The Prepped Team
November 16, 2021
10 Minutes
When you were a kid, chances are a family member asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” While dreaming of becoming an astronaut or a famous musician sounds like a solid career plan at the age of five, many people struggle to create a career plan. After all, it can feel like an overwhelming decision. Whether you’ve recently completed post-secondary education, or you are contemplating a career change, there are resources out there to help narrow down your options and find your dream job.
Here’s a list of some of the best career aptitude tests and personality quizzes designed to take into account your skills, values and goals in steering you in the right direction.
A career aptitude quiz and some personality tests are designed to give you an understanding of your personality and the careers you might best be suited to. It can help you choose a career, develop a career path, or change from one field to another entirely. Aptitude quizzes and personality tests will evaluate your skills and interests and are a great jumping-off point for getting to know yourself better. These tests generally assess where your interests lie, assess your strengths, and how you prefer to work—is it data, people or things?
Admittedly, there are those of us who dream of being a veterinarian in grade school and go on to make that happen. But for many people, there isn’t one “dream job.” Research shows that on average Canadians will have around 15 jobs throughout their career. If you’re unhappy in your current career or feel like you haven’t found your niche yet, then taking a career quiz or a personality test can help.
One of the advantages of these aptitude tests is that it is an objective measure of your interests and innate skills. So, while a parent might want you to follow in their footsteps and go into accounting too, a career quiz may show your talent and interest lies elsewhere, like arts administration or science. Career quizzes can also help to hone the type of working environment you thrive best in and your working style. Perhaps you love being in a fast-paced environment working as part of a tight-knit team, or a more solitary and quiet environment.
Another great thing about taking a career aptitude test is it could lead you to a career path you never even knew existed. For example, uncovering your strength in empathizing with others might result in a career as a bereavement counsellor.
Here are 7 personality tests and career quizzes you can take online to help you find your ideal career path. A free version of each of these tests listed below and with some of the more well-respected tests, an in-depth paid version is also available.
What is it: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test (also commonly referred to as MBTI) was developed in the 1940s by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Briggs, based on the theory of psychological types introduced by Carl Jung. The test is based on a series of questions where participants rate their preference to each question. The MBTI test is designed to identify a person’s personality type, strengths, and preferences. It's also one of the most widely used personality tests in the world.
Why is it useful: Based on how you answer each question, MBTI will assign one of 16 unique personality types. Each personality type is made up of four letters and indicates your preferences (for example extravert vs. introvert). Equipped with this information, you can find out which career you'll be best suited to, based on your natural tenancies.
A free version of the MBTI test is available online at 16Personalities.
What is it: The Big Five personality traits is a quiz that was developed by independent scientific researchers. It’s commonly used by psychologists and career counsellors as a personality assessment. The Big Five test is used by Human Resources to help place employees in positions and within teams. The Big Five scores on, you guessed it, five traits:
The test consists of 120 statements that you are meant to answer honestly based on how you see yourself now. Answers range from strongly agreeing with a statement to strongly disagreeing.
Why is it useful: After taking the test, you’ll receive a percentage for each of the five traits. For example, a high score in openness means you tend to be more creative, or someone who scores low on neuroticism means they are more likely to handle a high-stress job like a firefighter. Taking this test will help increase your self-awareness and give you another framework through which to understand yourself. It can also be useful information when it comes to making decisions about your career, as the test results often suggest professions that fit how you score on the five traits.
A free version of The Big Five personality traits test is available online at 123Tests.com.
What is it: The MAPP (Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential) Career Assessment is one of the most well-respected career tests available. is a self-directed test in a multiple-choice format that offers three statements and asks you to rate which of the three statements applies the most and which applies the least. For example, would you most or least like to:
After answering the 71 different questions, the MAPP test will assess you based on the criteria such as your aptitude for a job, how you relate to people, things and data, your mathematical and language capacity and your interest in certain jobs.
Why it’s useful: While there is great benefit in taking a personality test to help you understand your strengths, the MAPP Career Assessment takes this a step further by suggesting your top ten vocational areas. In addition to a free test, there are more in-depth reports. While you have to pay for these results, it does dig a little deeper and matches you against over 1,000 potential careers, as well as provide you with tailored statements you can use on your resume, based on your results.
A free version of the MAPP Career Assessment is available online.
What is it: The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTS) is designed to classify personality types across four temperaments:
The model was developed by American psychologist David Keirsey and is based on the earlier work of Jung and Myers-Briggs. The self-administered test includes 70 questions where participants are given a choice between two answers. Unlike Myers-Briggs, KTS focuses on behaviour rather than thinking/feeling questions.
Why it’s useful: The Keirsey Temperament Sorter can help you understand better your strengths, communication style and how you behave. It’ll give you insight into what drives you and what your natural capabilities are. A specific temperament and careers report is also available which will also provide suggested career matches, career options and how to navigate the job market based on your particular personality type.
The Keirsey test is available through their website.
What is it: The 123 Career Test is a simple, quick assessment of the type of career you may be best suited for. It is based on the six Holland Code personality types:
The test takes less than 10-minutes to complete. Instead of assessing statements, you look at four pictures of work-related tasks, such as auctioneer, teacher, mechanic and chemist, and click on the one you’d want to do most as well as the least.
Why it’s useful: The test is quick and easy to do. The results will rank your most dominant Holland Code personality type with a percentage, followed by your second and third most dominant traits. Then based on your combination of personality types, the test suggests 20 occupations based on your score as well as a detailed description of your top three careers and the education level required.
The 123 Test Career Test is available online free of charge.
What is it: The Job Bank of Canada offers three career quizzes to help you choose and develop your career path. The tests can be self-administered online and takes a maximum of 10 minutes each. They are arranged into three categories: interests, abilities, and work activities.
The test for interest and abilities asks you to rank a sentence along a spectrum, for example: Doing the same task for a long period of time. However, the work activities test asks you to rank three sentences from a list in the areas of people, information and things. For example, you may select: Lead a group, assign tasks, direct and oversee other people’s work or activities.
Why it’s useful: When combined, the tests will give you a fuller picture of how your interests and abilities intersect. For example, the interests test may show you are a social person who likes dealing with people or an innovative person who likes to explore things in-depth. While the abilities test could indicate outstanding verbal ability. Finally, the work activities test may show you have a preference for synthesizing information and discovering new facts. Each test includes a list of potential careers and the education level required.
The Job Bank of Canada career quiz is available online free of charge.
What is it: My Plan Careers Values is a free online, self-directed test that identifies your work values. The test consists of 20 statements related to your ideal job. For example: I could plan my work with little supervision. You then rank each statement from least important to most important by sorting the cards into a grid. The test then scores you on the six values: independence, achievement, working conditions, relationships, support, recognition.
Why it’s useful: When first embarking on your career, you may not yet have a strong sense of what values are important in the workplace. This test will shed light on what matters to an individual, rather than what they think should matter. For example, you may think others seeing your job as having status is important to you. However, in doing this test, you realize what others think is less important than a job where you are not pressured to go against your morals. You can also use your results to do a career comparison and see how your current career or dream job lines up with your workplace values.
The My Plan Careers Values quiz is available online for a fee.
Landing on a career takes time. The more you can uncover your strengths, innate abilities, workplace values, or temperament, the more you can align yourself with your ideal career. Prepped can help you with premium career tools and job search templates that can help improve your chances of finding your dream job.
The Prepped Team
November 16, 2021
The step-by-step approach to job search success.
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