8 Best Career Assessment and Personality Tests to Help You Find the Right Job - Resumonk Blog

8 Best Career Assessment and Personality Tests to Help You Find the Right Job - Resumonk Blog8 Best Career Assessment and Personality Tests to Help You Find the Right Job Starting in middle school, helping you figure out what youre going to do for the rest of your life becomes one of the goals of your teachers. Sure, youre only 13 years old. But, your job is something thats hammered into your head from early on. So, you go through high school, and maybe you take some specific courses about psychology or anatomy. Then college rolls around. Or, maybe you prefer to skip college. Whatever your choice, your career may not have turned out what you thought it would be. People change, and its OK to realize that what you wanted to do in college or during your early years may not be what you want to do for the rest of your life.If youre caught in this conundrum, ease up. Its possible to switch careers and find something that youre truly passionate about To help you out, theres a host of person ality and career-oriented tests you can take. Even if you havent worked a job yet, you can still take ansicht tests. You may be surprised by what you find1. The Self-Directed SearchOptions are excellent in life. And having options in your career to do what you want is a dream come true. The Self-Directed Search offers plenty of options. Instead of the traditional questions and answers, this test asks you questions and then sorts you into certain categories.For example, youre sorted into three categories based on the way you respond to questions. You may be sorted into the artistic, realistic and social category. Each category has a selection of jobs that matches how you answered the questions.This isnt your typical career and personality test. Its worth trying out if you want to take a test that will give you options you may not get while taking the others.2. Who Am I?This is another unique approach to personality tests. While it does focus more on your personality and less on your career, the Who Am I? test will show you things about yourself you may not have known. Its a fun structure that resembles DNA. The test works in a simple fashion. You are given a series of pictures and you pick the one that most relates to you. While this may sound elementary, its a unique strategy that is sure to both teach you and put a smile on your face.3. Myers-Briggs Type IndicatorThis is the big boy. Its used in a ton of companies across the board. Yes, this is the test where companies give you questions that determine your personality type and tell them how great of a worker youll be.It can seem daunting, but this test is fairly accurate. And it doesnt focus on superficial scenarios. The test delves deep into not only how you act, but also what motivates you to work that way. Its a deeply layered test that youll probably take at some point in your life.You can take the MBTI assessment with a certified administrator, or take a free version online. 4. PymetricsImagine walking into a job interview. You sit down, and an HR associate walks into the room. They say youre taking a test called the Pymetrics test. Youre a little confused, but youre put at ease when they tell you its a personality test that helps determine your work habits. Then, as you start taking the test, you are confronted with mind games that test your problem-solving skills.This could be quite surprising to you, but this is what the Pymetrics test is all about. A series of mind games and puzzles awaits you. Its a unique approach to personality tests and job tests that shakes up the formula of answering questions about your character.5. Career Strengths TestFocusing more on your career skills, this test has a lot to offer. Instead of boring questions about work habits, this test dives deep into how strong you are in a variety of job-related areas. Leadership, inductive reasoning and structural visualization are all facets in which youll be measured. After youve taken the test, youll see whi ch skills you excel in.Once you get the results, a host of jobs will pop up that include all the major skills in which youve excelled. Its a great test that may even surprise you with the skills you never knew you had.6. The Big Five Personality TestDo you work well with others? If youve ever thought about this skill and want to know how well you execute it, then this personality test is for you. The Big Five Personality Test focuses on how you work and how well you communicate with others. While its a tightly focused test, its results shouldnt be scoffed at. It gives you insight into whether you should be in a job that has you communicating with others all the time or a loner that gets the job done by yourself.Either way, this is a fantastic personality/career test.7. Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type IndicatorThe RHETI can easily be confused with Myers-Briggs, but its a different test that looks at which archetype you are. Once you answer the questions, you may fall into a variety of cat egories. You may be classified as a reformer, an enthusiast or even an achiever. One of the cool things this test tells you is how you work with co-workers. Better yet, it shows you how to improve in certain areas where you may have scored low. Overall, this test offers a lot. Its one of the only tests that tries to help you improve areas that you score low in.8. MAPP Career Assessment TestBesides the Myers-Briggs Indicator, the MAPP Career Assessment is the next biggest job and personality test you can take. It encompasses a broad range of results, ranging from your preferences at how to complete tasks to reasoning. Its a huge test, but one that is well worth taking. As with most of the tests on this list, it gives you a handful of job categories you would be excellent in. Its a superb test to take, and the results will help you hone in on what types of jobs you should apply for.For most people, the right career is hard to find. However, ansicht tests can help you find out what typ es of jobs you should be looking for. If youre willing to spend a little bit of money and a little bit of time, these tests will help you find not only the right career, but also the job that will make you happy.p.s. Resumonk helps you create a beautiful rsum cover letter in minutes. Stand out from the crowd and multiply yourchances of landing your dream job.

Talent alone is not enough

Talent alone is not enoughTalent alone is not enoughCreativity defines the human species - it underpins our favorite technology, music, speciess and every other tool or product we use every day.The human mind is naturally creative, constantly looking to make associations and connections between things and ideas.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreIt wants to explore, to discover new aspects of the world, and to invent.Some people are genetically constructed to have a knack for certain things.But when you start to believe that talent is the most essential piece to the puzzle of success, youve built up a wall all on your own that will only lead to failure in life.You can be good and even great at something without being naturally talented.Adopt what Carol Dweck calls a growth mindset. Look for opportunities to test yourself and keep pushing yourself to see how far you can go.When two individuals are equally talented, only effort will make the difference.There is an old saying that with your hands in your pockets you cannot climb the ladder of successTalent can do nothing without perseveranceJohn Wooden once said, Judge yourself not by what you have achieved but by what you should have achieved with the talent at your disposal.Those who really want to make the most of their talent also have a desire to improve and a work ethic that combine to make them even better.Calvin Coolidge argues that Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.Stop labeling ability astalentIf someone is good at something, theyre skilled.Deliberate practice got them that far.Most people view creativity as a talent. But that spark of genius can be nurtured and triggered using a variety of techniques.InTalent is Overrated, Colvin argues that deliberate, methodical, and sustained practice is the way to achieve true mastery.Deliberate practice is hard. It hurts. But it works. mora of it equals better performance. Tons of it equals great performance. Colvin writes.The biggest difference between you and Picasso or Einstein, or the most creative minds of our time is that they embraced the long road to mastery.They spent more time in front of a canvas, or guitar, or computer, working away at applying their minds and souls to the one thing they wanted to do.Most of what we think of as natural talent is really just the result of having started practice early.In The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance from the journalPsychological Review, authors K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf T. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Romer study t he learning curves of grandmaster chess players.The authors explain that no single chess player had attained the level of an international chess master without at least 10 years of intense preparation with the game.According to their research, it took master chess players - older than the age of 11 - an average of 11.7 years to reach such a high status. Thats 12 years of intense chess play every single day.Creativity is a skill that can be learned just like any other.When you make everything a skill instead of a talent, the entire world opens up. With the right mindset, youre ready for the other half of the battle.Lose yourself to findyourselfAs children, were much less self-critical of our creativity.Kids will happily experiment with ideas, pictures, drawings, and doodles without any fear that its not 100% perfect.Worrying yourself to death or painstakingly creating a concept before abandoning it - even for the smallest fault - can be a paralyzing way to work.Suni Brown, the au thor ofThe Doodle Revolution, notes that some of the greatest thinkersfrom Henry Ford to Steve Jobsused doodling to jump-start creativity. Doodling can enhance recall and activate unique neurological pathways, leading to new insights and cognitive breakthroughs.By throwing yourself into every idea, you can work through and find solutions that you wouldnt necessarily have thought of had you spent days agonizing over a concept.If you can accept some failures and dont always strive for perfection, you really increase your chances of producing something amazing and will find yourself constantly learning new things.Being prolific means going in at the deep end.If you refuse to get started before youve brainstormed your brainstorms, thinking through an idea from every possible angle, you can end up with nothing at all.Creating is the result of thinking like walking.Left foot, problem. Right foot, solution. Repeat until you arrive.Give yourself time in your life to wonder what is possible and to make even the slightest moves in that direction.Enjoy thejourneyThe only way you can find out if an idea will work is to actually try it out.You can save a lot of time by seeing an idea through early if only on a provisional basis, to see whether it holds up to your own or a clients brief.But the greatest impediment to creativity is impatience.The almost inevitable desire to hurry up the process, express something, and make a splash can hurt your creative work.Want to be more creative? Pick a problem you care about and get to work.Or focus on the one thing that makes you come alive and get started exploring it. If you dont care about anything, your problem isnt creativity, its apathy.To master any skill, you must love the subject and feel a profound connection to it. Your interest must transcend the field itself and border on the religious.Assume nothing. Question everythingConsume relevant information.Check out the work of those famous and obscure in your field, and absorb a bsolutely everything you need to know.Curiosity builds upon itself, every question leading to the next.While people can understandably worry that this as a habit could make their work derivative, often-original ideas can be sparked by your unique reaction to the work of others.By being interested and engaged in the world, the chances are that your work will reflect this passion and become more interesting and engaging for other people.While its never a good idea to conduct blatant plagiarism, your great creative idea could be hiding in someone elses project.Inspiration is often found in the works of others arguably all thought and creative ideas are influenced by others.Where would Plato and Aristotle be without SocratesMind the tiny dailyritualsSleeping in until noon rarely sets you up for the day.Getting up early, finding a routine and setting yourself deadlines will do wonders for your productivity and will let you create your best work.Discipline, however, doesnt mean working 9 to 5.There are no set rules for being creative or productive.Balzac used to work during the night having consumed 30 cups of coffee.Mozart meticulously counted out 60 beans for his morning coffee every day.Hemingway rose at 530 am before working until his midday Martini and writer Tony Schwartz used to set his timer for 90 minutes, focussing intently for an hour and a half before taking a lengthy break.There is no right way to structure your day, but one common thread is that many of the greatest creative minds had strict daily habits.Find what works best for you stick to it.Pause forthoughtCreative thought activates alpha-brain waves that help trigger an idea with minimal conscious thought.Professor Jonathan Schooler from the University of California has studied brain wave activity during the creative process.He found that doing something different from sitting at a desk allows these unconscious thoughts to take hold.Both Beethoven and Tchaikovsky firmly believed that taking a two- hour walk every day helped them with their musical composition.Taking a break from distraction and the constant beeps, bings, and boings from our various devices, can allow our brains to relax and innovation to slowly bubble to the surface.Give your mind permission towanderEvery day is an opportunity to be creative - the canvas is your mind, the brushes and colours are your thoughts and feelings, the panorama is your story, the complete picture is a work of art called, my life. Be careful what you put on the canvas of your mind today - it matters. - InnerspaceCharles Darwin was reading Thomas Malthuss Essay on Population for amusement when he was able to crystallize his theory of natural selection.Dr. Rex Jung from the University of New Mexico has also observed that when people are engaged in the creative process, there is a distinct change in the frontal lobes.When there is less activity in the frontal lobes, it is more likely that you can come up with an original idea.Dr. Jung describes the phenomenon as transient hypofrontality.Great discoveries often evolve as slow hunches, maturing and connecting to other ideas over time. And remember, being completely terrible at something is the first step to being pretty darn good at it.At first glance, talent seems to be the biggest indicator of success in any field.But talent isnt everything.Dont wait your whole life for your talents to find you. Go out there, explore, discover and hone your own.This article first appeared on Medium.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Designing the Perfect Swing

Designing the Perfect Swing Designing the Perfect Swing meerbusen is a game where people will take any edge they can get. Just ask the golfers competing for a certain green jacket in Augusta, GA, recently. But even if its just a friendly foursome, that doesnt mean you dont want to come in firstin fact, the sporting goods industry counts on it. Better yardage, less slice, anything to turn bogeys into birdies. Golf club designer Tom Wishon of Tom Wishon Golf, Durango, CO, says the mechanical engineering edge is found in club fit. Where many golfers stand to get better is by having their clubs designed around their game, he says. For the pro, it wont make much of a difference, but for anyone with a handicap of 8 or worsethey can make great improvements. Golf club designer Tom Wishon at work. Image Tom Wishon Golf Technology Wishon, co-author of the bestselling book The Search for the Perfect Golf Club, says a major problem in clubs is that theyre sold to standard specs so they can be sh ipped fully assembled to retailers. Youre selling it to golfers so different in ability and swing that its just luck if it matches up well, he says. Wishon believes an engineer who can focus in on what an individual golfer needs can be an important asset. First you look at the size, strength, and athletic ability of the golfer, he says. Think about the physics, the engineering that can be put into that club head and shaft. The head speed has to do with whether they can hold onto the wrist cock angle related to the inertiato golfer spine angleto rotationand what changes that in their golf swing. If you unhinge the wrist cock angle, rotation increases dramatically, putting mora stress on the golfer so they cant swing as well. We have this idea that the longer the club, the better the shot, but 70% of golfers have length that actually prevents them from playing to the best of their ability. Detail of one of Wishons designs. Image Tom Wishon Golf Technology Key fitting specs to look at include assessing the club length, loft angle on the club head face, the lie angle between the shaft and sole of the club, total weight of the golf club, and the swing-weight balance ratio of the weight distribution in head versus the rest of the club. The whole business of club fitting is being a true diagnostician, says Wishon. Like a doctor seeing a patient, the golfer comes with the symptoms Does he slice it? How much? High? Low? A club fitter needs to watch you take shots and do measurements on you and analyze various swing motions to truly know if they can help. You can take an average golfers slice from 30 yards to 10 yards. Instead of losing balls, theyre in play. Wishon, whos been designing for 40 years, was a teaching pro who received his engineering knowledge through mentors, such as Art Mittendorf, an electrical engineer. But he doesnt believe you need to be an elite golfer to be a top club fitter. It helps if youre good at the game but an advanced degree in mechanical e ngineering can give you strong knowledge that can come into play, he says. You start to see how many details go into an effective swing through the club. So many people have a game inside of them that they dont even know is there. Its a lot of fun to watch their game improve just by coming up with a better fit. Eric Butterman is an independent writer.An engineer who can focus in on what an individual golfer needs can be an important asset.Tom Wishon, Tom Wishon Golf