Are you asking yourself: What do I want to do? What are my interests?

Overwhelmed by the prospect of finding a career? Wish there was some way to filter through the options? Career assessments can help you jump-start the process by giving you insight into your personality, interests, skills, and values.

Self-Directed Assessment

Interested in taking the first step on your own? Here’s one idea: check out Spotlight on Careers. Spotlight was created for you by Career Services professionals from over 30 selective liberal arts colleges. On this site you can explore a range of careers that often appeal to liberal arts students. Within each career category you will find an overview of job titles and trends, advice from alumni who have chosen that career, and links to more specific resources to help you begin your internship, job, or graduate school search.

Data-directed

Professionally-Interpreted Assessments

Another way of becoming clearer about your interests, skills, values and personal strengths or gifts is to gather data/information in an organized, standardized fashion. So some people might choose to take career inventories which compare your unique characteristics to the interests of people in various professions. This is an appropriate and useful option for some people; others don’t find it helpful.

Strong Interest Inventory (SII)

Discover occupations that connect with your interests: the Strong Interest Inventory measures interests in broad areas, breaks them down into more specific topics, and compares those interests to professionals in a variety of occupations.

The career center recommends the SII for students seeking information on potential career options.

Students interested in completing the SSI should first schedule a preliminary meeting with a career counselor in the career center.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Identify your preferences in how you process information, make decisions, and interact with the world. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assesses personality and is one of the most well-known career assessments available today.

The career center recommends the MBTI to help students identify best-fit work environments, strategies for interacting with co-workers, and components that can lead to satisfying careers.

Students interested in completing the MBTI should first schedule a preliminary meeting with a career counselor in the career center. 

Next Steps

After completing assessments, explore career fields that emerged in the results:

• Check out books from the career center library to learn more about the occupations, or go more deeply into the assessment tool results—the book “Do What You Are” is a great follow-up to the MBTI.
• Research the specific occupations using Spotlight on Careers—explore work environments, career paths, and interviews of various people who work in those fields.
• Contact alumni in the Carleton Alumni Directory who work in the specific occupations or broad career fields to get a first-hand perspective.