On a whim (and because it was in the $3.99 book bin at Borders) I purchased Test Your Own Job Aptitude: Exploring Your Career Potential - Jim Barrett and Geoff Williams. The check boxes on the front cover were what did me in. Why yes! I would like to find out how to become fully satisfied in my career, discover my natural talents and find the job that's perfect for me!!
After a brief overview of how to use the book, (other than read it, draw in it, or burn it I'm not sure what ways there are. I guess you could use it as toilet paper in a pinch...) chapter 2 launches right into testing your abilities. 40 pages of questions across 7 topics. Here's how I did on the test:
Verbal reasoning: A
Numerical reasoning: A
Perceptual reasoning: C
Spatial ability: A
Acuity skills: A
Analytical ability: A
Technical ability: E
Hmmm...apparently I am not very good at looking at unfolded shapes and determining which 3D shapes could be made based on them or anything mechanical/technical. Possible careers to rule out based on this? Apparently nothing. Barrett and Williams assure me that it's not all about what my abilities are since I could:
a) go back to school for more training
b) motivate myself into learning about these things
c) become magically smarter overnight
There are some suggested careers for people who score high on just 1 ability, and then some for those who score high on just 2. I'm not really sure how to use this since apparently I'm good at 5 things. Looking at all of the combinations, apparently I can do almost anything. So far, not helpful.
Clearly I need to move on to chapter 3 to determine my personality which of course means more questions.
They use a FLAG scale.
I'm definitely more Sensitive than Factual, more Calm than Lively scale, more Passive than Aggressive. I'm a little stuck on the last one, I score an 11 out of 20 for Independent vs Group. This makes me an SCPI or and SCPG. The description for SCPI is "The Loner". I decide to go with SCPG as my personality type which is described as "The Supporter". Suggested careers: Therapist or nursery school teacher.
Chapter 4 is all about motivation and figuring out what I want to do means, you guessed it, more questions. I actually found this part to be very helpful. You have 3 points to assign to 2 options. Would I rather be: an interpreter or a gardener? A statistician or a politician? Some are easy 3 points for one and 0 for another. Others sound equally unappealing and I struggle to assign one the 2pt majority. But at the end I have my motivations in 7 categories:
Literary: 51
Creative: 49
Social: 26
Executive: 26
Research: 42
Practical: 26
Administrative: 30
The book provides suggested careers if you have just one primary motivation which I skip. Clearly I have 2 that are almost tied. I skip to the combined areas to see that my suggested careers are: advertising copywriter or film reviewer.
Then the book encourages me to go back through and list every career suggested to me based on my primary and combined scores. The list is about 20 professions long but the moment I start to look over them some definite themes emerge:
a) Author, novelist, journalist, editor, literary critic
b) Counselor, therapist, psychologist, anthropologist
c) Teacher, nursery school teacher, language teacher
Fascinating! There's a follow up section such as barriers to achieving my goals where I write a little blurb about what's standing in the way: lack of education/certification for some of these, the fear of risking a steady paycheck, the dread of going back to school, etc...
Then finally at the back of the book, a career index. It becomes very clear this book was written in the 80's. Milkman, silversmith, blacksmith: all there. Noticeably missing: Venture capitalist, investment banker, software engineer, pharmaceutical sales rep...
To my surprise, market researcher is listed: Acuity and analytical abilities with a factual, calm, and independent personality with research and administrative motivation. This explains why I'm good at my job, but crave more human interaction, and sometimes feel like it's not fulfilling.
$3.99 to find all this out? The book is a bargain if you ask me! I will happily loan out my copy to anyone interested in taking this test, though it does have markings all over it. But hey, at least I didn't use it as toilet paper!
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