CAREER ASSESSMENTS: MAXIMIZING THE RESULTS FOR USERS Kristine Dobson CareerKris@gmail.com

Let’s start with an example! On my ideal job it is important that . . .

Goals of Assessment Today’s focus is on maximizing the benefits of career assessment for the individual career explorer/planner. There are other reasons that assessments are administered … Program evaluation Advocacy Policy

Goals of Assessment Contemporary literature – Frank Parsons, 1909 Choosing a vocation – scientific method applied to career decision-making process Trait-Factor Theory Traits of greatest interest to vocational practitioners appear to be relatively stable Person-by-Environment Fit The greater the congruence between personal traits and job requirements, the greater the job satisfaction

Goals of Assessment Support Components of Person–Job Matching Clear understanding of self; Knowledge of the requirements and conditions of success, opportunities, and prospects in different lines of work; True reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts. -Frank Parsons

Goals of Assessment Person-Job Matching It could be argued that every theory of career guidance since 1909 has grown out of an effort to further develop or define some aspect of Parsons’ approach to career decision making. That is, supporting people as they seek to maximize the match between their personal characteristics and occupational characteristics. Certainly, this is the very foundation of CIDS.

career decision-making. Best Practices The best use of assessment is to increase users’ ability to describe themselves. In the case of career assessments, increased awareness of one’s characteristics fosters informed career decision-making. Assessments can help individuals discover their personal characteristics in a way that help them identify “matching” careers.

Best Practices Vocational assessment is best initiated by individual (or his/her advocate) with a question in mind. For example, “What are my interests? What kind of work might support my interests?” “Do I have strengths (skills, aptitudes, physical abilities) that would give me an advantage in the job market? “What needs am I looking to have met by my work?” The Association for Assessment in counseling states that assessments should not be administered without a purpose or need for information.

Best Practices To help user fully engage in the assessment process – Ideally, user – Initiates process, or has question to be answered. Understands both the purpose and the process. Knows “what’s in it for me.” Is assisted in applying results to career exploration and planning.

Workplace Skills Checklist Assessments What are my strengths? What are my interests? What do I need from work? Ability Profiler Interest Profiler Work Values Sorter Basic Skills Survey Cluster Finder Workplace Skills Checklist Many assessment instruments have been developed in support of (Person-Job matching) theory. O*NET instruments offer the advantage of formal and meticulous development to ensure adequate statistical properties. (An expensive proposition.)

Assessments Evaluation – Know purpose of assessment (matched to user need) Target audience Administration requirements Informal vs. formal Statistical properties validity (measures what it is designed to measure) reliability (can be counted on to yield same results) norm vs. criterion-referenced

Back to our example Approach User engagement? Administration?

Back to our example Instrument Purpose Target audience Administration Informal / Formal

Work Value Scoring

Back to our example Scoring Statistical properties Validity Reliability Norm group/sampling Guidance – pre and post assessment

The key(s) to maximizing the benefits of career assessment for users … In Summary The key(s) to maximizing the benefits of career assessment for users …