The 5 Best Online Tests to Determine Your Passions for a Career
Many individuals find themselves in careers that don’t align with their passions, interests or values. They feel a deep-rooted dissatisfaction with their work-life and career which flows onto their overall life. It’s never too late to unearth your true passions and align them with a fulfilling career.
In my career I found myself regretting my choice of higher education degree, pursuing finance and economics, after 3 years of study and one year in a full-time role as a banker. Looking back to that moment at the end of high school where I had to choose a path for University and beyond, I wish I had explored one or any of these tests as a tool to find out what kind of work I actually enjoy doing to go and build a career around.
To help you uncover your passion and relate it to real world jobs and industries, online career tests can be an incredibly helpful tool. These assessments are expertly designed to identify your interests, personality traits and skills, giving you a clearer understanding of what you truly want to do, even if you maybe don’t know it. You can always look through every job we have detailed breakdowns of to look for something perfect for you.
Today we’ve put together a list of the top 5 best online tests, both paid and free versions, you can take right now to guide your career path.
Top 5 Best Online Tests to Find a Career 2023 — Free & Paid Versions
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a widely regarded personality test that categorizes individuals into 16 personality types. This test explores your preferences and natural inclinations across four dichotomies. Introversion vs. extroversion, sensing vs. intuition, thinking vs. feeling and judging vs. perceiving.
Your MBTI type can provide a lot of insight into suitable careers based on your personality. For example someone with an INFJ score (“The Advocate”) might thrive in a job that involves helping others and making a difference, such as counseling or teaching.
The MAPP Career Assessment Test
The Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential (MAPP) test is a comprehensive career assessment tool that helps you discover your true motivations and interests. Rather than focusing solely on skills or personality traits, the MAPP test delves into what genuinely motivates you as having a purpose is closely linked to improving drive.
The full, paid version of the test is composed of 71 different triads (three statements) which does not just explore your preferences, it scrutinizes how you rank different activities in terms of interest and enjoyment to expose your underlying motivations. The detailed report provides insight into your ideal working environment, work styles and potential careers.
The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI)
The Enneagram is a model of human personality, presenting nine interconnected personality types. It’s useful for personal growth and understanding and it also has valuable applications in the workplace. The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (RHETI) is a widely used Enneagram test.
This test can offer valuable insights into your core desires, fears, motivations, and stressors, which can be particularly illuminating for career-related decisions. Whether you’re a peacemaking Type Nine or an achievement-oriented Type Three, the Enneagram can shed light on what work environments and roles might be the most fulfilling for you.
The Princeton Review Career Quiz
A quick and free yet effective tool, The Princeton Review Career Quiz uses a method known as “RIASEC” (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional) to identify your preferences and match them with potential careers. It includes 24 questions and provides a list of suitable job roles and industries based on your interests and personality.
123 Career Test
This visual career test can be a fun and interesting departure from the standard question-based assessments. The test presents different workplace scenarios via images, and you select if you like, are neutral, or dislike the activity shown. It’s based on Holland Codes (or the RIASEC model) and provides a list of professions that align with your interests.
Choosing a career aligned with your passions can be the difference between loving your job and merely surviving the workweek. As someone who found themselves regretting their career choice after experiencing the industry in the real workplace, I strongly encourage anyone reading this who has doubts around their future to go ahead and take these tests, take all of them if you can, because the few hours it will take to get all the test results will be much shorter than the time lost if you make the wrong decision in your career trajectory. Although these tests cannot guarantee you reaching your dream job, they offer valuable insights and a solid starting point for understanding what career paths might bring you genuine happiness and fulfillment. In my opinion, it is better to be going in the right direction slowly, than in the wrong direction quickly.
Don’t be afraid to dream big, follow your genuine interests and make changes to your career when you uncover misalignment. Life’s too short to spend in a job you don’t love. Use these tools to rediscover your passions, explore different careers and hopefully find the path that leads you to a job you’re excited to wake up for each day. Life is a journey full of change and growth so let your career be a testament to that.
