Assess Yourself

 

The first step in career planning is self-assessment. You need to learn about your interests, personality style, skills and values before you can make good career decisions. Once you have a better understanding of your preferences, you can choose college majors and career options that tend to be consistent with those preferences.

The links below will take you to three different assessments: interests, skills, and values. For each you will complete an inventory that can help you learn more about your preferences. This information may help you identify Rutgers University majors and related career options that are consistent with your interests, skills, and values. The interests assessment and skills assessment links will help you explore specific Rutgers University majors and related career options when you are finished. The values asssessment will provide more general information, which does not link directly to college majors and career options. This information is still valuable and can be further explored with a Rutgers University career counselor. Some important information to review:

The interest assessment and skills assessment are based on John Holland's "Theory of Vocational Development." Briefly, this theory maintains that based on your preferences and personal style you can be loosely classified into six different categories: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. College majors and careers can also be organized into these same six categories. If you choose a college major and career from one of the six categories that is consistent with your preferences and personal style, you are more likely to be satisfied with your choice.

These links and this site were developed following the National Career Development Association's "Guidelines for the Use of the Internet for Provision of Career Information and Planning Services."

Each link provides a simple inventory. They are not tests with right and wrong answers. The results you obtain may help you brainstorm some tentative academic and career choices. These links are not likely to provide the information for a final choice, but should be regarded as a starting point in your career development. We recommend further career exploration and counseling for a comprehensive career planning experience. Career Services also offers additional career assessments, for a fee, to help you further develop your career plans. Speak with your career counselor to use these other assessments.