If you're having trouble figuring out which career is for you, think about trying a professional career assessment.
It doesn't really matter what stage of life you are at - we all need to assess ourselves and our careers at some point. Choosing a career is one of the most difficult decisions we face. Try to make it easier on yourself by using Career Assessments. The idea of using a Career Assessment is that it helps to find and point out what you are good at, or what you enjoy doing, and applies that to different career choices. For example, if your answers show you love to work with people, it probably will not give "Reference Researcher" as a viable option for you.
Free Career Assessments
It's always a good idea to start with what you can get for free.
Quest Career Services offers one of the best free assessments on the web today. All it will take is your email address and about 20 minutes of your time. It's also one of the few, and perhaps only one, that actually IS a true career service site, not just an advertisement gimmick to get your email address to send you "sponsored" emails.
Another site which is free AND fun, and surprisingly accurate is Colorwize. Based on your selection of colours, 40 career choices are displayed (out of 298) along with a reasoning or profile. Note that to access your full profile you must create a username as well as give a valid email address and location information. Still worth it though. The site does advise you to take the test more than once (either once a week for a month, or every day for a month) and then calculate the average for the careers that appear on your results. (This does assume that mostly the same careers will show up, but in different orders).
Paid Career Assessments
There are many web sites asking for your money for a paid career assessment. A quick google for Career Assessments or Career Tests will give you a multitude of choices. If you do decide to go this route - first check to see the legitimacy of the site: how long has the site been on the web; is there a real mailing address/contact and phone number. What is the policy on refunds if you are dissatisfied - or even if there IS a policy for dissatisfied customers. Do NOT judge by testimonials - anyone can write those and post them as "real".
You may find it more beneficial to check your local Yellow Pages directory for places that offer Career Assessments. Check under Career Counselling and call a few of the companies listed. You'll get a better idea of cost and comparison, and you know the company is real by talking to a representative.
Final Assessment
No matter which method you choose, just remember this is YOUR life. All these tests can do is guide you and offer suggestions. The final choice is, and should be, yours.
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Copyright November 19, 2007. Paym Bergson & Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use of this material will constitute an infringement of copyright.
