1. What should I look for in a college counselor?
Work styles and backgrounds among college counselors differ but all should have the knowledge and expertise to help guide you in the right direction, present viable options, and help develop the tools and strategies to achieve your college and career goals. In addition, the chemistry between the student and the counselor must work. It is imperative to feel comfortable with the counselor to establish trust and a bonding. Finally, credentials, certifications, professional affiliations and continuing education with seminar attendance are also important. These ensure that the counselor is current with the latest tools and thinking in the field, is up-to-date on what is happening in education and has a breadth of knowledge about colleges in the United States.
2. How can testing help me choose a college and major?
Many people do not think much about the future until they have graduated from high school and college and are already out in the working world. Family and financial commitments at this stage of one's life may make it difficult to change careers. The best time to ask these necessary questions is when you are in your teen years --before you go to college and before you embark on your first job.
The choices of a school and a major are a college-bound student's most immediate concerns. There are over 3,400 colleges and universities in the United States, and they offer more than 230 major courses of study, ranging from architecture and accounting to engineering, mathematics, psychology, and zoology. Clearly, this multiplicity of choices can be bewildering even to well-informed students. To explore the vast world of jobs, visit the Internet.
Also, as any parent with college-bound children knows, the cost of higher education has been rising dramatically. Just a couple of years ago, the average annual cost for tuition and room and board at public colleges was more than $10,000 for state residents and more than $15,300 for nonresidents. The average private four-year college cost was nearly $30,000 per year, and tuition at some of the more prestigious schools exceeded $35,000 per year.
Because of the problems of variety and cost, it has become more important than ever to plan your education carefully. Some colleges have 30,000 or 40,000 students; others have just 100 or 200. Some are close to large cities; others are in the middle of cornfields. Some are limited to specialized degrees; others offer general liberal arts education.
The more information available to you, the better your decision will be. Certainly, guidance counselors can help you appraise your interests, academic achievements, and personality characteristics. Your parents can give you the benefit of their experiences. You can also learn which professions will be most in demand at the time of your graduation. But most important is knowing yourself-knowing your own strong points. You will benefit more from your education when you have at least a general idea of your goals. Goals should be determined by evaluating a number of factors. What are your values? What are your interests?
3. How can I measure my aptitudes?
Aptitudes are natural talents--special abilities for doing, or learning to do certain kinds of things easily and quickly. They have little to do with knowledge or culture, or education, or even interests. Musical talent and artistic talent are examples of such aptitudes.
Some people can paint beautifully but cannot carry a tune. Others are good at talking to people but slow at paperwork. Still others can easily repair a car but find writing difficult. These basic differences among people are important factors in making one person satisfied as a banker, another satisfied as an engineer, and still another satisfied working as an editor.
Every occupation, whether it is engineering, medicine, law, or management, uses certain characteristics. The work you are most likely to enjoy and find satisfying is that which uses your aptitudes. Personal attributes suggest the directions in which learning might best take place, but they are no substitute for the learning itself.
Our attributes testing program assists you in discovering the course of study and the type of work that will fit your pattern. It will help you to understand why certain courses of study and occupations are likely to be more satisfying or rewarding than others.
4. What is a good age to take the Assessments?
We test students as young as fourteen. Many students find it is useful to wait until junior or senior year in high school. The testing can provide the younger student helpful information for choosing high school courses and extracurricular activities. However, younger students often have not yet held any part-time jobs and are not aware of all the career opportunities available to them. A junior or senior in high school, on the other hand, would get help selecting the types of colleges and possible majors that would work well for his or her attributes pattern. Some students prefer to wait until they are sophomores in college to help them declare an appropriate major. We encourage parents to get involved in helping make this decision.
5. Why Should Adults Take Aptitude Tests?
A mother came to our office for a discussion of her teenage daughter's attributes pattern. She listened intently to the explanation of her scores. Afterwards she remarked to the test administrator, "I wish I had been tested when I was still in high school or college. Now I suppose it's too late."
We often encounter this attitude of doubt regarding the value of attributes testing for people past the age of 30. The basic assumption behind this feeling is that a young person in high school has more options available for the use of his or her attributes. Granting that this is often true, we still feel there are many situations in which aptitude testing may prove useful for those over 30, and one should not automatically decide it's "too late" to be assessed.
6. How does Self-Knowledge advance my career search?
The ultimate goal of our testing program is to help people learn about their skills and aptitudes and areas in which these attributes might be put to use. This knowledge may seem superfluous or unnecessary to the executive recently laid off. But employment experts agree the first step in looking for a new job is to learn more about yourself. Attributes testing can provide an unbiased outside assessment of the inherent abilities you can offer a potential employer.
7. Can assessments help me select the right school?
For those with the time, the money, and the desire to return to school, attributes testing can help sort out the possibilities and give direction. Homemakers in particular, when thinking of going back to school, may be overwhelmed by the number and variety of educational opportunities, many of which were not available when they were teenagers. People considering changing careers may benefit from learning how their aptitudes relate to educational possibilities.
8. Can testing point me to other career alternatives?
A minister tested by us, though happy in his work, had to make a decision about his future direction within the ministry. Should he get more deeply involved in administrative duties, or should he emphasize the counseling aspect of his work?
People often face crossroads in their careers in their late thirties and early forties. Should an engineer accept a promotion into management or remain in a specialized technical job? Should a salesperson stay on the road or take an office job? The decision made at this point can be fundamental to future success and happiness in a person's career, and attributes testing might help the person reach a decision. It should be noted, though, that the results of testing may not provide a clear-cut choice between alternatives. Each may have its advantages and disadvantages. The testing may indicate a totally different direction that may be better suited to the person's aptitude.
In some cases, a person's job situation makes more difficult the immediate application of his or her test results. An insurance executive with family responsibilities who discovers she scores high in aptitude for design may have no option but to stay where she is, at least for the time being. This knowledge might start her on the right track by suggesting appropriate part-time schooling, hobbies, or other activities that might eventually make possible the transition to a more satisfying job.
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