1. Career & Occupational Assessment
Interest Inventories
Multiple Aptitude
Special Aptitude Tests

2. Career Assessments: When do we need them?
Career and occupational assessments are usually the most beneficial when taken during transition times in our lives.
During high school when considering what to do with our futures
When job searching or deciding upon college
When you have vague ideas of what you would like to do but need to crystallize your thoughts in that regard
Prior to a career shift
When anticipating a different direction in your career

3. Interest Inventories
Interest Inventories: Determine likes and dislikes from a career perspective; good at predicting job satisfaction.
Types of Interest Inventories:
Strong Vocational Interest Inventory
Self-Directed Search (SDS)
Career Occupational Preference System Interest
Inventory (COPS)

4. Strong Interest Inventory
Characteristics:
One of most commonly used career inventories
First developed in 1927
Latest version: Strong Interest Inventory (SII)
Contains 291 items
Designed for ages 16 and older
Takes 35 to 40 minutes to complete
Can be given as an individual assessment or group
Uses 5-point Likert scale
Topic areas include: occupations, subject areas, activities, leisure activities, people, and characteristics

5. Strong Interest Inventory: Five Types of Interpretive Scales
General Occupational Themes:
Identifies test-takers top 3 Holland Codes & places them in hierarchical order (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, & Conventional)
On the hexagon, codes adjacent to one another share more elements in common

6. SII: General Occupational Themes
Realistic: Persons enjoy working with equipment, machines, computer hardware, or tools.
Investigative: Persons enjoy thinking abstractly, solving problems, and investigating. The pursuit of knowledge and manipulating ideas and symbols is enjoyable to them.
Artistic: Persons like to express themselves creatively, usually through artistic forms such as drama, art, music, and writing. Prefer unstructured activities in which they can use their imaginations and express their creativity.
Social: Persons are nurturers, helpers, and caregivers who have a high degree of concern for others. They are introspective and insightful and prefer work environments in which they can use their intuitive and caregiving skills.
Enterprising: Persons are self-confident, adventurous, bold, and enjoy working with other people. Have good persuasive skills and prefer positions of leadership. Tend to dominate conversations and enjoy work environments in which they can satisfy their need for recognition, power, and expression.
Conventional: Persons are stable, controlled, conservative, and cooperative. They prefer concrete tasks and like to follow instructions. They value the business world, clerical tasks, and tend to be good at computer programming or database operations.

7. Strong Basic Interest Scales
Identifies respondent’s interest in 30 broad areas, i.e., science, performing arts, marketing, teaching, and law.
Respondent is shown his/her top 5 interest areas and can view the 30 interest areas with his/her corresponding Holland Codes.
Using T-scores, individuals can compare themselves to the average scores of others of their own gender.

8. Strong Occupational Scales
Allows individual to compare his/her interests to the interests of others of the same gender who are satisfied with jobs.
Can compare how he/she scored on the Strong to scores of others in 244 commonly held jobs who also took the Strong.
Strong lists the 10 occupations in which the respondent is most similar & separately lists the T-scores of the client compared to others. The higher the T-score, the more similar the respondent’s interests are to those who are satisfied with their jobs.

9. Strong Personal Style Scales
Provides an estimate of how comfortable respondent is in certain activities, i.e., work style (alone or with others), learning environment (practical vs. academic), leadership style (taking charge vs. letting others take charge), risk taking/adventure (risk taker vs. non-risk taker), and team orientation (working on a team vs. independently).
T-scores are used to compare respondent’s scores to men, women, or a combined group.

10. Strong Response Summary
Provides percentage breakdown of client’s responses across 6 interest areas.
Provides total percentages of each Likert response types, varying from “Strongly like” to “Strongly dislike.”
Includes new “typicality” index which identifies whether or not respondent is making random responses. 95% accurate - score of 16 or lower indicates inconsistent pattern of item selection.
Proven to have reliability and validity

11. Self-Directed Search (SDS)
Self-directed, administered, scored, & interpreted test. Created by Holland and uses his personality types.
Based primarily on interests but also includes self-estimates of competencies and ability.
Once respondent receives his/her 3-letter score, he/she can cross-reference the code with the Occupations Finder (lists 1,300 occupations by type) or with a book entitled Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes, which lists 12,000 occupational codes.
Available in 4 forms:
Form R (Regular) - for high school students, college students, and adults.
Form E (Easy-to-read) - 4th grade reading level for those who have limited reading ability.
Form CE (Career Explorer) - for middle school and junior high students
Form CP (Career Planning) - for professional-level employees.
Administered by hard copy booklet, computer software, or on the WWW at

12. Self-Directed Search: Scoring
Scoring is completed by adding the raw scores of each of the 6 personality types, with the three highest scores, from highest to lowest - which provides the respondent’s Holland Code.
Self-Directed Search has proven reliability and validity

13. Career Occupational Preference System
A career measurement package that measures:
a) interests, b) abilities, and c) values.
Can be used together or separately to aid in making career decisions
Three instruments:
Career Occupational Preference System Interest Inventory
Career Ability Placement Survey
Career Orientation Placement & Evaluation Survey

14. Career Occupational Preference System: Interest Inventory
Career Occupational Preference System Inventory (COPS): Assesses interests along career clusters.
Designed for those from 7th grade to adulthood
168 items based on high school & college curricula as well as occupational information
Designed to guide respondent to a number of career areas
Norms are based on high school or college samples
Test takes minutes

15. Career Occupational Preference System: Ability
Career Ability Placement Survey (CAPS): Measures abilities in the work environment that relate to career clusters.
Measures abilities across 8 dimensions
Allows respondents to identify career fields that are best suited to their abilities or career fields in which more training may be necessary
Designed for middle school through adulthood
Norms are available for 8th - 12th grade & college students
Test takes approximately 50 minutes

16. Career Occupational Preference System: Values
Career Orientation Placement & Evaluation Survey (COPES): Assessment of values that are important in career selection and job satisfaction.
Scales are based on 8 dichotomous poles (vastly different values) keyed to career clusters
Designed for middle school through adulthood
Normative data are available from high school and college students

17. Other Common Interest Inventories
Popular Interest Inventories:
Campbell Interest & Skill Survey
Self-report which measures interests and skills for a variety of occupations
For those 15 years old and older
Primarily for college-bound/college educated
SIGI 3
Computer-based career self-assessment
For high school and college students
Career Assessment Inventory - Enhanced Version
For career development & guidance
For 15 years old and older
Uses Holland Codes

18. Multiple Aptitude Testing
Multiple Aptitude Tests: Measure several abilities at one time and predict success in several fields.
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)
Measures auto & shop knowledge, mechanical comprehension, general science, and electronics knowledge - as well as other areas

19. Factor Analysis & Multiple Aptitude Testing
Factor Analysis: Statistical technique that allows researchers to analyze large data sets to determine patterns & calculate which variables have a high degree of commonality
Allows multiple aptitude test developers to assess the differences & similarities in the abilities they are attempting to measure
Used to determine construct validity (Ch. 3)
ASVAB & Differential Aptitude Test use factor analysis

20. Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery & Career Exploration Program
ASVAB: Measures many abilities required for military and civilian jobs.
Most widely used multiple aptitude test in the world
Latest version, ASVAB Career Exploration Program (CEP) consists of 2 instruments: traditional ASVAB and an interest inventory called FYI (Find Your Interests)

21. ASVAB ASVAB consists of 8 “power tests”
“Power tests” refers to a test that has generous time limits
Test includes: General Science, Arithmetic Reasoning, Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension, Mathematics Knowledge, Electronics Information, Auto & Shop Information, and Mechanical Comprehension
Contains 200 items & takes almost 3 hours to complete
Scores are given in verbal skills, math skills, & science and technical skills
Composite scores can be associated with job classifications in the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET)
Useful for military and civil occupations

22. ASVAB Career Exploration Program: Find Your Interest (FYI)
FYI: Interest inventory designed to assist high school students in determining what they would like to do rather than what they can do.
Based on Holland’s RIASEC personality types
Contains 90 items & takes approximately 15 minutes to complete
Uses 3-point Likert scale (like, indifferent, dislike)
Important feature: For the approximately 70% of students who do not go on to college, the FYI can offer encouragement when test takers see occupations that are in range of their interests & skills

23. Differential Aptitude Tests (DAT)
Differential Aptitude Tests: Series of tests for students in grades 7 through 12 that measure abilities across vocational skills.
Takes approximately 1½ to 2 ½ hours (depending on whether taking the full or abbreviated version)
Eight separate tests: Verbal Reasoning, Numerical Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning, Perceptual Speed & Accuracy, Mechanical Reasoning, Space Relations, Spelling, & Language Usage
Includes Career Interest Inventory to determine student’s skills and interests
DAT for adults = Differential Aptitude Battery for Personnel and Career Assessment (DAT PCA)
Measures ability & aptitude across 8 areas & is often used for hiring purposes
Allows employers to determine current ability and aptitude for learning new skills during training
Norm consisted of 12th grade students

24. Special Aptitude Testing
Special Aptitude Tests measure a homogenous area of ability and are generally used to predict success in a specific vocational area.
Frequently used to screen for ability to perform a specific job or ability to master a new skill
Educational institutions use these to screen for special abilities in art, music, plumbing, & mechanics
Several special aptitude tests include: Clerical Test Battery, Minnesota Clerical Assessment Battery, U.S. Postal Service’s 473 Battery Examination, Mechanical Aptitude Tests, Wiesen Test of Mechanical Aptitude, Arco Mechanical Aptitude & Spatial Relations Tests, Technical Test Battery, Bennett Test of Mechanical Comprehension, Music Aptitude Profile, Iowa Test of Music Literacy, Keynotes Music Evaluation Software Kit, Group Test of Musical Ability, & the Advanced Measures of Music Audiation

25. Special Aptitude Tests: Clerical Aptitude
Clerical Aptitude Tests: Used to screen for clerical jobs.
Clerical Test Battery (CTB2) measures clerical skill across a range of abilities (verbal reasoning, numerical ability, clerical checking, spelling, typing, & filing)
Takes 27 minutes to administer
Minnesota Clerical Assessment Battery measures skills such as typing, proofreading, filing, business vocabulary, business math, & clerical knowledge
U.S. Postal Service’s Test 473 for Major Entry-Level Jobs (473 Battery Exam) is required for most entry-level positions in U.S. Postal Service.
Measures aptitudes in address checking, forms completion, coding, memory, and an inventory of personal experiences
Has 398 items and examinees have just over 2 hours to complete
Score of 70% is considered passing, but most of those hired have scores of 90% or above

26. Mechanical Aptitude Tests
Mechanical Aptitude Tests: Measure ability to learn mechanical principles & manipulate mechanical objects. (The ability to understand how mechanical things work.)
Mechanical Aptitude Test (MAT-3C)
Developed to reduce the impact of gender & race on measurement of mechanical aptitude
36-item test that focuses on everyday things (household objects, work production, science & physics, & hand & power tools)
20-minute test that is self-scored
Wiesen Test of Mechanical Aptitude (WTMA)
Focuses on predicting job performance in the operation & maintenance of tools, machinery, & equipment
60-item test that takes 30 minutes to complete
Attempts to remove gender & race bias
Has a Spanish version

27. Artistic Aptitude Tests
Artistic Aptitude Tests: Used for art school admissions.
Rating artistic ability is not easy & tests that have been developed have questionable reliability & validity
Professional art schools require applicants to submit a portfolio
Scoring the portfolio can be a subjective judgment which can cause problems with regard to reliability
Having two or more raters practice rating items similar to what they will ultimately rate can improve reliability
As the parameters of what they are rating become clearly defined (form, appeal, use of color), ratings should become more similar - increasing reliability

28. Musical Aptitude Tests
Musical Aptitude Tests: Assess knowledge of music. Distinguishing the ability to learn a distinct knowledge base and the ability to perform is quite difficult.
Music Aptitude Profile:
Designed for students in 4th through 12th grade
Test takers listen to two musical excerpts and answer questions pertaining to the music
Test measures student’s ability to assess harmony, tone, melody, tempo, balance, & style
Test takes 2½ hours to complete
Iowa Test of Music Literacy:
Measures student’s “audiation” or the process of thinking about music in one’s mind without it actually being there (measures achievement as well as aptitude for music training)
Examinee listens to music and is required to read sheet music and compare what he/she is reading with what is being played
Keynotes Music Evaluation Software Kit:
Designed for classroom teachers to assess students’ musical aptitude
Designed for ages 9 through 14
65-item test that is taken on a computer w/speakers & headphones
Scores for pitch discrimination, pattern recognition, & ability to read music

29. Role of Helpers in Occupational & Career Assessment
Wide range of helpers provide occupational & career assessment:
Middle school counselors:
Interest Inventories
High school & college counselors:
Multiple aptitude tests
Private practice clinicians:
Aptitude Tests
Businesses that focus on interest inventories & aptitude tests
*Helpers need to obtain the necessary training in order to administer tests accurately and interpret them wisely.

30. A Note of Caution
As with all testing, occupational and career assessment should not be done in a vacuum.
Choosing a career or occupation should never be based solely on taking a test.