High school student, are you looking for tools to gain awareness of your interests as well as careers, college majors, and trades? Building career awareness is the first fundamental step in the career planning process to help you unlock your potentials. Finding the correct career tool is a fundamental step to identifying and achieving their career goals. You need a right tool to identify the connection between interests, careers, and college majors.

Examples of high school research-backed career tests are:

• Transferable Skills

• RIASEC Inventory Test 

• MBTI or Personality types Test

• Self Directed Search

Career Test Features

Here are features of some research-backed, commonly used high school career tests -

RIASEC Inventory
Format: On-Line NEW!
Reading Level: High school student
Subject Area: Holland Codes, Interests, Occupations

Strong Interest Inventory®

Format: On-Line
Reading Level: High school student
Subject Area: Holland Codes, Interests, Occupations

Built on decades of research and grounded in the well-established RIASEC model, the Strong Interest Inventory® is regularly updated to ensure its validity, reliability, and relevance in the ever-evolving world of work.

Format: On-Line
Reading Level: High school student
Subject Area: Holland Codes, Interests, Occupations

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)

Format: On-Line
Reading Level: High school student
Subject Area: MBTI/ Personality Types, Occupations (Source: themyersbriggs.com)

Self Directed Search used by more than 23 million people throughout the world to help find occupations that suit their interests and skills and to make successful career decisions.

Format: On-Line
Reading Level: High school student
Subject Area: Holland Codes, Interests, Occupations

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment is the most widely used personality assessment in the world – more than 2 million assessments worldwide each year.

• Reliable, valid, versatile, and dependable - Used for more than 50 years

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) types are in four groups –

• Extraversion / Introversion

• Sensing / Intuition

• Thinking / Feeling

• Judging / Perceiving

The results from the MBTI® produces the 16 types –

1. ISTJ

2. ISFJ

3. INFJ

4. INTJ

5. ISTP

6. ISFP

7. INFP

8. INTP

9. ESTP

10. ESFP

11. ENFP

12. ENTP

13. ESTJ

14. ESFJ

15. ENFJ

16. ENTJ

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) Career Report

The MBTI® Career Report is a career exploration tool that helps you –

• Identify strengths and weakness that may influence the career exploration process

• Identify job families

• Choose a potential career

• Select form of training

• Develop a career plan

The MBTI® Career Report has information on –

• MBTI® Results – Reported Type and Clarity of Reported Preferences

• MBTI® Types and Career Choice – preferred work environments, and action steps

• MBTI® Types and Career Exploration – Strengths, challenges, strategies, and action steps

• MBTI® Types and Career Development – Strengths, challenges, strategies, and action steps

• MBTI® Types and Job Families – Job family ranking, Most attractive job families, Moderately attractive job families, Least attractive job families, Most popular occupations, Least popular occupations, and Tips for succeeding in atypical occupation.

RIASEC Inventory Online Version
A Quick and Easy Assessment

The RIASEC Inventory

• Uses Holland’s RIASEC coding system and latest O*NET job titles

• Scores into six interest areas: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional

• Quick, 4-page assessment takes only 10-15 minutes to complete

• Complete only 72 work activity statements.

• Match results those interests to potential careers.

Strong Interest Inventory®

Strong Interest Inventory® (SII) Reports.

For nearly 80 years, the Strong Interest Inventory® assessment has guided thousands of individuals in exploring careers and college majors. The Strong Interest Inventory® assessment is the most respected and widely used career planning instrument in the world.

The results include –

• Scores on the level of interest on each of the six Holland Codes or General Occupational Themes. Holland Code Themes include – Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional.

• Scores on 25 Basic Interest Scales (e.g. art, science, and public speaking)

• Scores on 211 Occupational Scales which indicate the similarity between the respondent's interests and those of people working in each of the 211 occupations.

• Scores on 4 Personal Style Scales (learning, working, leadership, and risk-taking).

• Scores on 3 Administrative Scales used to identify test errors or unusual profiles.

Use the Strong Inventory® to –

• Explore and identify careers related to your interests

• Choose education and training options that match your interests and Holland Codes

• Understand how your personality is related to your interests

• Determine your preferred learning environment

• Understand your leadership, risk-taking, and teamwork preferences

• Improve career direction

• Focus on the future

• Find the dream job

• Achieve satisfaction in your work

High School Interpretive Reports

The Interpretive Report has the following additional information –

• General Occupational Themes – General Interests or Holland Codes

• Basic Interest Scales – Specific activities you might like to do at work and in your leisure time

• Occupational Scales – Occupational suggested by interests

• Personal Style Scales – Your preferred styles of working and learning

For the six Occupational Themes or Holland Codes, there are –

• Definitions

• Descriptions

• Career fields

• Personal descriptors

• Leisure activities

• Career Motivators

• Motivator Combinations

• Action Steps

In the Basic Interest Scales areas, the report discusses –

• Top Strong Interest® Areas

• The relationship between Basic Interest Scale, General Occupational Theme/ Holland Code, and Typical Interests and Activities

• Action Steps

The report outlines Similarity to Occupations. Similarity to Occupations highlights –

• Top Strong Occupations

• The relationship between Occupations, Holland Theme Code, Typical Work Tasks, and Selected Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Action Steps

In Your Personal Style, the Interpretive Report uses the Personal Style Scale Preferences to provide suggestions about your Work Style, Learning Environment, Leadership Style, Risk Taking, and Team Orientation.

The Interpretive Report Summary provides an overview of the –

• Highest Themes

• Personal and Work Environment Descriptors

• Specific Interests for Work, Leisure, and Learning

• Careers that might be Most Appealing

• How you like to work and learn

The Interpretive Report also lists Action Steps and Helpful Resources.

Self-Directed Search (SDS)

The Self-Directed Search (SDS)is one of the most widely used career assessment tools in the world.

Self-Directed Search (SDS): Overview

The Self-Directed Search is a career interest assessment created by Dr. John Holland, based on his RIASEC theory (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional).

Purpose of Self-Directed Search (SDS)

The purpose of Self-Directed Search is to help people identify careersthat matchtheir interests, personality types, and preferred work environments.

How it works

The Self-Directed Search organizes interestsinto six Holland types:

• R –Realistic: hands-on, mechanical, technical

• I – Investigative: analytical, scientific, research-oriented

• A – Artistic: creative, expressive, open-ended

• S – Social: helping, teaching, service

• E – Enterprising: leadership, sales, business

• C – Conventional: organization, data, structure

After answering a set of questions, the SDS gives you a three-letter Holland code, such as SIAor IRE. This code is used to match youwith career options, educational paths,and work environmentslikely to fit your interests.

Who it’s for

The SDS is used by:

• Students(middle schoolthrough college)

• Career changers

• Job seekers

• Adults returning to the workforce

• Career counselorsand coaches

It’s designed to be self-guided—hence the name Self-Directed.

What the SDS Measures

The assessment includes:

1. Activities you enjoy

2. Competencies you feel confident in

3. Occupations you find appealing

4. Personal self-estimates of ability

You receive:

• A 3-letter Holland code

• Matching career lists

• Summary report

• Information on education level, salary ranges, and career paths

Benefits of the SDS

• Highly researched and validated

• Simple to takeand interpret

• Fast: usually 20–25 minutes

• Strong career-matching accuracy

• Affordablecompared with other professional tools

• Excellentfor people who preferan independent, self-guided experience