Career testing is being increasingly questioned by a growing body of professional career counsellors.
Others are calling for the removal of some types of assessments altogether.
Internationally recognized authority in career counseling and bestselling author Howard Figlar opposes the use of career testing for career development.
In his co-authored book with Richard Bolles The Career Counselors Handbook, Figlar says “there is enough anecdotal evidence to tell us that test results are often far off the mark and sometimes even laughable”.
These are strong words by one of the world’s highly regarded career counselors.
In an article entitled ‘Internet-Based Assessments May Be Hazardous To Your Career’, the National Career Development Association in the United States suggests that most free online career assessments are untested and probably invalid.
They note that a career tests product sponsored by the US government was fundamentally flawed
Arthur Miller, in his excellent book The Power of Uniqueness, suggests that psychometric testing is not helpful at all to people wanting to make quality career change decisions.
Miller says:
“Where psychological testing has gotten [and stayed] off the rails is its most foundational assumption that there really are universal qualities of people that can be measured and compared.
This is in contrast to our conclusions and those of many other authorities, that each individual is a unique mix of traits, aptitudes, and intelligence… unless such a universal quality [e.g. dominance over others] was motivationally significant to the person, how that person measured on that quality would lack any real life significance.”
Human beings are too unique and complex to try to figure out their ideal job fit simply from the results of career testing.
Good career counselors advocate a more in-depth self-discovery approach when providing career change advice.
This more robust method is much more likely to produce a long-term fulfilling career that you will be good at and enjoy working in.
To find out more about this method of choosing careers, click here
Other career development articles relating to career tests that you may be interested in include:
Career tests – Why they don’t work!
Career aptitude test – Poor career counseling results?
Career placement test – How they can limit career choices.
Career personality test – Is money the motive?
Career assessment – Uniqueness not highlighted!