If you’re not in a position to consult a career coach for an assessment and advice on study and career options when you’re feeling stuck, one of your alternatives is to search on the Internet for free advice.
When you do so, you will find hundreds of sites promising all sorts of answers to your career questions.
The majority are very general and can’t really give you the nuanced advice you will inevitably need. Others offer something for free as a way to entice you into buying their services.
For those of you who really are stuck and overwhelmed, getting good career advice personal to you and your situation cannot be replaced by anything offered for free.
That said, the following websites do have something to offer and can also be quite fun to do.
Interests
When thinking about career, it is important to understand what things you are naturally interested in yet many of my clients really can’t describe with any confidence what genuinely interests them.
This can be for all sorts of reasons such as dismissing something because you don’t think you’d be any good at it, worrying you couldn’t make a living out of it or being a people pleaser who has no idea what you like because you spend all your time fitting in with others.
I hope the following link will help you narrow down your interests in terms of career:
truity.com/test/holland-code-career-test
Values
Career values can also be tricky to pin down and often in values tests, both for life and career, you may be assessed against so many values that it’s not especially helpful.
In the assessments I do with clients, I narrow down values to six main categories.
Most free tests, like those you buy, tend to incorporate several values scales. Nevertheless, the following two may offer something of use:
Abilities
Another common issue for my clients concerns identifying their strengths and weaknesses. They often don’t know what they’re good at!
This link leads to several different tests of ability. Some of these are actually quite hard (in my opinion!) but they can also be fun and will show you where you excel.
Or, for the less brave, this may be better suited – you will need to supply an email address to obtain a reference but otherwise free.
nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/skills-assessment/skills-health-check/home
Personality
Finally, personality factors can also influence career. Often, we have some idea about our personalities but aren’t always sure of the implications or what the interaction of characteristics might mean for career.
Most free careers personality tests are centred around the Myers Briggs model (myersbriggs.org/type-use-for-everyday-life/personality-and-careers). It’s not the most nuanced but it is quite popular.
This first test is directed at students and young people but the ‘test’ is essentially drawing on very common themes applicable to adults too:
This second one is aimed more at the general population.
beta.nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/
Do note that Truity and 123test also have personality tests centred around Myers Briggs.
In conclusion
There are many fun and free careers ‘tests’ available on the Internet. Do give them a go and let me know what you think.
Photo by Greyson Joralemon, Unsplash
