NOTE: Many well-known, reliable, and valid assessments are
currently available online from their publishers. Therefore, we have not
included all assessment tools on this page, but invite readers to reference the
NCDA publication “A Counselor’s Guide to Career Assessment Instruments, 6th
Edition” (Wood & Hayes, 2013) for more complete information and reviews.
This short list of primarily free resources includes tools potentially suitable
for youth, young adults, and older clients, but it is necessary for the
practitioner to review each prior to using to determine the suitability for
their clientele and appropriateness to their scope of practice.
This site provides a “personality” (or preference) assessment
that returns a 4-letter code similar to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Users
will answer questions and be provided with detailed free information about
their type with the option to explore all 16 types. There is a strong “Our
Theory” page that describes how the assessment was created and where to go for
additional information.
The MAPP is an interest survey designed by the International
Assessment Network in Minneapolis, MN. A free sample MAPP Career Analysis is
provided to help individuals identify their preferences for working with people
or things, and other job characteristics; it also suggests some occupations
that match these preferences. The resulting report is sent to the user via
e-mail, outlining his or her “natural motivations and talent for work” and
matching these to five occupational descriptions from O*NET.
The Department of Defense provides high schools with the Career
Exploration Program as a career planning and exploration program. This is free
to the schools and students and can provide career path information that
students may not be considering. It includes an aptitude and interest
assessment with links to occupations.
This site has free online self-assessments for interests,
skills, and work values. Users who take the assessments can print and/or save
their results and compare with occupational information.
In addition to the Career Decision-making Difficulties
Questionnaire (CDDQ), this site includes seven more free assessments designed
to assist individuals in the process of making a career decision by helping
them clarify difficulties and providing a framework for career decision-making
organized into a three-stage process. Information about and access to Making
Better Career Decisions (MBCD), an Internet based career planning system, is
provided. There is a special section of the website with information
specifically for career development practitioners.
Career,
education, finance, leadership, and personal plans for success for students.
Start with the assessments and learn how to create smart goals and action
plans.
These
instruments will help individuals identify their work-related interests, what
they consider important on the job, and their abilities in order to explore
those occupations that relate most closely to those attributes.
The O*Net Interest Profiler is an assessment of client interests
based on Holland’s theory (RIASEC). This page has direct links to the four
forms of the interest profiler including a 60-question web-based version, a
30-question mobile-friendly version, a paper and pencil hand-scored version,
and downloadable software. A Spanish Language version of the online assessment
can be found at http://www.miproximopaso.org/explore/ip
This interest assessment was created by Arizona State University
to help students and clients match interests scores to occupations and college
majors.
A career guidance tool that allows students to respond to
questions and identify the top three Career Clusters of interest based on their
responses. This pencil/paper survey takes about fifteen minutes to complete and
can be used in the classroom or for presentations with audiences who have an
interest in career exploration. The survey is available in English and Spanish
and can be viewed and printed.
What's
important to you in a job? Discover how much you value achievement,
independence, recognition, relationships, support, and working conditions in a
job. Get a list of jobs that reflect your values.
From
exploration and self-assessment, to educational options and information, to
occupational information, to salary and economic trend data, CareerOneStop is a
comprehensive website with resources and tools for any stage of the career
development process. The site contains quality and up-to-date information as
well as a searchable directory of American One Stop Centers for clients to find
local career development assistance.
Careers.Org
is a source for employment, job search and career education information across
the world. It includes detailed information about over 1000 occupations,
including wages, skills, and links to corresponding college programs and
career, job and educational resources for states, cities, and counties in the
United States, as well as Canadian Provinces and international countries.
This
site contains both summary and detailed information on occupations in the US
economy as well as the ability to search for information by various criteria
such as job family, industry, skills, knowledge, interests, green jobs, bright
outlook occupations, and several others. It is produced by the federal
government, is updated frequently, and contains state and national wage
information, occupational projections, related occupations and opportunities
for more information from professional and trade associations. It is considered
to be the basic occupational information for various other websites and career
guidance systems.
This
is the “go to site” for comprehensive information on occupations and their
requirements. Occupational information can be search by several criteria such
as wages, education level, training, and job growth. It is updated and produced
every two years by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the official agency
responsible for collecting and analyzing occupational information.
NOTE: This section includes select resources that provide
industry- or occupation-specific career information categorized first by
cluster, then by field. Most are professional association websites. If you
cannot find information that matches your interest, use the resources found in
the General Occupation Information section of this webpage to search for
information specific to your desired field/occupation.
This
is a free resource for information on degree programs, specialty training
opportunities, financial aid, certification and accreditation, and licensing
for the various states. It also includes career information and links it to
education and training plans. There are links to additional training and
education information and articles on how to ensure the quality of the training
before signing up for a program. The Local Training Finder tool helps users
locate opportunities for training in their desired geographic area.
This
tool from the National Center for Educational Statistics gives access to
information on more than 9,000 colleges, universities, and postsecondary
vocational and technical schools in the U.S. Users may search the database by
location, type of institution, program and majors offered, availability of
housing, and many more options. Users have the option of selecting several
school profiles for side-by-side comparisons, and all search results can be
sent to a valid e-mail address, printed, or exported as an Excel spreadsheet.
The site and all of its information is also available in Spanish.
Information
on how much it costs to go to different colleges. The center uses and analyzes
several federal government databases.
This
US Government site offer you the ability to find colleges and universities and
compare them on size, cost, graduation rate, student debt pay down, salary
after attending, percent of students obtaining federal loans, and others.
Nonprofit
educational association that sponsors a nationally recognized accrediting
agency for distance education programs. The site includes distance education
activities within an institution and it provides a single source of nationally
recognized accreditation from the secondary school level through professional
doctoral degree-granting institutions. Users visiting the website can find a
searchable directory of accredited high school and college degree programs,
including some offered by federal and military schools.
Job
Corps is a free education and training program that helps young
people learn a career, earn a high school diploma or GED, and find and keep a good
job. For eligible young people at least 16 years of age that qualify as low
income, Job Corps provides the all-around skills needed to succeed in a career
and in life.
This
resource provides brief articles on tips and ideas to consider when in a career
transition. It also offers an assortment of resources that include Colleges,
Online Education, and various Guides for specific categories of workers.
This
publisher of guides to colleges provides this free searchable resource for
information on a variety of training and education programs, including undergraduate
and graduate programs, online schools, and help for international students.
Among the many descriptions of institutions and degree possibilities are
articles on applying for college (both undergraduate and graduate), selecting a
school and a program, financing education (financial aid as well as
grants/scholarships), and more.
The
publisher of U.S. News and World Report produces one of the most well-known
guides to education information on the web. Dedicated sections of this area of
the website focus on high schools, colleges, community colleges, graduate
schools, online programs, and global universities. Various articles are
provided on topic such as financial aid, STEM, writing essays, college
applications, etc. USNews.com also lists the annual rankings of colleges and
graduate schools.
The
site offers more than 750 courses in such areas as personal development and
soft skills, business and enterprise, digital literacy and financial and
economic literacy. There is even a course to assist in selecting a career path.
A
center in your location may be able to provide career related training. Search
by zip code and distance to find the center nearest you.
EdX
is an online learning destination and MOOC provider, offering high-quality
courses from the world’s best universities and institutions to learners
globally. Nearly 1000 courses are available so include many specifically
related to career development.
This
site contains numerous courses that may help your clients sharpen their skills.
The site's focus is life-long learning.
From
the makers of Microsoft tutorials, you can access almost 200 online, self-paced
tutorials in math, career, reading, everyday life. You don’t need to register
to access the courses, but if you do register, the site will keep a record of
your learning for you. Tutorials on job search, career planning, and workplace
skills may be most useful.
This
site contains hundreds of self-paced courses primarily in math, but also in
economics, science and engineering, coding, college admissions, and test
preparation.
Through
the LINCS find self-paced online courses, and searchable resources
you can find training in such areas as adult basic education, family literacy,
adult secondary education, computer literacy, and others.
This
site makes available virtually all MIT course content. It is open and available
to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.
You
can find business related courses and webinars to help start and maintain a
business.
On
this site your will find many short courses in the areas of business, careers,
technology, academics, marketing, lifestyle, health, etc. Type in a course
topic in the search window and sort by price (free) to find what is available.
Overall, the site claims to have 42,000 courses.
Click
on the Learning Center tab to see several courses on starting a business,
government contracting, finance a business, marketing, and managing a business.
Helps
individuals learn about financing options for education and training.
Information included covers exploration of costs, tools for finding
scholarships, tax information related to education and training, and budgeting
guides.
This
is a one-stop center for all of the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal
Student Aid (FSA) programs. Available in English and Spanish, this site guides
users through the process of preparing for college, selecting and applying to
schools, securing funding from a variety of sources, attending college, and
repaying loans. Information is available for high school, undergraduate, and
graduate students as well as parents, international students, and other
targeted student populations.
FinAid
is an information hub for education-related financial aid resources including
topics such as scholarships and fellowships, loans savings, and military aid
programs. Visitors will find comprehensive information on various financing
options, advice on how to approach each, important legislative information,
warnings about potential problems and more. Calculator tools are available to
help students and parents estimate costs as well as special guides to help
educators work with clients around financial aid issues.
FAFSA
offers easy access and application processing for college funds. A few portions
of the site require the user to create a login and password to save profile
information, store applications, and customize areas for specific needs.
Developed
by a partnership between the Council of Graduate Schools and TIAA-CREF, this
site is geared toward students considering graduate education, but the
information provided is relevant for anyone interested in learning about the
factors involved with financially supporting higher education. Users can access
a debt estimation tool, information about the different kinds of loan interest
rates, cost of living information, loan repayment resources, and links to other
financial aid education sites.
Peterson’s
has search tools for scholarships and other funding resources for both
undergraduate and graduate education. Users answer a few questions about
themselves and the education they are pursuing and lists of scholarships,
fellowships, awards, prizes, etc. are returned that match the information
provided. The site boasts over $10 billion in scholarship awards.
This
sites has a variety of financial information. Placing your cursor over the
“Plan for College” section uncovers additional links on saving for college,
scholarships, grants, financial aid, types of loans and a college planning
toolbox. The tool box offers several calculators and articles of interest.
The
Southern Regional Education Board has created a program to increase access to
college programs for participating institutions in 15 states (Alabama,
Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,
Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West
Virginia). The program, known as the Academic Common Market, allows students living
in these states who are interested in programs NOT offered at home-state
institutions to apply for consideration for in-state tuition rates at
participating out-of-state institutions. Individuals must fill out the
application in order to be considered and not all institutions participate in
the program.
Resources
for students, parents, and educators as they consider study abroad programs. By
visiting the faculty and advisers section you can find documents such
as Campus Best Practices: Supporting Education Abroad & Student Career
Development provides a practical guide to best practices and program models in
study abroad career integration using specific examples across a variety of
campuses in the US. Also offers a framework for understanding, maximizing, and
leveraging the career implications of study abroad participation.
This
blog by field expert Martin Tillman addresses a diverse set of topics relevant
to leveraging education abroad for student career development and
employability. Tillman’s weekly discussions about national and international
research, publications, and perspectives, make this a must-read resource for
staying current in the field.
This
website belongs to the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to
international education and exchange. By browsing “Education Abroad” topics
under the professional resources tab, you will find documents such as the Study
Abroad Career Plan: A Guide for Advising Students. Students may complete the
assignments on their own, or use the key questions as talking points for career
advising.
This site summarizes the latest official government national
2014-2024 projections for labor force by age and ethic group, industry, and
occupation. Links are provided for additional labor force demographics, major
industry and occupation sector, and the industries and occupations with largest
or fastest growth.
This site summarizes the latest monthly national workforce data
from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Narrative and tables include
unemployment rates by age, sex and race; length of unemployment; part time and
discouraged workers; employment by industry; length of workweek and average
hourly earnings. Links to accompanying data tables provide detailed information
on these and related workforce categories.
This site provides the official government national information
on hundreds of occupations including number of jobs and job outlook, duties,
education and experience requirements, pay, and sources of additional
occupation.
This site provides two and ten year occupational projections for
each state and occupation.
All states have similar (but not as detailed) workforce trends
and related data as the Bureau of Labor Statistics but their information is
provided in different formats and reports. This site provides the link to the
state agency research bureaus that compile that information which can then be
accessed for the various reports for their state, metropolitan areas, and
counties.
These videos show the types of work people do in nearly 550
careers, organized by the 16 career clusters recognized by the U.S. Department
of Education. The videos are being updated and are also available in Spanish,
and include some industry videos, occupations by educational level and
definitions of various O*NET skills and abilities of interest to employers.
The site contain videos of interview with persons in selected
careers.
This site houses more than 300 videos organized into 17
different clusters. These are “home made” movies in that Dr. Kit himself and
some of his followers have contributed to the site.
The website features thousands of videos of people doing their
jobs and provides statistical data on job forecast and career information. The
website (made by teens, for teens) is educational in nature, while also
engaging with elements of entertainment. One interesting feature is the ability
to sort videos by various criteria including interests.
This site contains videos and information on careers for kids,
grades K-5, teens, grades 6-8, teachers and parents.
This site, created by
South Carolina Educational Television, features an assortment of media content
for K-12. It contain career and educational videos, audio files, and other
educational offerings.
This sites focuses on videos that are related to college
degrees. The site also has videos on several participating universities and
helpful hints like how many schools should you apply to, how to get along with
your roommate, etc.
Over 600 of the best stories, tips and advice from young people
across Canada and the U.S. have been “crowdsourced” to help young people find
careers they will love. Each career story starts with “In high school, I wanted
to be...”
This site has numerous videos in a variety of areas to include
nearly 600 in various career paths and how to find a job.
