I don't know what I want to do.
What career is right for me?

You don't like your current job or you have been demoted, outsourced, transitioned or fired, and don't know where your career is headed or what you should do. You are a recent college graduate or are about to graduate but don't quite know what it is you want to do, where you are going or how to get there. All of this can be unsettling and confusing. It in not unusual and is advisable to question your path. You are constantly changing and so are your desires, personal values and sometimes our careers. Asking yourself if this is still where you want to be in terms of a job or career can help you refocus and work toward something you really want to do and enjoy. There are road maps available to help you re-center yourself. Those road maps are called self-assessments. Self-assessment is the process of evaluating yourself, help you learn more about yourself and determine your interests, skills, values, strengths, weaknesses and personality style and how they relate to your career development.

• Interests: what you enjoy doing, i.e. writing, reading, researching, scuba diving, sports, art, etc.
• Skills: Proficiency, facility, or dexterity that is acquired or developed through training or experience. A developed talent or ability (i.e. computer programming, teaching, writing, mechanical expertise, painting, etc.).
• Values: What is important to you, like status, autonomy, compensation, achievement, work environment.
• Personality: Your personality to including, individual traits, your attitude, motivational drives, needs, and behaviors.
• Strengths: Activities and tasks that you are exceptional good at. These are things you achieve in on a consistent basis.
• Weaknesses: Activities and tasks that are not your strongest. Things that you struggle in and do not maintain a strong competency level.

Types of Self-Assessments
Assessments come in all types from those that assess your personality to inventories of your skills and values. Each assessment can provide valuable information about you and things you may have to consider in your career, therefore it is important to know which test will address the questions and concerns you have. When considering a self-assessment test, evaluate the following:

• The assessment should be developed by a professional in the field of psychology or counseling.
• Don't just choose a test based solely of its price. Some free tests will provide you the same results that a fee based one will.
• Make sure the test will provide you the information you need. You may need to take more than one test to get the results.
• You may need help interpreting the results of the test, so don't be afraid to ask for help from a counselor.

Following is a summary of some of the different types of self-assessment available.

Value Inventories
Values are beliefs, principles, qualities and standards that are important, desirable or hold some worth to a person. Value inventories measure the level of importance of different values to ones career, work and life and the satisfaction they will receive. Examples of values, include salary, job security, autonomy, prestige, work environment, interpersonal relations, helping others, flexible work schedule, and leisure time.

There are a number of value inventories but some of the more popular include the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ), Survey of Interpersonal Values (SIV), and Temperament and Values Inventory (TVI).

Interest Inventories
Interest inventories focus on your likes and dislikes regarding various activities in both your career and personal interests. Examples of interests are everything from writing, reading, running, and playing golf to analyzing, creating designing and leading. Interests inventories ask you a series of questions regarding your regarding your interests. There are several widely used interest inventories including the Strong Interest Inventory (SII), the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS), and the Self Directed Search (SDS). formerly known as the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory. The SII is administered by a career development professional, who also scores it, and interprets the results. Self-Directed Search (SDS), as the name implies, can be self-administered, self-scored, and self-interpreted.

Campbell Interest Inventory (CII): The Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS) from Dr. David Campbell, measures self-reported vocational interests and skills. The CISS interest scales reflect an individual's attraction for specific occupational areas. It also looks at parallel skill scales and provides estimates of an individual's confidence in his or her ability to perform various occupational activities. The CII helps you discover your career interests and enhances your level of confidence in a given area and/or task. It can help you focus your career search and highlight career options you may not have considered.

Strong Interest Inventory (SII): The Strong Interest Inventory (SII) measures your interests in different occupations, work, leisure activities, and school subjects. E.K. Strong, Jr. a pioneer in the the development of interest inventories found, through data he gathered about people's likes and dislikes of a variety of activities, objects, and types of persons, that people in the same career (and satisfied in that career) had similar interests. This inventory assessment will highlight career and occupational areas you are attracted to.

Self Directed Search (SDS): The SDS is the only assessment tool that offers self-scoring and can be independently reviewed. Dr. John Holland developed a system of matching interests with one or more of six types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional and then matched these types with occupations. The results of your interest inventory are compared against the results of various career field matches. This instrument helps you explore your career interests, values, and skills and is helpful for individuals who cannot meet with a consultant for an assessment interpretation.

Personality Inventories
Many personality inventories used in career planning are based on a theory by psychologist Carl Jung. Jung divided people into eight personality types — extroverts, introverts, thinking, feeling, sensing, intuitive, judging, and perceptive. Career counselors often use results from tests based on Jungian Personality Theory to help clients choose careers.

Career counselors contend that those of a particular personality type are better suited to certain careers. An obvious example would be that an introvert would not do well in a career that requires public speaking. However, personality alone shouldn't be used to predict whether you would succeed in a particular career. A personality inventory should be used in conjunction with other inventories, such as those that look at interests and values.

A personality inventory looks at one's individual traits, motivational drives, needs, and attitudes. The most frequently used personality inventory is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator(MBTI).

Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The MBTI is one of the most popular personality assessments. This tool helps you determine your special strengths, the kind of work you are best suited for, may enjoy and be successful in.

It measures differences in traits between individuals. It looks at how one energizes (Extroversion vs. Introversion), perceives information (Sensing vs. iNtuition), makes decisions (Thinking vs. Feeling), and demonstrates his or her lifestyle (Judging vs. Perceiving). When the test is scored, the individual is given a four letter code, i.e. ENFJ (Extroversion Intuitive Feeling Judging), indicating his or her preferences. Each preference is also assigned a number to show how strong that preference is. When assessing personality career development practitioners most frequently administer the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Skills Assessment
In addition to determining what you're good at, a skills assessment also helps you figure out what you enjoy doing. The skills you use in your career should combine both characteristics. You can use the results of the skills assessment to make some changes by acquiring the skills you need for a particular career.