Career Tests: Can A Test Help You Choose The Right Career Path?

I'm at that stage in my life where I really need to work out what I want to do with my life. You imagine various jobs, careers and lifestyles when you're young. Then you start to really think about options before university or college. What subjects should I study? What would be good? What career opportunities will going to this university and doing this degree have? What do I want to be when I'm older? Then it's suddenly final year and you know you're about to enter the big bad world and need to start thinking seriously about your life choices.

I find it interesting how career tests work. Obviously there are questions that try to determine your personality type. What I find interesting is the theory behind it. The tests that I've done differentiate different personalities by using your answers to see if you're more an extraverted or introverted thinker, a sensing or intuitive information gatherer, a thinking or feeling based decision maker, and if you live based on judging or perceiving things. For the full definition of these four categories click here.

You're not going to be solely one or the other, so your answers calculate what percentage you are of each category. Thereby using the four that you predominantly are to determine what types of jobs are suited for your personality, and way of thinking and living. There are 16 possible combinations so 16 personality types. They are the following:

1. The Visionaries and Inventors
2. The Executives and Chiefs
3. The Inspirers and Advocates
4. The Givers and Mentors
5. The Doers and Persuaders
6. The Guardians and Overseers
7. The Performers and Entertainers
8. The Caregivers and Supporters
9. The Thinkers and Engineers
10. The Scientists and Strategists
11. The Idealists and Dreamers
12. Protectors and Confidants
13. Mechanics and Craftsmen
14. The Duty Fulfillers and Examiners
15. The Artists
16. Nurturers and Defenders

If you want to take a career test then I'd suggest not researching about these personality types. Instead, you should just try a test and then read about the different personality types after seeing and reflecting on your own results. If you follow me on twitter then you know I tweeted about a particular career test. I've taken a few of these online tests and I found this one to be the most accurate.

Example: My Results

I don't want to write too much about my results in case you do want to take the test. I will say that I agree with most of the things said in my results. My sister also took the test. She's a successful High School teacher and she also agreed with her personality analysis and career traits. It described her artistic and practical nature, and a lot of the career traits highlighted corresponded with her actual personality and correlated with her current job as a Technology teacher. She also said she recommends this test.

Mine named how good my people and analytical skills are, how I tackle problems with logic and how I reach my goals by making a plan working backwards with the goal as a starting point. To which I'm quite impressed with. It's a general but quite specific analysis. And as I said before, most of it is quite accurate, too.

Doing these career tests has helped me a bit to workout what I want to do when I go back to England. I wouldn't use it this as a way to decide on a career. It's mostly interesting. But it can also help you to think about what jobs you'd be good at. Either because you disagree or disagree with the answers, or because it recommends things you never thought about before. It's definitely given me a bit more confidence in my strengths and in what I think I want to do. It's also given me some more ideas to look into to. Which is helpful seeing as I'm starting over, from the very beginning again.

If you want to see my results in full then scroll down. If not, then stop and take the test for yourself and analyse your own results. Please feel free to leave a comment about your results and your views on them. It'll be interesting to see.


















Career relevant traits:
• Have intuition to understand situations and people 
• Strong ideals and principles 
• Profound and complex 
• Natural leaders 
• Sensitive and compassionate towards others 
• Service and future orientated. 
• Place value on deep authentic relationships 
• Are reserved about showing their true selves 
• Only like dealing with details when they enhance or promote your goals. 
• Always looking for the meaning and purpose in everything 
• Visionary and creative 
• Intense and highly strung 
• Can work with logic and ration. INFJs use their intuition to understand the goal and work backwards towards achieving it. 

Being an INFJ means you have a quest to live a life of meaning and purpose, and therefore your career needs to be more than a job, but has to be something that can live up to your principles and feel right. As an INFJ, your intuition is mixed with your strong values, you have a sense of knowing and therefore are natural and comfortable as leaders and work well as such, although you can work as a follower if you are taking directions from someone you fully support, otherwise you will not be happy in your situation.
In the outside world, you place a great deal of importance in having things in order, and having the best system for getting things done, whilst always reevaluating the priorities in your life. On the other hand you can operate internally with spontaneity. Your intuition gives you great insight into things, and you are often right about something, even with little background information.
Your penetrating insight into other people and issues, and the internal way you deal with this, means you don’t easily share what information you obtain about others unless you choose to share it. You are deep and complex, usually private and therefore difficult to understand.
However, as an INFJ you are genuinely warm as you are complex, and you have a special place in your heart for those close to you, for which you can see and feel the depth of your caring. In tune to other’s emotions you avoid hurting other’s feelings. Often the perfectionist, you may wrestle with finding peace as you feel that there is more to improve your world and the lives of others around you. Your high expectations means you strive to exist in a state of continual growth and you easily overlook your own accomplishments.
Like other INFJs, your workplace should be one of creatively and independence. You most likely have a natural affinity for art and the sciences, as well as being found in service orientated positions. You should avoid working with very detailed tasks, or else you be in the other extreme, where you are working so meticulously you cannot see the big picture and can be highly critical of others who are not being as meticulous.