Secondary Transition Toolkit: Career Assessments
Career Assessments can help students identify their interests, identify careers related to their interests, and search for more information about careers. There is an observation form that can be used with students at a worksite and a planning tool to keep track of the information gathered and to compare different jobs.
We encourage you to use these assessments as well as transition assessments from other sources to gather and organize information on your students in order to prepare them for a seamless transition from school to adult life.
Job Characteristics I Like Worksheet
Author: University of Colorado
Students describe characteristics for several different jobs and identify their own preferred work characteristics. This can be done as an individual, group, or class activity. Print out the worksheets for students to complete by paper/pencil. Students will . . .
• Discuss what it means to have work experiences.
• Identify job characteristics that are important to them.
• Discuss the ideas of work characteristics and personal job satisfaction.
AGE BAND: Grades 7, 8, 9 & 10
READING LEVEL: 9th grade
TIME: 90 minutes
COST: Free
Career Exploration Inventory EZ
Author: John Liptak, Ed.D.
With the CEI-EZ, individuals reflect on 96 activities and consider their past, present, and future interest in them. Scores connect to 16 career interest areas based on the U.S. Department of Education career clusters. Related jobs, education and training options, and leisure activities are listed for each interest area. Additional information helps students, job seekers, and others focus on their top interest areas as they ponder their future plans.
AGE BAND: Middle School and High School
READING LEVEL: Grade 8.6 and the Flesch Reading Ease score was 57.5
COST: $64.95 for one package of 25 instruments. 10 packages for $619.50 (subject to change)
Work Readiness Inventory
Author: Robert Brady, Ed.D.
The Work Readiness Inventory is a brief self-report designed to survey six aspects of readiness: Responsibility, Flexibility, Skills, Communication, Self-View, and Health & Safety. Focus on strengths and needs. Students complete a checklist/rating scale. Self-scoring and self-interpreting, the assessment comes with a worksheet for improving one’s work-readiness and takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and score. Ideal as an intake assessment or as a pre-test/post-test. English only.
AGE BAND: High School to Adult
COST: $61.95 for a package of 25 inventories. 10 packages for $589.50 (subject to change)
My Plan Career Values Assessment
Source: MyPlan.com, LLC
The Values Test can help you learn more about your underlying work needs and motivations, and can help you decide what is important to you in a job. The test does this by asking you to rank different aspects of work that represent six underlying work values. Knowing your work values can help you decide what kinds of jobs and careers you might want to explore.
Once you complete the test, you will get scores for each of six work values clusters. These scores show how important each work value is to you. In addition to your cluster scores, you will be presented with a list of 739 occupations that are rank-ordered according to how well they match your personal work values. The more a job agrees with your work values, the more likely you are to be satisfied in that job.
AGE BAND: Middle School and High School
TIME: 12 minutes
COST: Free
O’Net Skills Search
Author: U.S. Department of Labor
This assessment is completed online. Skills Search is designed to help students use their skill set to identify occupations for exploration. Students will select a set of skills from six broad groups of skills to create their customized skill list. The selected skills are compared to skills ratings for each occupation. If a selected skill is rated “Important” for a particular occupation, it is considered a match. Occupations matching all the selected skills are shown first.
AGE BAND: Middle School to High School
READING LEVEL: 6th grade
TIME: 20 minutes
COST: Free
VocFit
Author: Ohio State University
This is a data-based decision-making tool used by transition teams to determine the best fit between an individual’s abilities and preferences and the job’s environmental and occupational demands. It is a valid and reliable assessment of student abilities and internship demands. Additionally, it identifies the pros and cons of each potential job match and reveals areas of need for goal setting and skill development. Directions can be found here.
AGE BAND: High School to Adult
READING LEVEL: 8th grade
COST: Free
Career Clueless
Author: Champlain Valley Educational Services
An inventory of student interests to support finding a career path – students circle and total activities of interest in 6 categories to find their 3 letter “career code.”
AGE BAND: Middle School
COST: Free
TIME: 20 minutes
Who R U?
Author: Virginia Career VIEW (Vital Information for Education and Work)
“Who R U?” is an online career interest inventory. Students check off and then total items they identify as being of interest to them in 16 areas. Students identify top areas to get a career code. Students can also visit the Virginia Career View website to explore career cluster occupations and/or watch videos. This assessment must be done online.
AGE BAND: Middle School and High School
TIME: 30 minutes
O’Net Interest Profiler
Author: U.S. Department of Labor
The O*NET Interest Profiler is a self-assessment career exploration tool that can help students discover the type of work activities and occupations that they would like and find exciting. Students identify and learn about broad interest areas most relevant to themselves. They can use their interest results to explore the world of work.
AGE BAND: Middle School to High School
READING LEVEL: 6th grade
TIME: 20 minutes
COST: Free
Washington Career Bridge
Author: Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, Washington State
The Washington Career Bridge is an online assessment with 3 components. The first component helps the student identify areas of interests, likes/dislikes, and personal traits and then generates a list of career clusters based on the responses. Choosing career clusters takes you to a selection of careers and a good deal of information about each career. Students can take the “Explore Careers” quiz and view job trends online. The third component is specific to Washington state.
AGE BAND: Middle School to High School
READING LEVEL: 6th grade
COST: Free
Explore Careers at a Glance: Career One Stop
Author: US Department of Labor
The Explore Careers at a Glance is an online tool that provides 3 assessments in one It allows users to explore careers, identify job trends for those careers, and research careers by state. Students can match their skills to jobs by taking the “Skills Matcher” assessment. The Skills Matcher helps the user create a list of skills and matches them to possible job types.
Interest Assessment: Students answer 30 quick questions online and then receive a list of careers that might be a good fit for their interests.
Skills Matcher: Students use the Skills Matcher to create a list of skills and match them to careers that use those skills. It assesses both technical skills and soft skills. Both types are essential for success. There are 40 multiple choice questions. It takes approx. 20 minutes to complete.
Work Values Matcher: This assessment assists students clarify values to match with careers. Students drag and drop 20 values cards into a graphic organizer based on the level of importance. Results will match values to careers/jobs.
AGE BAND: 14-18
READING LEVEL: 8th Grade
TIME: Varies by assessment-5 minutes, 20 minutes, 5 minutes
COST: Free
Job Observation Form
Author: Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education
The Job Observation form is a tool for educators to use to observe a student at a worksite to assess a student’s independence and need for assistance.
AGE BAND: 16-21
TIME: 30 minutes to half a day
COST: Free
Career Goal/Job Matching Tool
Author: Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education
The Career Goal/Job Matching Tool assists students to identify careers of interest. Students explore a variety of careers using O’Net and the online Occupational Occupational Handbook. A chart and guiding questions are provided for students to compare future career wants/likes and needs with job requirements. Students use the data collected to identify a match with careers of interest and personal career goals.
AGE BAND: 14-16
TIME: 30 – 60 minutes
COST: Free
The Princeton Review Career Quiz
Source: The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review Career Quiz identifies strengths and weaknesses toward career abilities and suggests careers that align with quiz results. This short 24 question quiz is completed online. Takes less than 10 minutes after an account is created. Completed online.
AGE BAND: 14-18
TIME: 10 minutes
COST: Free
Explore Work
Source: WINTAC/George Washington University
This online training is used to assist students explore their talents and create a plan for the future. It is a series of web-based modules for students with disabilities specific to five Pre-employment transition service areas. Activity areas include Career Planning and Job Exploration; Workplace ReadinessU; Exploring Work Experiences and Postsecondary Education/Training; and Self Advocacy. Students can participate in guided or self-guided learning.
AGE BAND: 14-21
TIME: Varies depending on module
COST: Free
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)
Source: US Department of Defense
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) a timed multi-aptitude test, which is given at over 14,000 schools and Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) nationwide and is developed and maintained by the Department of Defense. This assessment identifies skills in 8 academic and vocational areas. Practice tests are also available online.
AGE BAND: 16-adult
READING LEVEL: 9th grade
TIME: Short and Long Version Sample Tests
COST: Free
Transition to Work Inventory (TWI) 3rd Edition
Source: John J. Liptak, Ed.D.
An easy-to-use assessment. Individuals with little or no work experience can identify their job options and make their career transitions more effective and rewarding. Individuals review a list of 96 non-work activities and rate how much they like each one. Simple self-scoring allows them to connect their answers to the 16 career clusters, which then lead to a list of related jobs, self-employment options, and paths for education and training.
AGE BAND: High school through adult
READING LEVEL: 7th grade
TIME: 25 minutes
COST: $69.95/package of 25
The READY Tool: Readiness Evaluation of Transition to Adulthood for Deaf-Blind Youth
Author: National Center of Deaf-Blindness
The READY Tool helps a transition team, composed of an individual who is deaf-blind, parents, and professionals, determine essential activities that must be carried out during the transition process. The completed tool should be used to generate a plan of action and develop goals and objectives for the IEP and transition plans.
AGE GROUP: Ages 14-22 Deaf-Blind Individuals
COST: Free
Total Life Learning: Preparing for Transition. A Curriculum for All Students with Sensory Impairments
Author: Wendy Bridge, Beth Caruso, Mary Zatt
The Total Life Learning curriculum was developed for students ages 3 to 22 who are blind, visually impaired, including those students who have additional disabilities or are deafblind. The focus is on the development of life and career goals that enable students to maximize independence, self-determination, employability, and participation in the community. The curriculum provides teachers with goals, objectives, activities and assessments in the following content areas: work skills, organizational skills, self-advocacy skills, personal care/daily living skills, employment, and secondary education.
AGE GROUP: All grades; Blind/Visually Impaired
COST: Free
CareerConnect-For Job Seekers Who are Visually Impaired
Source: American Printing House for the Blind
CareerConnect™ is a free employment planning resource for persons who are blind or visually impaired. Sponsored by the AFB, the program helps these individuals learn about the range and diversity of occupations available in the labor market. It also provides mentors and information about assistive technology that can help them do the work. This practical, user-friendly resource incorporates O*NET data to supply essential information for career exploration and to expand the universe of jobs for persons with visual impairments.
AGE GROUP: Ages 14-21; Blind/Visually Impaired
COST: Free
