WHAT'S THE BEST CAREER ASSESSMENT SITE?

QUESTION:
Can you suggest a decent Web site where a person can be evaluated 
according to skills and personality traits in order to reveal the best 
careers, jobs, and activities for that person?

I know people who have paid large sums of money to go to seminars about 
this. I'm hoping there's a self-testing and evaluating Web site that 
can help point me in a good direction for my next career and education 
path.

REPLY:
Beware of all the "tests" and "tools" that purport to help you choose 
the right career. To a large extent, they're nonsense, no matter how 
much they cost. No one can predict what you'll be good (or happy) at.

It's important to understand how most of these tests work. They're 
correlational. That is, they compare your responses to those from a 
large pool of other respondents. Based on this comparison, they suggest 
if you should have the same job as the people you're being compared to.

For example, if your responses are comparable to (or correlate with) 
those of people who happen to be architects, then the test will suggest 
that you might want to become an architect and that you share other 
attributes common to architects (as if there are any).

Statistically, a lot can be made of this. On a practical level, it's 
career voodoo. I don't buy it.

If you really want to take some tests just to try them out, I suggest 
contacting your local community college. They'll be able to administer 
the basic tests at a reasonable fee. The advantage of doing it this way 
rather than on the Web is that you'll have a real, live person to 
interpret (and discuss) your results.

Nonetheless, beware: The skill of the test interpreter will have a lot 
to do with what you get out of this. Everyone has a bias. Remember that 
when you count on anyone (or anything) to guide your career choices, 
you're subjecting yourself to a bias that isn't your own. And that can 
affect your motivation to succeed.

Best, 
Nick Corcodilos 
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