Most people aren’t fortunate enough to choose their career paths. In most cases, people stumble into a job after graduation, take whatever is available, and then follow one of the routes available from that initial job. Most people are frustrated during their careers since they didn’t have the chance to handpick their career paths. Don’t make this mistake, and know that there is a better way to choose a career. One of the most important things you can do to find the career of your dreams is to stay curious. Actively seek what’s out there for you and how you can help yourself land a job that will make you the happiest individual on the planet while you tie your shoelaces every Monday for the rest of your life.

When selecting a career path, it’s best to go with a career that fits your strengths and personality. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to figure out which continuing education option is the best for you, whether you should start your career right away or look for a career change. The Strong Interest Inventory assessment is a highly beneficial tool that can help you choose a career path that aligns with your interests and preferences. More than ever, individuals need proper guidance when identifying careers that suit their preferences, strengths, and abilities. Read along to learn how this useful tool can help you determine the right career path for you.

What Is The Strong Interest Inventory Assessment?

Well, the Strong Interest Inventory assessment is one of the world’s most prestigious and widely used career planning tools that measures your profound interests over many categories. These categories include school subjects, work activities, leisure activities. Later the Strong Interest Inventory assessment matches your interest in different careers and work environments you are most likely to be happy and excel at.

This educational assessment provides robust insights into a person’s interests and gives a wealth of information about how each individual should approach the world of work. The Strong Interest Inventory uses Holland codes, which are personality types developed to measure an individual’s “type” and connect it with a long list of career paths and choices that would be the best fit for that individual.

A Brief History Of The Strong Interest Inventory Assessment

The career path assessment was developed by Edward Kellog Strong Jr., a renowned psychologist in the early twentieth century. He issued a self-assessment tool that would become the Strong Interest Inventory many years later. At first, he called it the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, and it was the first tool that could measure people’s interests, likes, and dislikes.

So why would we want to know what other people’s interests are? To answer that, we have to look back at what E.K. Strong and other famous psychologists from the early twentieth century learned about people several years before creating the assessment tool. While they were trying to understand why some people were pleased with their career paths and others were not, the psychologists discovered that people employed in the same occupation shared some common interests. They thought that this revelation was a great way to assist people in choosing suitable careers, and that’s how the E.K. Strong’s interest inventory came to be in 1927.

Of course, there have been numerous revisions and name changes to it over the years. For example, Strong’s successor revised the assessment in 1974 and renamed it the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory. Still, the Strong Interest Inventory was published, and that name has stayed with the latest edition published in 2012.

Taking The Strong Interest Inventory Assessment

When determining a career path, if you have no clear idea of what you want to do for the rest of your life, it may be best to consult with a professional career development specialist. The professional can help you learn more about yourself and show you how to put that information into use to find an appropriate occupation. The career specialist will select adequate self-assessment tools to discover your personality type, interests, aptitudes, and work-related values.

One of the most frequently utilized instruments for these career path related issues is the Strong Interest Inventory assessment. Still, if you’re about to take this education assessment, you should know that only career coaches, counselors, and college advisors certified by CPP Inc. have the credential to take the test.

The Strong Interest Inventory assessment includes 291 items and will take between 30 to 45 minutes to complete. You will have to answer diversified questions about your preferences regarding subject areas, work and leisure activities, occupations, people, and characteristics. It works by comparing interests you identify with on the test to the interests of other people who have proclaimed to be happy in their careers.

The idea behind the test is that if you have the same or similar interests as people in the assessments sample group, and the people are relatively happy in their careers, the assumption is that you would also be satisfied in those same career paths.

Using The Strong Interest Inventory Assessment To Choose Your Career Path

The assessment sorts the results into six general, occupational themes that classify your interests and the type of environment you are most likely to excel at. The results are identified by the first letter of the theme your interests fall into and can incorporate up to three identifying codes. For instance, an individual who scores highly in artistic, social, and enterprising would be identified as ASE. Some of the themes are closer to one another than others, so it wouldn’t be uncommon for you to score highly in a couple of themes that complement each other. The six general occupational themes are:

• Realistic (Common careers include: electrician, auto mechanic, engineering technician, law enforcement officer).
• Investigative (Common careers include: university professor, psychologist, veterinarian, geologist, physician, computer scientist).
• Artistic (Common careers include: chef, attorney at law, architect, photographer, writer, artist, graphic designer, entertainer).
• Social (Common careers include: social worker, teacher, nurse, counselor, physical therapist, speech pathologist).
• Enterprising (Common careers include: sales manager, marketing manager, investment specialist, travel consultant, judge).
• Conventional (Common careers include: banker, accountant, paralegal, bookkeeper, office manager, administrative worker, computer systems analyst).

Final Words

The Strong Interest Inventory assessment tool is the leading choice for career practitioners in helping people pick a career they will love. The test is fantastic since it links your preferences and interests to various jobs, work settings, and professions. Suppose you decide to undertake this educational assessment. In that case, you will have a better understanding of your interest, and you will be able to identify career options and strategies consistent with your interests and recognize work environments that would be an excellent fit for you.