Assessments: What You Want to Know

WHAT CAN THEY DO FOR YOU?

A "good" assessment can open up a previously closed window and give you insight about your:

Authentic personality style and self-concept (the "real" you)
Key interests and desired lifestyle
Strengths, and strategies to enhance your strengths
Best-Fit career options
Preferred work style and environment
Best-Fit majors and schools for students
Relationship and communication styles
Leadership and management styles
Conflict management and decision-making styles
Entrepreneurial Profile

Assessments can help boost your success in your:

Business
Career
Interpersonal skills and professional development
Relationships
Sales
Customer service
Management and leadership skills

Assessments can provide crucial information to help you:

Rediscover your strengths
Uncover new possibilities
Envision dreams
Achieve goals

Assessments can help you become empowered to live your life in the way you want.

WHO USES ASSESSMENTS?

CEOs of Fortune 500 companies
NASA engineers
Entrepreneurs
High school and college students
Parents
New and experienced managers
Career changers
Individuals seeking career direction
Retired people
Physicians, attorneys, teachers, accountants, nurses, actors, writers, designers, photographers, information technology specialists, artists, administrative assistants, electricians - you get the idea...

YOUR MUST KNOW LIST FOR ASSESSMENTS:

Assessments are:

NOT tests. There are no "wrong" or "bad" answers or results. Rather, assessments reveal your unique attributes, traits, and preferences.
NOT mental health tests.
Not for everyone.

They are a useful tool if they can provide new, insightful information.
It's important to be "ready" to take assessments. Pre-assessment preparation facilitates an open mindset for genuine responses, so you can get genuine results.

Not intended as the sole instrument for the answers you're seeking. They should be used in conjunction with exercises and coaching or counseling to help you gain the answers you're seeking for the end results you want.
Confidential and should not be shared with anyone to whom you don't give permission.

To fully appreciate your results, a trained consultant should interpret the assessment together with your input. Otherwise, results can be misunderstood and incorrectly applied, potentially resulting in frustration, and wasted time and money.
A "good" assessment:

Is statistically "reliable" and "valid." Many assessments that are available directly to consumers are "knock-offs" and don't stand up to statistical standards. Check out the assessment's research stats before you take it.
Provides the information you want for your particular need. Each assessment offers a different type of self-knowledge.

WHICH ASSESSMENT IS BEST FOR YOU?

That depends....What's keeping you up at night? What's driving you, pulling at you, or keeping you stuck?
In which area of your life do you most want change?
Unsure? A specialist can help determine which assessment(s) will best empower you to create positive change in the areas you want.

TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS

Career Assessments

Identify your Best-Fit career and enjoy work-life balance.
These use personality, interest, ability, skills or a combined perspective. Some include specialized areas, such as a confidence-skills index, work style, leadership, communication, decision-making, lifestyle and/or values' inventories.
Examples: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Strong Interest Inventory, Strong Career Transition Report, Strong Career Enrichment Report, Strong and Myers-Briggs Career Report, Highlands Ability Battery, and CPI 260.

Student Assessments for Educational Planning: Technical Schools, Colleges, Majors and Careers

Make the most of your financial and emotional investment. Plan your education to achieve your Best-Fit situation and career-life happiness.
These are specialized for high-school and college-age students and focus on personality style, strengths, skills and attributes which are then matched to potential career fields.
Students explore their matched occupations, majors and degree requirements.
Matching majors are linked to two and four-year colleges, technical schools, and certificate programs that prepare for the occupations.
School information includes enrollment data, scholarships and tuition, admission requirements, virtual tours, website links, athletics, majors and other factors.
Examples:

Career, personality, attributes and matching major areas of study: Strong College Profile plus Strong and MBTI Career Report, and Strong Profile for High School.
Ability, personality and interests: The Highlands Ability Battery.
Career, personality, attributes, majors and schools: My Career Profile, through Career Dimension.

Management/Leadership Assessments

Identify your strengths and blind spots - gain the results you want.
These identify your style in regard to personality, leadership, communication, relationship-building and decision-making, along with other strengths/skills and areas for growth.
Examples: DiSC, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, FIRO Business Leadership Report, FIRO-B Leadership Report, CPI 260 Coaching Report for Leaders, CPI 434 Report, Inventory of Leadership Styles, Emotional Intelligence Leadership Styles, and Situational Leadership.

Lifestyle Assessments

Find out the type of lifestyle that fits your authentic self.
These clarify why you might be dissatisfied with your current lifestyle and suggest aspects of your Best-Fit lifestyle.
Examples: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the CPI 260 and 434 Reports.

Learning Style (LS) Assessments

How does your learning style (LS) influence your life? (It's more than just getting good grades.)
Your LS affects whether you thrive or struggle in areas, such as:

Daily work responsibilities
Current work environment and culture
Your role as a team member or leader
Wearing the different hats of an entrepreneur
Leading or managing a team or project

Students:

How can knowing your LS affect your success?
It can help you make better choices about your:

School
Major
Teachers
Study methods
Volunteer opportunities
Internship and part-time work options
Career alternatives
Potential work environment
Type of employer

Examples: Kolb Learning Style Inventory

Conflict-Management Style

Do you run from conflict or do you thrive on it?
Identify your style and learn to act assertively, rather than submissively or with hostility.
Examples: Thomas-Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Entrepreneurial Style

How does your "Entrepreneurial Profile" compare to successful entrepreneurs?
Identify your strengths and blind spots to build a solid Profile for success.
Make decisions with confidence. Understand trends and competition. Manage your time as if it's money. It is.
Be efficient. Be decisive. Be successful. Work smart, not hard.
Example: The Combined Strong and Myers-Briggs Entrepreneur Report

Decision-making Style

Is your style working for you or against you?
Do you repeatedly make decisions that give you disappointing results?
Learn the Four-Quadrant Style for balanced decision-making and gain the solid results you want.
Example: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs Decision-Making Report

Communication Style

Do people "listen" to what you have to say? Can you easily express your ideas in a group? Do others seem aliened after you've spoken?
Find out your natural style, including what your "body language" is saying, and make the most of it.
Learn how others' need to hear communication in order to truly listen to your message.
Pick up key information from others' non-verbal cues.
Example: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs Communication Report, DiSC

Change Management Style

Is change painful for you...or do you thrive on it?
Reduce your stress: Knowing your style will help you better manage the "ups, downs, and sideways" of life.
Example: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

QUESTIONS? WANT TO GET STARTED? Contact Marilyn Fettner at (847) 831-0079 or Marilyn@FettnerCareerConsulting.com

Ask about a cost-effective "assessment suite" for your individual needs.