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Career Assessments

The Office of Career Planning & Professional Development offers the following formal self-assessments to interested students as a part of general career planning:

CliftonStrengths®

The CliftonStrengths assessment can help you to discover and articulate your unique strengths. This online assessment measures the intensity of your talents in each of the 34 CliftonStrengths themes. The results are meant to help you determine ways you can sharpen your skills, improve problem solving, and use your strengths successfully in your career. The strength emphasis further helps you focus on what you do best and on becoming even better in these areas.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is one of the most widely used personality assessments, which is based on Carl Jung’s theory of psychological type. One common use of the MBTI instrument is for the purposes of career choice, development, and planning. More specifically, the MBTI assessment and its report assist individuals in identifying one’s personality type and how type applies to various careers. Note that this instrument is specifically looking at one aspect of career development (i.e., personality type), and does not take into consideration one’s values, skills, or interests. Thus it is important to review the MBTI instrument results as one part of the complete career picture. The MBTI is often taken alongside the Strong Interest Inventory.

Strong Interest Inventory®

The Strong Interest Inventory assessment is also one of the most widely respected and frequently used career planning tools. The Strong instrument is especially helpful with career exploration, as it opens up the world of work to first-time career seekers and those considering career transition by identifying their interests and demonstrating how they relate to various occupations. As in the case of the MBTI assessment, the Strong instrument specifically focuses on one facet of career development—your interests. Thus it is important to review the Strong assessment results in conjunction with knowledge of one’s personality traits, values, and skills, and how these apply to career fields as well. All of these factors together will provide a more comprehensive roadmap for career planning and decision making.

SkillScan

SkillScan is an interactive assessment tool that helps individuals identify their transferable skills (i.e., skills that one can take from one career to another). This instrument contains 60 transferable skill cards that correspond with six major skill categories. Students/alumni sort the cards according to their proficiency level, preference level, and skill development, and then organize the results into an insightful chart. SkillScan is beneficial for those who want to take a comprehensive look at their transferable skill sets for the purposes of communicating such skills with employers on resumes, CVs, and cover letters; talking about their skills in elevator pitches, networking conversations, and interviews; and applying their skills to various career options and functions.

Making an Appointment to Take an Assessment

Making an appointment for these assessments is easy. When scheduling a career advisement appointment, select “Career Planning and Assessment” as the appointment type, select “Emily Seamone” as the counselor, and indicate which assessment you’d like to take in the appointment confirmation form.

Please note: Students can take the SkillScan without a prior visit to the office. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory (usually taken together) require a prior visit to the office.