Tests and assessment tools

About

This section describes some research studies into assessment tools that are used in career learning and decision making. 

In doing so, we have noted the insights that the paper might offer to practice.

There are a range of different sorts of tests used, such as Aptitude tests, Interest inventories, Personality assessments and Skills assessments. Some of the literature in this field merges with employment related concerns, where some of the same techniques are used for different ends other than career counselling. 

We noted 2-3 types of study: a) Developing or validating a career test that provides insight to the person taking it, b) A statistical evaluation of the reliability and validity of a survey c) the use of tests to understand motivations for people in different jobs, roles, cultures or countries etc.

Key learning highlights

Some of the key points that offer indicators on the state of research in this area include the following:

• There have been a wider number of career evaluation tools devised and used over several decades that match individual characteristics and preferences to occupations. 

• Over time, ideas such as “career calling” and “career adaptability” have become more prevalent, and some authors seek to integrate models (e.g. Hirchi et al, 2017).

• Another branch of evaluations have examined work or career readiness, with the focal client groups being those about to transition from education, or unemployed people (e.g. Hirchi et al, 2008).

• There has been, over time, more coverage of the role of “values” in career satisfaction (e.g. Jackson et al, 2019). This has related to the ideas within career constructivism, which offer greater weight to the individuals’ narrative on what is meaningful within their experiences.

• Several studies have shown that tests can be helpful for guiding students towards careers of interest, but are made more so when the clients are able to review the results with career counsellors (e.g. Shetty, 2018). Equally, there have long been concerns with self-administered online tests (e.g. Barak, 2003) 

• Rottinghaus & Eshelman (2015) highlighted that it can be challenging for both practitioners and clients to integrate disparate test results into career counselling, and so proposed approaches to the challenge.

• It has long been known that there are additional considerations when applying these assessment tools to students from diverse cultural backgrounds (e.g. Blustein, 2000) or with additional learning challenges such as autism (e.g. Murray et al, 2016). However, the validation for assessments with clients that have neurodevelopmental disorders remains elusive (Iacomini et al, 2021).