1. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Applicable across all areas of your life, the MBTI is probably one of the most-used assessments by career centers and managers alike.
The MBTI gives you a sense of your personality preferences: where you get your energy, how you like to take in information, how you make decisions, and what kind of structure you like in the world around you. While these preferences can certainly point to careers that might suit you well, they can also give you a lot of valuable information about what kind of workplaces might be best for you, what your working preferences are, and how you can best relate to others at the office.
If you don’t want to pay to take the official test, you can take a pretty good (and free) online version here.
Cost: $150 or free online knock-off
2. Self-Directed Search
The Self-Directed Search (SDS) is built with the idea that people and jobs can be categorized into six different types: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, or conventional.
After answering questions about your aspirations, activities, interests, and the like, you’ll receive the three types that best fit you, along with a list of careers that generally fit people with a mix of those types.
Cost: $9.95
3. My Next Move O*NET Interests Profiler
Sponsored by the US Department of Labor, this tool uses a method similar to Self-Directed Search to help you identify where your career interests lie, then points you towards career paths that might feed those interests.
The results section even has the option to search different careers by how much preparation is necessary to get into them, meaning you can find options that are a fit to your current skill level.
Cost: Free
4. MyPlan.com
MyPlan.com offers a suite of four different tests to help you find your perfect career and measure your career personality (similar to the MBTI), interests, skills, and desired values (the only free test on the site).
You can learn things from each test individually (for example, the career values test will give you a sense of what to look for in a new position in order to find meaning), but the site also offers a service that takes the results of all the tests you take to help you find a job that matches your profile.
Cost: Free-$19.95
5. Pymetrics
Pymetrics uses a series of simple (yet surprisingly challenging) mind games to measure different cognitive and social traits (think your level of risk aversion or your attention span). The results detail your strengths and weaknesses, which can give you some hints into what kinds of roles you might excel in.
Cost: Free
6. The MAPP™ Career Assessment Test
The MAPP test is perhaps one of the most comprehensive career assessments out there, giving you a narrative report talking about what sorts of tasks you like best, how you like to perform them, and how you deal with people, data, things, reasoning, and language.
The assessment also provides a list of 20 possible career areas for you. As part of the free sample, you’ll receive information about your top trait in each category, as well as 10 possible career areas, so even if you don’t feel like paying, you can still get some valuable insights.
Cost: Free sample, $89.95+ for full results
7. Career Strengths Test
This collection of activities, developed by Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation for Oprah, will test your strength level in a variety of different skills, from inductive reasoning to structural visualizaion. If you do well, you can see which jobs require that skill—and get a sense of what types of careers might be a fit for your abilities.
Cost: Free
8. StrengthsQuest
StrengthsQuest gives college students a sense of what you’re already great at—and how you can use those skills to better your career. After taking the test, you’ll get a customized report that lists your top five talent themes, along with action items using those talents to your advantage and suggestions about how you can achieve academic, career, and personal success.
Cost: $9.99
9. The Big Five Personality Test
Learn more about how you work and relate to others with this quick test. You’ll get information on how open to new experiences you are, how self-disciplined you are, how extroverted you are, how agreeable you are, and how you handle stressful situations.
Cost: Free
10. Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator
This test tells you which of the eight Enneagram types you are most like: the reformer, the helper, the achiever, the individualist, the investigator, the loyalist, the enthusiast, the challenger, or the peacemaker. Understanding more about your type can not only help you get along better with your co-workers, but can also give you hints about characteristics you need in a career in order for it to be fulfilling.
11. What Career Should You Actually Have?
Okay, this BuzzFeed career quiz probably won’t give you many real insights. But, if you only have a few minutes and need a break from the workday? It’s the perfect “productive” distraction.
