How a lightbulb moment became a powerful narrative assessment practice
June 3, 2019
The role of assessment in the development of employability skills
June 5, 2019
Lindsay Purchase, CERIC Content & Communications Editor
In between watching Office Space and Gladiator in my Grade 10 Careers class (essential viewing for our career education), we took an online career aptitude test. Would I be a veterinarian? An author? No, the destiny that awaited me – a student who later quit school sports for human rights club – was to be a professional athlete.
I found this process confusing and unhelpful – hardly a unique first experience with career assessments. However, it illustrates a couple of important points: 1) Not all career assessments, formal or informal, are created equally, and 2) Results interpretation with a trained career professional is an important part of the assessment process.
CERIC is thrilled to share with you our second collaborative issue of Careering magazine with the US-based National Career Development Association (NCDA) on the theme of “Career Assessments.” A robust overview of informal and formal assessments, the feature article by JoAnn Harris-Bowlsbey from the NCDA’s Summer Career Developments magazine, is included in Careering. Both magazines also contain an interview with assessment expert Dr Chris Wood of the University of Las Vegas and an infographic exploration of how career professionals can best use assessments. You can learn more about Career Developments at ncda.org.
Our print articles and robust offering of online-exclusives approach the Career Assessments theme from a broad range of perspectives. This issue examines a variety of assessment tools and strategies, from widely used career tests to unique, homegrown approaches (try bringing music into your career conversations for surprisingly insightful results). Learn tips for weaving assessment results into a meaningful whole, what happened when one career professional decided to test out five popular assessment tools on herself and much more.
A secondary theme of career transition emerged in this issue’s recurring features. Principles in Action looks at the dynamic nature of career development, while our Client Side writer shares her experience with career counselling during a mid-life career pivot.
Happy reading!
