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Self-Assessment Inventories

The University of Michigan Career Center and The Alumni Association offer career assessment services for staff both on-line and in person (by appointment), including the administration and interpretation of interest and personality inventories along with follow up counseling. Human Resource Development (HRD) offers courses in career advancement. Your public library, local community colleges and universities may provide similar services. Check their Web sites and look specifically for links to Adult, Continuing Education or Services for Non-Traditional Students (The "Resources" and "Action Plan" sections contain links to other Michigan academic institutions and libraries). Also check out Edgar Schein's Career Anchors career assessment resources. If you are interested in working with private career counselors, check the Yellow Pages under "Career and Vocational Counseling" or "Psychologists", and look for those professionals specializing in career-related issues.

The following are career interest inventories most often used by career counselors. Taking one of them provides you with valuable insight into your unique skills and abilities, and helps you identify careers that are compatible with your interests:

Strong Interest Inventory
This site provides comprehensive information about interest inventories in general and the Strong Interest Inventory in particular.

The STRONG is used to help you understand your work interests and to show you different kinds of occupations in which you might be comfortable. Your answers will be compared with the answers given by people already working in a wide range of jobs, and your score will show how similar your interests are to theirs. The STRONG is not a test of your abilities; it is an inventory of your interests. Your results will be presented to you later on a Strong Interest Inventory report. Your counselor, via an on-line site or in person, will provide you with information to help you understand your results.

Myers-Briggs Indicator ™ (MBTI)
MBTI is a personality inventory used to help people identify personality preferences. This information can be useful for career exploration and decision-making, as well as helping you improve work and personal relationships, increase productivity, and identify leadership and interpersonal communication preferences. This can be brought to your unit, for a fee, through HRD.

Holland Self-Directed Search
Is another Career Interest Inventory. This site also provides useful information about finding a career counselor.

The Career Key
This site, also based on the work of John Holland, contains a simple self-scoring instrument that yields six styles.