What Are the Advantages of Career Finder Tools?

When it comes to choosing the right career, there is much to think about.

• What jobs match your skills and interests?
• Is the pay suitable to let you live the lifestyle you want?
• Are there plenty of opportunities for career progression?
• Is it a stable job that you can rely on?

With so much to think about, it is no wonder that many people get flustered and settle for the first available job that they can find.

But what if there were specific tools or strategies that you could use to help you find the right career for you?

Could this help you narrow down your search and give you confidence that you are choosing the right job role for you?

Here we will find out more about the wide range of career pathfinder tools that can be used to help you decide on a career.

What Are Career Finder Tools?

Unfortunately, there is no singular resource that will tell you everything you need to know when trying to decide on a career.

However, there is a wide range of tools at your disposal which you can use collectively to help you find the right career for you.

Career finder tools (which are also known as career assessments) are an array of documents, quizzes, assessments and surveys that are designed to help narrow down your preferred career choice.

They are often used by guidance counselors and career counselors to help people navigate their strengths, weaknesses and interests.

Career pathfinders are often used by high school students and college students as they prepare to graduate. They are also used by military recruiters as they establish what roles may be ideally suited to a candidate.

However, they can also be used freely online. So, if you’re considering a career change, or you’re looking to explore what options are available to you, then you may be interested to learn more.

What Career Finder Tools are Available?

There are many ways to help you establish what job is right for you – some may be fun, interactive quizzes whilst others may be in-depth personality insights.

If you are struggling to find the career choice for you, then you may wish to test several different career finder tools.

Each tool has its own strengths and may provide you with different insights into your capabilities.

Let’s look at some of the options available:

Career Aptitude Tests

You may wish to look at career aptitude tests which can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses and discover your motivations.

Once this information is available, it can help you to find a suitable career match, providing you with a list of possible vocations.

Some tests can be found freely online, whilst others may require a meeting with a qualified career counselor.

A popular choice for a career aptitude test is the MAPP Assessment (Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential). This is a short online quiz that helps you identify which jobs you may be suited to.

Lifestyle Preferences

When looking for a career, you should think about what you want to get out of it.

Perhaps you’re driven by lifestyle choices:

• Are you looking for a high-flying career where there’s lots of career progression and opportunities for promotion?
• Are you looking for something with a little less stress and a more positive work-life balance?
• Do you want to work as part of a big team, or would you prefer to have the option to work remotely at home?
• If you have champagne tastes but you’re on a lemonade budget, do you know what salary you may need to change your lifestyle?

To help you find a job based on your lifestyle preferences, you could use a free app such as PathSource.

Available on Apple and Android, it will make recommendations based on your interest and personality profile. It will even consider your Major and provide recommendations on what careers can financially support your lifestyle.

Once you’ve narrowed your choices down, you can use the app to watch videos with workers as well as learn more information about salary expectations, education requirements, etc.

As a free tool, this is beneficial for those who want to gain a basic overview of the types of job roles that may support them to achieve their dreams.

However, it should be noted that your lifestyle choices are likely to change throughout your life. What was important to you at the age of 21 may not be as applicable when you are in your 30s.

Personality Tests

Personality tests aren’t just beneficial for prospective employers looking to make hiring decisions. You can also use them to become more self-aware.

Using a personality test will enable you to know what your personality type is like, and how that fits with job roles.

For example, if you are an extroverted personality, you may not work to your potential if you are isolated at home working by yourself.

Personality tests often use the concepts created by the esteemed psychiatrist Dr Carl Jung. These work on the basis that four pairs of opposite preferences can determine a person’s personality.

The most well-known personality test is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

The test identifies 16 different types of personality; each variation has its own distinct career matches.

Skills Profiler Tools

Another way to establish the best choice of job for you is to consider what skills you have, and see what careers match those skills.

Skills profiles can also help you understand what additional skills may be needed, building on your existing capabilities.

This gives you insights into how further training or upskilling could open new doors for you.

The Skills Profiler Tool devised by the US Department of Labor is a useful tool to help you match a job to your skillset.

SWOT Analysis

One of the easiest things you can do to assess your career potential is to conduct your own SWOT analysis.

This looks at:

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

This is an opportunity for you to self-reflect on your capabilities and consider how you can use your strengths in different ways.

You may want to ask yourself a variety of questions to help you with your SWOT, such as:

• What am I good at?
• What are my skills and my interests?
• What do I enjoy/not enjoy?
• What motivates me to work hard?
• What working environment excites me?
• Are there any areas where I could benefit from additional training?
• What would prevent an employer from hiring me?

Your SWOT is an effective self-assessment tool to help you decide on a career because it allows you to look at what your capabilities are. Once you’re more aware of your strengths, you can match them to a specific vocation.

However, it should be remembered that, unlike other career finding tools, the SWOT is based on what you say about yourself. It won’t directly lead you to specific careers like other career aptitude tests.

However, it will give you stronger insights into yourself which you can use to identify areas for improvement.

What Are the Advantages of Using Career Finder Tools?

As you can see, the variety of career path quizzes and tests available mean that there is a world of possibilities available to help you uncover your dream career.

So, what are the advantages of using career finder tools?

You’ll be provided with a wealth of data that you can not only use to help you find the right job match, but you’ll have more insights to share with recruiters as you start to attend job interviews.

You’ll understand more about your strengths and weaknesses. This means that you’ll be more aware of where you excel, and areas where you need additional support and/or training.

You can use this information to help you identify opportunities to upskill yourself and to answer any tricky interview questions.

You’ll be more attuned to your personality and your values. You’ll start to understand what motivates and excites you. You’ll know what type of working environment suits you and you’ll feel more comfortable working in a job role which matches your personality.

Skills profiler tools will allow you to understand what your transferrable skills are.

Throughout your education and your career history, you’ll have picked up a wealth of knowledge and capabilities. It’s important to understand how these transferrable skills can be used.

Employers are often looking for candidates who can bring fresh perspectives and new insights to the workplace. Therefore, knowing what an employer is looking for and understanding how you can meet those needs is vital.

Your eyes will open to a wide range of career options available. Often, we’re drawn into specific job roles because it’s what is expected of us.

Using a career finder can open up a world of possibilities that you may not have known existed. This means that you can start to expand your horizons and make plans that may not have seemed possible before you began your research.

Ultimately, using a career finder is all about discovering the right career for you. We spend most of our lives at work, so you need to feel comfortable and happy doing your job.

What Are the Disadvantages of Using a Career Pathfinder Tool?

Whilst you may be excited by the options that are seemingly presented to you through the career path quizzes, it’s important to remain grounded in reality.

A free online test may suggest that you’re suited to being a pilot, but if you don’t have a flight school nearby or the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed for training, then that dream is likely to remain unfulfilled.

Career tests will provide an unfiltered suggestion of possible careers. Unless you are speaking with a qualified career counselor, these tests will have no way of knowing your personal circumstances.

You may be recommended completely unsuitable jobs – perhaps the opportunities are not nearby, or maybe they require specific training which you are unable to benefit from.

For example – a personality test may recommend that you could suit being a doctor or nurse, but you would need the academic capabilities to attend medical school.

It’s also important to think about how self-aware you are. The tests can only provide data based on the information that you’ve provided. If you’ve not been truly honest about your skills and capabilities, then the career pathfinders cannot give you accurate results.

Finally, you need to remember that if you are using a free online tool, they will always have their limitations. The algorithms may be set for mass use, and therefore may not have the specific filters required for bespoke careers advice.

It’s worth using the data from career tools to provide general advice and guidance.

How Can You Use the Results of a Career Finder Tool?

It’s important to remember that each tool has strengths and weaknesses.

You may wish to use a myriad of career finder tools to see what different types of quizzes may suggest as possible career options.

If multiple quizzes suggest the same career choice, then you can start to feel confident that it is an accurate option for you.

It’s also worthwhile considering how you can use the data to help you beyond your career choice.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses and understanding what motivates you are essential to helping you to answer tricky interview questions.

The data you glean from career pathfinder tools can open up new areas of conversation with recruiters. You’ll likely be far more self-reflective, and you could potentially be viewed as a stronger candidate because of it.

Final Thoughts

There are many online tools freely available that can help you to narrow down the most suitable career choice for you. But you mustn’t get too hung up on the results.

Just because an algorithm suggests that something is right for you, doesn’t mean that it’s always correct.

The results should be used as a starting point for further research. Whilst they may make suggestions for exciting careers, you need to undertake due diligence before heading deep into applications and job hunting.

Take the time to refine the options.

Once you have your starting point of career choices, research what each job entails. Think about some of the following:

• Do you have existing skills or will you need further training?
• Do you have a budget to go back to school and retrain?
• Are further training options available locally?
• Would you need to study full-time or could you study alongside your current job?
• Once you have qualified, what are the salary expectations?
• Would you be expected to work full-time or part-time?
• Is there ample career progression?
• What would your work-life balance be?

As you can see, there is much to think about when deciding on a career choice. It is brilliant that tools are available to open your eyes to new opportunities and we hope that you can use career finder quizzes to find the right option for you.