Assessment and Career Planning
Chapter 5
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.
Guidelines for Use of Trait-andFactor 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.
1
Become
awa re of ne ed
to make career
decisions
7
Impleme nt
a voca tional
choic e
2
Le arn
about and/or
re eva luate
self
Resources
6
3
(w ebsites,
databases,
print materials,
software)
Ma ke
educ ational
choic es
5
Ma ke
tentative
choic es from
among a vaila ble
occupations
Identify
occupational
alterna tives
4
Obtain
information
about ide ntified
alterna tives
Assessment and the Career
Planning Process
• Step 1 - may use an instrument to measure
career maturity, career beliefs or decisionmaking style
• Step 2 - may use inventories to measure
interests, abilities, skills, work values, or
personality type
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.
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.
Purposes of Assessment
• Counselors can learn more about the needs
(decision-making skills, career maturity,
removal of irrational beliefs) of clients.
• Counselors can learn more about the
characteristics (interests, abilities, skills,
values, personality) of clients.
Purposes of Assessment
• Clients can learn more about themselves
(such as their interests, skills, abilities, work
values, personality type).
• Counselors can measure the progress (in
acquiring career maturity,decision-making
skills, career decidedness) of an individual
or group of individuals.
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
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
Types of Informal Assessment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Checklists
Games
Career fantasies
Forced-choice activities
Card sorts
Structured interviews
Characteristics of Formal
Assessment
• 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)
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)
Common Interest Inventories
• Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS)
• Career Assessment Inventory (CAI)
• Career Occupational Preference Survey
(COPS)
• Career Quest
• Harrington-O’Shea Career DecisionMaking System (CDMS)
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
Common Interest Inventories,
continued
• Self-Directed Search (SDS)
• Strong Interest Inventory (SII)
• Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest
Inventory (UNIACT)
• Vocational Interest Inventory
Common Instruments to Measure
Skills and Abilities
•
•
•
•
•
SkillScan
WorkKeys
Passion Revealer
Career Planning Survey
O*Net Ability Profiler
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
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
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
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
No-Fee Assessment Websites
• University of Waterloo Career Services www.careerservices.uwaterloo.ca
• CareerKey - www.ncsu.edu/careerkey
• University of Missouri Career Center http://career.missouri.edu (Select Career
Interests Game)
• Motivational Assessment of Personal
Potential - www.assessment.com
For-Fee Assessment Websites
• Kuder Career Planning System www.kuder.com
• Self-Directed Search - www.self-directedsearch.com
Types of Reports
• 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
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.
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.