Free Career Quizzes! Get ideas and explore…….
26th August 2022
There are lots of freely available digital careers platforms which offer you the chance to find out which jobs, courses and pathways might suit you. Whether you have pretty firm ideas or are somewhat confused, taking an on-line careers questionnaire can broaden out ideas and/or bring fresh inspiration and direction.
Behind these questionnaires are algorithms (maths stuff!) which measure personality and interests then match these to ‘best-fit’ jobs.
Overall, CareerWave feels these tests can be very useful. However, we urge caution. They are not an exact science and they do not account for many other factors impacting on your career decisions e.g. economic need, availability of work, drive and determination, technological change and raw talent. Furthermore, the world needs to develop a broadly skilled, adaptable and flexible workforce to tackle career trends like automation and the digital surge. It could be counter-productive if we narrow down our job options to a select few jobs we know about today. So rather than focusing on the suggested jobs alone, take note of the wider industries they are part of and how you (your interests, skills, values, beliefs, aspirations etc) fit in our changing working world.
This article highlights a few of the CareerWave recommended digital platforms available for free. We have not listed the many others which cost or do not have a free element, although some of these are really good. For example, Morrisby Profile measures an individual’s aptitudes (reading, writing, perceiving, spatial and mechanical abilities) as well as interests and personality to produce a comprehensive careers report.
Here are CareerWave’s favourites;
Start is a free and comprehensive digital platform. Complete your personal profile and see suggested careers for you to explore further. The profile asks you about your current interests, work preferences, skills and qualities. The platform interface is very intuitive and pretty easy to use although some people might need extra support- you can switch to dyslexia mode. There is an awful lot of careers information and advice here- you can manage your own research through the action planning tool and build a digital record of achievement.
iCould is a brilliant resource with loads of great video clips about people who do specific jobs. It also has the very fun and quick Buzz Test! This is a 5 minute personality test which matches you to an animal and suggests some career areas which might suit you. CareerWave really likes this resource because it is highly visual and engaging.
We, at CareerWave, really love this resource. The Career Cloud Quiz is totally free and unique. Again it is driven by a personality test which is quick and visual. For each question, you respond to four pictures and pick the one which best describes who you are. Based on your individual responses, SACU matches you to potential careers, degree courses and apprenticeships. The difference here, and the bit we love, is the presentation of the results in the form of word clouds. In our opinion this is a much better way to see the huge range of careers which might suit you- you do not have to scroll down a long list which is great because the danger with lists is people often focus on only the few at the top.