Are you dissatisfied, unengaged, or feeling stuck in your current job? Do you feel that your calling may be in a different area of work, but you need to know what that is and how to get there? If so, you are not alone; thousands of people visit our career websites each month seeking help finding meaningful, purposeful, and rewarding work.
The good news is that there are career tests that can help you find work that fits your skills, interests, motivations, and personality.
Two options found online are Career Test 123 and Career Fit Test™.
This article compares the pros and cons of these online career tests, which can help you make informed decisions about using them.
Whether you’re a recent graduate, contemplating a career change, or simply seeking more significant work, understanding the benefits of these career tests and their weaknesses will empower you to make an informed decision and take the next step toward a fulfilling and rewarding career.
Understanding the Importance of Finding the Right Job
Finding the right job is crucial for overall career satisfaction and personal fulfillment. When you are in a job that aligns with your skills, interests, and personality, your chances of having work you love are very high. On the other hand, being in a job that doesn’t align with your strengths and passions can lead to burnout, dissatisfaction, and a lack of fulfillment.
Unfortunately, studies from Gallup show that only about 30% of workers are engaged in their work. Most people are in work that pays the bills but is not fulfilling, meaningful, or a calling – it is just a job.
Career tests like Career Test 123 and Career Fit Test™ aim to help users discover the jobs that fit their interests, skills, values, and personality traits. By understanding how your strengths relate to jobs, you can make more informed career decisions that can lead to work you love instead of “falling” into work that pays the bills but doesn’t fit who you are.
Career Test 123: What It Is and How It Works
Career Test 123 is a free online assessment that is described as a career aptitude test. (Most career assessments found online describe themselves as career tests or career aptitude tests even though they are not actually “tests” with right and wrong answers.) Career Test 123 asks the user to choose, based on their preferences, from fifteen sets of four pictures that show specific work activities.” The assessment takes five to ten minutes to complete. The assessment’s authors emphasize not choosing a work activity based on the status or possibility of a high income, which is good advice.
The assessment produces some possible occupations to consider that match up with the user’s preferences.
Career Fit Test™: What It Is and How It Works
The Career Fit Test™ includes three career assessments – a career aptitude test, a personality trait quiz, and a career interest assessment. These three parts, included in the premium report, will help you discover your strengths, find your best career fit, and enable you to live your calling in a career you love period.
Trusted by certified career counselors, career coaches, college admission advisors, and career center directors, the Career Fit Test™ is a unique skill-based interest and personality assessment.
The Career Fit Test™ starts by completing three free components that allow you to evaluate your transferable, personal, and content skills. The assessments take about 15 minutes to complete. The user is given free results, including occupations, strengths, weaknesses, values, problem-solving preferences, etc.
The user can then upgrade to a premium report, which provides a multi-page report. The premium report includes the results of the three unique assessments that identify your top transferable, personal, and content skills. Your results will help you showcase your top marketable skills, explore careers and jobs that fit you, make the best career decisions, develop a mission statement, and take the best steps for career success. The Career Fit Test™ provides a step-by-step guide through the critical career development steps needed for work satisfaction.
Key Differences Between Career Test 123 and Career Fit Test™
While both Career Test 123 and Career Fit Test™ are online career tests that use John Holland’s type theory to identify occupations that fit a user’s interests, there are some key differences to consider.
The Career Fit Test™ Premium Report is a more in-depth career assessment that provides the user with their strengths, personality traits, possible weaknesses, values, and problem-solving style of their top three Holland types. The Career Fit Test™ goes on to identify a user’s top transferable, personal, and content skills and organize them into their personalized CFT Skills Map.
The CFT Skills Map then helps the individual reality test the top occupations the assessment provides. The Career Fit Test™ then guides the user into decision making, mission statement development, career planning, smart goal setting, and using the most successful job search strategies, including the development of targeted resumes, targeted cover letters (including cover letters for finding jobs in the hidden job market where as many as 80% of jobs are located), LinkedIn profile, and Strength Summary.
For those interested in pursuing more education, the Career Fit Test™ also provides college majors matching a user’s career test results.
Pros and Cons of Career Test 123
Pros
- Based on the Holland code personality type theory.
- Online and takes five to ten minutes to complete.
- The report recommends 20 careers.
Cons
- While it is quick to complete, the results are brief and not personalized.
- It provides a limited number of jobs to consider.
- Does not provide transferable, personal, and content skills.
- No additional help is provided to move through the critical career development steps of exploration, reality testing, decision-making, and job search strategies.
Pros and Cons of the Career Fit Test™
Pros
- The Career Fit Test™ is free; it offers a detailed premium report for $19.95.
- Top Holland types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional), are calculated based on the user’s interests, personality, and top skills.
- Provides a summary of the Holland Career Code based on the results of the person’s assessment and then provides best matches from more than 900 occupations.
- Displays the top career options along with the best career exploration tools. The user will learn about career options that match their results (including skills needed, educational requirements, salary, job outlook, working environment, etc.). There are also videos to watch for each career option.
- The tools for “reality testing” career options and making informed career decisions that lead to satisfying work.
- CFT Skills Map, which displays the user’s most enjoyed transferable, personal, and content skills, providing the details needed for successful career planning and job search.
- Educational resources, plans, and goals that fit the person’s personality, interests, and skills.
- Bonus CTF Career Mastery Program, which enables the use of assessment results to direct their own exploration, decision making, career planning, and successful job search work at various stages of life.
Cons
- It takes a longer time to complete, typically 20 minutes.
- Fee ($19.95) to upgrade to the Career Fit Test™ Premium Report.
- Committed needed to follow through on the recommended action steps.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Career Test
When choosing between Career Test 123 and Career Fit Test™, here are a few other factors to consider.
First, consider your individual preferences and needs. If you are curious and want information about your personality, the 123 Career Test is a no-risk, no-cost way to get limited information about your career interests and personality.
Second, consider the level of career information and how the assessments will help you develop the necessary skills to find meaningful, fulfilling work.
Third, consider your budget. While both career tests are free, the Career Fit Test™ has an upgraded premium report that costs $19.95. If you are serious about finding work that fits your interests, skills, and personality traits, the Career Fit Test™ provides a step-by-step plan to find work that fits you well.
Conclusion
You can complete Career Test 123 in a few minutes, which won’t cost you anything. Upon completion, Career Test 123 provides a few job recommendations; however, it needs more depth and more information on how to take the next steps in one’s career planning, decision-making, and job search. The Career Fit Test™ provides careers to consider and a step-by-step career planning and job search process that will likely lead to greater career success. The adage, “You get what you pay for,” fits the choice between the Career Test 123 and the Career Fit Test™.
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