Personality, interests, and skills play a large part in helping
your students prepare for their future. Time spent evaluating
these traits will help guide them in the right direction.
Personality | Interests
| Skills
Personality
Personality traits are significant factors in determining
which careers might best suit your students. Using a personality
inventory — a questionnaire that asks how students think,
act, and feel in specific situations can help in evaluating
your students.
The most popular personality inventory is the Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator® (MBTI). Unofficial versions
of this personality inventory are available online and can
be completed in about 30 minutes. Answers to the multiple-choice
questions are evaluated and your students receive an explanation
of their personality type.
The official version of the MBTI,
published by the Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc. (CPP),
is available in printed form. It can only be ordered and administered
by qualified entities. Trained professionals evaluate the
answers.
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Interests
Many counselors ask their students questions like:
If you had a moment to spare, what would you do? Do you like
the mental challenge of chess or other games? What are your
hobbies? Answers to these questions are very revealing about
interests and skills; however, another method for understanding
interests and the relationship to selecting a career is for
students to take the Strong
Interest Inventory®.
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Skills
Beyond just asking questions to evaluate a student's skill
level, one particularly thorough test is the Armed
Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). This test
is designed to measure student aptitudes while still in high
school. As an added bonus students taking the test, receive
the publication Exploring Careers: The ASVAB Workbook
which relates their ASVAB test results directly to it.
The ASVAB includes 10 short tests that cover
- Word Knowledge
- Paragraph Comprehension
- Arithmetic Reasoning
- Mathematics, General Science
- Mechanical Comprehension
- Electronics Information
- Numerical Operations
- Coding Speed
- Auto/Shop Information.
It is generally used by the US Army, Air Force, Navy, and
Marines to place individuals into a military career field.
Many high schools require students to take this as part of
the college preparation routine.
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