized report ranking. It details how investigative, realistic, social, artistic, enterprising, or conventional you might be. At the end of the $14.95 test for a single use, you’ll receive a personalized summary code as well as a list of careers with salary information and educational opportunities that best fit you and the results. The SDS also has specialized reports for older job seekers and students.
Visit the Self-Directed Search test website
8. MAPP Test
Another popular career assessment tool, the MAPP test does more than just direct you to jobs you might like. It also identifies your favorite job tasks, and provides clues about preferred work habits. It even delves into your social interaction at work.
It takes about 22 minutes, and is free, but there is a paid option with a report that goes into more detail about your true career calling.
9. Sokanu Career Test
The Sokanu test analyzes you as a person and a worker, designed so you can find careers that match your personality traits. It does so based on five factors: personality archetype, history, interests, career goals, and work environment.
The 30-minute quiz is free, and includes career/degree matches, insights, and reports.
Visit the Sokanu Career Test website
10. Predictive Index Behavioral Assessment
This test relies on a predictive index that uses personality traits to predict how you’ll do in any given work environment. The six minute-test is free.
Visit the PI Behavioral Assessment website
11. Bonus: Red Bull Wingfinder
This tool is more of a personality test to identify professional strengths, as opposed to a career assessment. It won’t recommend potential jobs, but will help you identify your best work setting. If you’re looking for a career change, or just starting out in your profession, this test provides valuable feedback to identify career goals. It’s free and takes about 35 minutes to complete.
12. Bonus: Free Resume Review from ZipJob
The easiest test on the list! All you have to do is upload your resume, and one of our career experts will review it for free. You’ll get your results within 48 hours. Your personalized critique will include expert feedback, design, and formatting tips, and an evaluation of how your resume parses in an applicant tracking system (ATS) resume test.
Start your resume review now
Career assessments tests support career direction
While there’s no perfect system for determining your dream job, these career assessment tests are a great place to start. Whether you’re a recent college graduate or you’re looking for a change of direction, you can simplify your career choice process with some inspiration from the career aptitude quizzes in this article.
Next steps
Once you’ve taken two or three (or all 10!) career assessment tests, write down your career goals while thinking about these questions:
Did the results surprise you?
Are there any skills or certifications you need to land your dream job?
Are you already on the right path for your professional life?
Now that you have a better idea of your ideal industry, job function, or skill set, you can make a plan to achieve your goals. Start looking at job descriptions and resume examples (ZipJob has 200+ professional resume samples) that match potential job titles. With a job target in mind, you can and start applying.
Having a solid resume is also pertinent to supporting your career goals. To ensure your resume represents you in the best light possible, why not submit for a free resume review with our team of expert resume writers?
This article was originally written by Elizabeth Openshaw and updated by Ronda Suder.
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