Legit personality/career testing resources

May 22, 2017 11:53 AM

Where on the internet can I find high-quality, non-scammy personality / career testing to help me identify what type of work I enjoy, what jobs may be a good match, and what my strengths and weaknesses are? I'm a HUGE fan of the Myers-Briggs, but it seems that should be taken with a grain of salt. And, I am looking for something a little bit more career-oriented. Ideally such a resource would range from free to low cost (<$50).
posted by houseofleaves to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Best answer: StrengthsFinder is a great one.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 12:05 PM on May 22, 2017 [8 favorites]

I was also coming to recommend strengths finder.
posted by missjenny at 12:22 PM on May 22, 2017

Best answer: I work in an office that provides career counseling and career assessments to undergraduates. Our career counselors use MBTI, StrengthsFinder, and the Strong Interest Inventory. They often have students take both the MBTI and SII together (and a cursory internet search suggests you can do the same). If at all possible, you should find someone who is trained to interpret your results and why they may have come up for you. Good luck!
posted by vakker at 12:24 PM on May 22, 2017 [3 favorites]

I found a lot of this type of stuff on my local library's website under their employment resources.
posted by girlmightlive at 1:06 PM on May 22, 2017

I did jvis when I was in high school and always recommend it to my students. It is legit research/data based analysis. However, it is more about interests (both in terms of what you like to do and what you value in a job (autonomy, stability, money, variety, routine etc. etc.), and less about what you'd be good at. I think it's a good idea to do both kinds of tests.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:08 PM on May 22, 2017

Best answer: I was really slow at work a couple of years ago, did nothing but personality tests for a week. Here's some sites I used; most of them have multiple different tests to take, and some are more career-oriented. (While some of these did have a come-on to purchase something, they all provided some test results for free.)

Similar Minds
This site looks a little sketchy, but I didn't have any issues with it. Has a bunch of different tests; the SLOAN Personality Type generates a list of careers suited to your type. It was accurate for me (almost a little too spot on, tbh)

16 Personalities

Humanmetrics

Your Personality

Keirsey

The IPIP-NEO (five factor model of personality)

Celebrity Types
(Just for fun -- lists famous people and which personality type they were/are. Lots of different tests to take, as well.)


Also did the Strengths Finder test, it was pretty good -- as part of a group exercise at work, it was really interesting to see how your colleagues scored. Not sure how useful it would be taking it solo, many of my strengths seemed not well differentiated (or, more likely, I'm very overweighted in certain areas). And it seemed to be more about how to do your work better, as opposed to picking a career.
posted by Bron at 3:50 PM on May 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Seconding Strong Inventory - it's often free or subsidised for alumni of U.S. colleges apparently. I did mine online for I think $90, an hour to take and a day's wait to go through the results with someone over Skype (mostly reading through the transcript which is clear and straightforward). Of the top ten careers I got, I had already worked happily in four of them and was able to narrow down career choices to the other six. It was also helpful for me in that some 'obvious' careers I'd thought I would consider placed far lower than other unexpected, and on reflection were careers pushed on to me but my ability to do them, not my actual interest in them. A friend did it when she was considering a major career switch and it helped her confidence that she would be happy in the new field, and she absolutely is.

My absolute lowest worst choice was fitness instructor so I know the test is accurate.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 9:01 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I used to work at an outplacement agency for the unemployed. Along with the MBTI, they also loved the Birkman test. I did it and it was quite accurate.

https://birkman.com/
posted by Calzephyr at 9:44 AM on May 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sokanu: https://www.sokanu.com

It includes the standard RIASEC metrics, plus a bunch of other stuff: workplace conditions, values, etc.
posted by pableaux at 7:00 PM on May 24, 2017