From Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters. Posted under Career Management on January 21st, 2010
As a member of a community of resume writers, career coaches, and other career experts called the Career Collective, I am posting this entry about job-search strategies for the new year, along with links to other members’ responses at the end of this entry. Please follow our hashtag on Twitter: #careercollective.The beginning of the year is a great time to step back and assess yourself. Do you feel a need to change your life or career? Are you unhappy with the way things are going? Confused about what you really want to do? In addition to elaborate assessments that career counselors administer, free and inexpensive assessments are available on the Internet. Here are the keys to successful career assessment. Follow these simple guidelines and you should achieve success in this beginning-of-the-year self-discovery process.
- Do be aware that assessments are available to help guide you toward the right career for you. A qualified career counselor can administer, score, and interpret these assessments. A number of free career assessments also are available on the Internet, though many experts question their reliability.
- Do compare online career assessments to see which ones might meet your needs. See our detailed assessment comparison chart.
- Do keep your expectations in check when you take free online assessments. You may attain some direction and guidance from these tests, but don’t be overly reliant on them for magic answers.
- Don’t discount the possibility that these free online assessments might suggest to you some career ideas and directions you had never thought of and that are worth further exploration.
- Do take several different assessments to help you learn more about yourself and to help you determine which tests provide the most reliable results for you.
- Do print out and retain the results of the assessments you take online. Compare results, and see if you can see patterns — a “career snapshot” — beginning to emerge.
- Do trust your gut. If a free online assessment tells you something about yourself that doesn’t ring true, disregard that information.
- Don’t rely on free online assessments alone for self-discovery and career guidance. Meet with a career counselor; college students and alumni usually have free or inexpensive access to counselors. Supplement the results you’ve obtained from free online assessments with other assessments the counselor might administer. Ask the counselor to help you interpret and integrate the results of various assessments.
- Do use career assessments with a variety of other self-discovery activities, such as examining your strengths and weaknesses and the activities you most enjoy and least enjoy. And Do read our article, Online Career Assessments: Helpful Tools of Self-Discovery.
- Do have fun taking career assessments. Self-discovery is almost always an enlightening and often entertaining process.
@resumeservice, Resume Writing Blog, The Resume and Your Social Media Job Search Campaign
@keppie_careers, Keppie Careers, Help for job seekers in a rut
@heatherhuhman, HeatherHuhman.com, Job seekers: 5 tips for making the most of 20
@DawnBugni, The Write Solution, Ya, but
@ErinKennedyCPRW, Professional Resume Services, Advice to Job Seekers in 2010–learn Yoga?
@Chandlee, The Emerging Professional Blog,
Starfish, JobAngels, and Making a Difference
@ValueIntoWords, Career Trend, Is Your Job Search Strategy a Snore?
@debrawheatman, Resumes Done Write, Making the most of a new year
@walterakana, Threshold Consulting, Starting anew – tips for truly managing your career
@careersherpa, Hannah Morgan: Career Sherpa, The Year of the Tiger
@WorkWithIllness, WorkingWithIllness.com, Dogs Can Do It, Can You?
@JobHuntOrg, Job-Hunt.org, Lifelong Learning for Career Security
@AndyInNaples, Career Success, What Are You Getting Better At? Make This the Year You Become the Best You Can B
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