I share which personality tests are best for a career change and how they helped with my career pivot.
There are a lot of personality tests for careers but not every test is helpful for a career change journey. I say journey because taking a personality test is just one step of the process of changing careers.
Personality tests for careers can provide insights on what motivates you, measure your level of talent versus skill, or help determine how well you work with others. However, not all personality tests are helpful for a career pivot.
Tests that focus on your natural strengths, talents, and unique characteristics are the perfect type of personality test for someone who is thinking about making a career change. Knowing what you are inherently good at can give you a clear direction of where to pivot next.
I share which personality tests for careers are the best when making a career pivot. And which tests I took before deciding to change my career from a retail buyer to a writer.
What Are Personality Tests for Careers?
There are different types of personality tests for careers that are catered to help the job seeker or the hiring company.
Here are the most common tests that are used by career coaches, companies, and job search boards.
- Career Tests are a blend of talent and personality tests that match you with a particular field or role.
- Skills Assessment tests allow job seekers to evaluate their skills and align them with the right role. Companies might use this type of test to validate a candidate's skill level.
- Aptitude Tests can help measure one's ability to perform a particular task and how quickly one can learn new skills.
- Motivational Tests are based on the two types of motivation we experience as humans. Intrinsic (internal reward and validation) and Extrinsic (external rewards like money and fame).
- Personality Tests typically originate from a psychology study or theory. These tests measure different parts of your personality, like your emotional make-up, motivation towards decision-making, and personal characteristics.
Discovering your unique strengths and natural talents are the keys to unlocking to your fullest potential. And confidently knowing you are moving in the right direction towards something you are good at doing.
How Can Personality Tests Help a Career Pivot?
I was in the fashion industry for over 18 years and earned promotions throughout my career. But after I was laid off, I couldn’t tell you what my strengths were.
Perhaps my self-confidence was so low , it was challenging to come up with my professional strengths.
So, I gave myself a little experiment by writing down everything that I accomplished other the years, a “bragging inventory list” if you will. It was nice to see it all in black and white, but the list didn’t tell me what I was good at overall.
A career coach suggested I take a personality test that could help me identify my strengths and natural abilities.
I took her suggestion and took not one, but three!
I discovered what I was naturally drawn to excel at and what I valued out of work and life.
Which Personality Tests Help a Career Pivot?
I share the personality tests I took before making my career pivot. They are listed by price, length of time to take the test, and result format.
Via Institute
Free-$49.99
Avg. Time to Complete Test- 20 mins
The Via Character Strengths Assessment focuses on the positive traits of your personality and characteristics. According to the Via Institute, we have 24 character traits that cover all aspects of a personality. Everyone’s traits rank differently according to the responses.
The free version of the test will provide you with your top 5 strengths and a brief description of each. The middle tier test for $19.99 will provide you a detailed report about your top 5 personality strengths. And the top-tier test results at $49.99, will provide a full detailed report of all 24 traits.
My review
The questions were easy to follow and to answer. The results were very accurate to what I appreciate and love doing. The trait descriptions are simple and concise.
My Results
My top five strengths are:
- Love of learning
- Appreciation of beauty and excellence
- Humor
- Honesty
- Kindness
The Via Character Strengths focused on what I value the most out of life and how I show up in the world. I used some of my strengths as a part of my LinkedIn profile page.
The Sparktype Assessment
Free-$19.99
Avg. Time to Complete Test- 30 mins
The Sparktype Assessment was developed by award-winning author and producer of the “The Good Life Project” Jonathan Fields. He spent over 20 years researching different fields like positive psychology, behavioral economics, and social science data. Developing 10 different Sparktypes marked by different personality traits and traced back to a purpose and the description of the workflow.
The test is free to find out your Sparktype!
However, if you are interested to learn all the behavioral details and suggested action plans on how to optimize your Sparktype in everyday life, it is $19.99 for a downloadable PDF.
My review
I like how the test allowed you to take your time and gave you a decent range to place your answer. My SparkType was an accurate description of who I am and what drives to me excel. My only issue was the PDF (purchased the Master Plan report) it was pretty long to read through. I wish it was available as an interactive course, it probably could have kept me more engaged with all of the content.
My Results
I am an Essentialist. I like to distill, organize and simplify a process. There is nothing more rewarding to me when I can turn chaos into simplified bliss.
My intention of this blog was to demystify topics by breaking down the key components in a concise and simplified article.
Creating the blog rings true to my Essentialist Sparktype.
Clifton Strengthfinder Assessment
$19.99-$49.99 (Individual Assessment)
Avg. Time to Complete Test- 25 mins
The Clifton’s StrengthFinder assessment originally started with a book by Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson, Soar With Your Strengths: A Simple Yet Revolutionary Philosophy of Business and Management. The popularity of the book gave room to a second book authored by Clifton’s grandson, Tim Rath. He and a team of behavioral scientists developed the StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and a personality test.
The assessment measures how you behave and act when you are your best. It gets behind your why and what motivates you to show up in the world. The assessment has 34 themes, referred to as strengths, that pinpoint your talents and is organized by four groups: Executing, Influencing, Relationship building, Strategic thinking.
My Review
The questions are not difficult to comprehend but you are only allotted 20-25 seconds to answer. If you don’t answer them in time the question will disappear. (Check out the pro tip below to achieve the best test results). I purchased the full detailed report at $49.99. There is a lot of information to go through, in hindsight I probably could have just settled for the report with my top five strengths and would have been satisfied with the information to move forward.
My Results
My top three aligned with the other assessment results.
The Clifton StrengthFinder focuses on how you think and behave and what motivates you to perform out in the world.
What Do You Do With The Tests Results?
“Knowing your strengths, what you are best at is like having the key to your freedom and success. You can make better decisions about the kind of work that will fit best for you.”
- Jennifer Bassman, Certified Clifton StrengthFinder Coach
Allow yourself time to sit with these newfound strengths. Share your results with a confidant or mentor. They can provide you with feedback on your assessment.
Print out the test results and highlight the keywords that pop out to you and spark an intuitive response. A reflection of your key personality traits, behaviors, and purpose.
Knowing what comes naturally to you and what makes you light up inside will be your source of energy as you navigate your way through your career changing journey.
I hope this post explains the benefits of taking personality tests that identify your core strengths to help you confidently take the next steps of a career pivot.
We want to hear from you! Have you taken a personality test for your career? What did you think of your results? Share below!
