High School Career Test Helps Students With
Career Choices

By Michael T. Robinson
President
CareerPlanner.com

There are 2 types of Career Tests that have been proven to help students make career decisions and answer the questions: "What career do I want?" and "What college degree or vocational training to I need?" One type of test is called a "Career Interest Test." The other is called a "Personality Type Test." In our Career Counseling practice which we do over the phone or over Skype, we always have the client take both types of tests. As a parent or grandparent you can purchase the tests for your student, right here from CareerPlanner.com.. If you are a teacher or counselor and you want to give these career tests to a classroom, we have a separate system set up for you, complete with group discounts.

Career Interest Test (CiT®) Provides Career Direction for Students

The CiT determines the student's areas of interest and matches that to careers. The principal idea is that that in order to be successful and satisfied with your career, you have to be passionate about the type of work you do. Interest = Passion.

It does this by comparing the student's interests with those of people who have been proven to be both successful and satisfied with their careers.

After taking the CiT, the student will immediately receive a ~ 15 page report that explains everything. It includes:

• List of careers that match
• List of careers to avoid
• Instructions on how to narrow down the list to one's top 3 choices
• Instructions on how to make the final big decision
• General description of what type of work is a match and why
• The Holland Code (2 to 3 letter code describing the type of work that matches)

I actually took a similar test back in the 1960's when I was in 8th grade. It told me I should look into being either an electrical engineer or a nuclear physicist and I should probably avoid being a medical doctor.

I had a full scholarship for physics but then something about radiation gave me a scare so I became an electrical engineer. Good choice huh.

That worked out quite well. All throughout high school, having a solid career direction and a sense of purpose kept me from getting into too much trouble. Plus I knew what classes to take and what activities to get involved in.

Also, having my own career direction kept other people from influencing me away from my path.

Interestingly, the high school guidance counselor (what a short sighted idiot) told me and my parents I was not good enough to handle the math that electrical engineering required. So maybe I should be an electronic technician instead. That man had no vision.

In college, having my own career direction paid off even greater because when school gets hard, people drop out or change majors. On my dormitory floor we started with 40 engineering students. Four years later at graduation I counted three of us.

And yes, somehow I survived 7 semesters of calculus and differential equations.

Was electrical engineering a good career choice for me? In my second job, I became the youngest Vice President in the company. I was there 18 years. Eventually I held positions as Vice President of Marketing, R&D, Operations and various business units.

I was even a CEO of a high tech start up. All because I picked the right career back in high school. This career enabled me to travel around the world several times over. I've worked in Italy, the UK, Germany, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico and the Philippines. As I write this article, I'm waiting for 3 friends who are visiting from Taiwan and China.

So I an very thankful and lucky that my junior high school offered the Career Test. Unfortunately, most schools have dropped it due to budget cuts.

The second way to purchase the CiT for your student is to just place an order here, using their name, email address, but your credit card. Then, you can tell your student to visit us and sign in using that same email address and a password you create. Very simple.

Read more about the CiT...

OK, before we move away from Interest Based Career Testing I'd like to tell you about one more choice you have. It's called the Strong Interest Inventory®. Unlike the CiT, which we own, The Strong® is owned by Consulting Psychologists Press (CPP). We are trained and certified to offer The Strong.

The Strong will give the student their your Holland Code, as well as careers which match their interests. How it's different than the CiT is that the report is much more sophisticated. Remember it's produced by some of the top psychologists in the world.

Which one do I recommend? If budget and simplicity are important, use the CiT. However, if you can afford it, and the student is very sharp and analytical, use The Strong. Many clients start with the CiT and then if the students wants more in depth information, they try The Strong.

When you order The Strong, we will give you a link and password that you can email to the student to take the test. The test report is usually available within 12 to 24 hours of completing the test.

Sorry, as of July 2013 we no longer offer the Strong Interest Inventory. Please use our Career Interest Test instead.

Personality Type Test Provides Career Direction for Students

OK, I know what you're thinking. What can something as superficial as "personality" have to do with career direction?

Here it is in a nutshell:

In the 1920's, Swiss Psychologist, Carl Jung figured out there were 8 distinct patterns of behavior. These patterns had to do with how people preferred to use their brains and how they preferred to interact with the world.

Then in the 1940's, the mother and daughter team of Myers and Briggs expanded on Jung's theories and created the 16 distinct Personality Types that we use today.

It was during World War II with most men off in the war, government and industry were trying to fill huge gaps in employment. People were being forced to take jobs they hated and it was very inefficient.

Myers and Briggs noticed a pattern between the 16 Personality Types and the types of work people enjoyed and were good at.

Since then, their Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) has been used by over 100 million people in over 30 languages.

If this sounds like mumbo jumbo, in 2010, I attended a talk by Dario Nardi, a researcher at UCLA. He showed that you could just about tell which of the 16 personality types a person had by asking them questions and looking at which portion of their brain lit up when connected to electrodes.

Each of the 16 types used different parts of their brains to accomplish the same task. No kidding. It really works.

Now to take that a step further, researchers have show that you keep the same 4 letter personality type from birth to death. In 2011 I attended a talk by psychologist Elizabeth Murphy who showed videos of 18 month old infants playing on the floor. With a trained eye, you could observe the different patterns in the way they played. How long the paid attention to a toy, how they moved etc. It was mind blowing.

Not everyone can offer the official Myers-Briggs. You have to be trained and certified, which we are.

Read more about the Advanced Personality Type Career Report

Remember our Products and Services are 100% Guaranteed

Our "Good Karma Refund Policy" says that if our products and services don't help you, we will give you 100% of your money back.

If you have any questions about Career Tests please feel free to contact me.

Michael T. Robinson
President
CareerPlanner.com

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs, MBTI, Step I, Step II, and the MBTI logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of the MBTI Trust, Inc.,
Strong Interest Inventory, is a registered trademarks of CPP, Inc.
The CPP logo and Strong logos are registered trademarks of CPP, Inc.
CiT is a registered trademark of CareerPlanner.com Inc.
There is no affiliation between the CiT and CPP. CiT is a product that is wholly owned by CareerPlanner.com Inc.