1. Assessment and Career Planning
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Chapter 5
Assessment and Career Planning
Developed by:
Jennifer Del Corso

2. Introduction
Assessment is the use of any formal or informal technique to collect data about a client.
It is a tool of the trait-and-factor approach, which had its beginning with the three-step career choice process introduced by Frank Parsons. 2

3. Guidelines for Use of Trait-and-Factor Approach in 21st Century
Test data
are only one piece of a much larger puzzle.
should be used less for prediction and more for identifying new options.
The client should be more involved in making the decision about whether to use assessment and for what purposes.
The changing demographics of the United States necessitate the need for even more preparation when selecting and using assessments in counseling 3

4. Assessment and the Career Planning Process
Step 1 - may use an instrument to measure career maturity, career beliefs or decision-making style
Step 2 - may use inventories to measure interests, abilities, skills, work values, or personality type 4

5. Assessment and the Career Planning Process
Step 3 - Score report from inventories given in Step 2 will suggest occupations.
Step 4 - Assessment not likely to be used.
Step 5 - Inventories of work-related values may be used to reduce number of options. 5

6. Assessment and the Career Planning Process
Step 6 - Tests that predict success in college or measure achievement in specific subject matter may be used.
Step 7 - Instruments that measure work skills or personality type may be used. 6

7. Purposes of Assessment
Counselors can learn more about the needs of students or clients.
Counselors can learn more about the characteristics of clients (interests, abilities, skills, values), and clients can learn more about themselves.
Counselors can measure the progress of an individual or a group in matters related to career planning. 7

8. Counselor Responsibilities
Follow ethical guidelines provided by professional associations
Possess knowledge
basic principles of assessment
details of specific instruments to be used
how to prepare clients/students
how to administer properly
how to interpret properly
follow through with clients appropriately after the assessment 8

9. Clients’ Rights in Assessments
Old model of the trait-and-factor approach (often called the “test-‘em and tell-‘em” approach) should be replaced with a view of assessment that:
a) respects assessment is just one of the tools available to assist clients,
b) should be administered with the person’s full understanding of its purpose,
c) prepares the client, administers the instrument corrects,
d) treats the results in the confidential manner, and
e) interprets the results in a knowledgeable way 9

10. Characteristics of Informal Assessment
Instruments not subjected to scientific study
Results for one person cannot be compared with those of others
No standard linkage between results and occupational choices
No standard way to interpret results
Low cost or free materials 10

11. Types of Informal Assessment
Checklists
Games
Career fantasies
Forced-choice activities
Card sorts
Structured interviews 11

12. Characteristics of Formal Assessment
May be timed, standardized tests or non-timed, standardized inventories.
Standardized way to administer and interpret the instrument
Known validity (instrument measures what it claims to measure)
Known reliability (results of a later administration will be highly similar to those of first administration)
Test-retest reliability (defined as the correlation between two measurements obtained in the same manner) 12

13. Characteristics of Formal Assessment
Fairness related to diversity (instrument adequately researched with kinds of individuals who will later take the instrument)
Measures of comparison (compares the scores of one individual with those of others) 13

14. Common Interest Inventories
Career Assessment Inventory (CAI)
Career Occupational Preference Survey (COPS)
Career Quest
Harrington-O’Shea Career Decision-Making System (CDMS) 14

15. Common Interest Inventories continued
Interest Determination, Exploration, and Assessment System (IDEAS)
Interest Explorer
Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS)
Kuder Career Search with Person Match
O*Net Interest Profiler 15

16. Common Interest Inventories continued
Self-Directed Search (SDS)
Strong Interest Inventory (SII)
Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT)
Vocational Interest Inventory 16

17. Common Instruments to Measure Skills and Abilities
Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS)
SkillScan
WorkKeys
Passion Revealer
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)
Career Planning Survey
O*Net Ability Profiler 17

18. Other Inventories
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - measures personality type
O*Net Work Importance Profiler - measures the importance of six work values
Super’s Work Values Inventory - measures the importance of 12 work values 18

19. Steps of the Assessment Process
Prepare students/clients for assessment
Administer instrument(s) properly
Interpret instrument(s) properly
Follow through to assist students/clients to use results for action planning 19

20. Ways to Administer and Interpret Assessment
Print form - manual or optical scoring; counselor interpretation
Computer (standalone or networked) - administration and scoring; counselor or computer interpretation
Internet - administration, scoring, and interpretation 20

21. Advantages of Internet Delivery
Can be taken from anywhere 24/7
Immediate scoring and feedback
Standard interpretation, though customized
Capability to share report with others electronically 21

22. No-Fee Assessment Websites
University of Waterloo Career Services -
CareerKey -
University of Missouri Career Center - (Select Career Interests Game)
Motivational Assessment of Personal Potential - 22

23. For-Fee Assessment Websites
DISCOVER –
Kuder Career Planning System -
Self-Directed Search - 23

24. Assessment Results
Results typically come in print form from the website or computer from which the assessment was taken
Raw scores - provide a tally of responses in a specific category; examinee cannot compare personal scores with those of others
Percentile scores - compare the scores of one person with those of a selected norm group
Stanines – a way to divide percentiles into 9 ranges
Standard score – a way to indicate how far (in standard deviations) an individual’s score is from the middle (50th percentile) of a distribution of scores
Band of confidence – a range within which an individual score fall 24

25. Steps in Selection of Instruments
Determine purpose of assessment.
Consider characteristics of those to be assessed.
Determine if norm group for instrument includes characteristics of persons to be tested.
Investigate the reliability and validity of the instrument. 25

26. Steps in Selection of Instruments
Read critical reviews and talk to other professionals.
Acquire a sample copy, take it, and read publisher’s materials.
Administer instrument to a few individuals and practice interpretation.
Determine cost and options for administration and scoring. 26