Divergent?

If you are attending this psychology course it’s most certain you consider a career in psychology or a related field. However, a couple years back I bet if someone would have asked you what career you wanted to pursue, most would awkwardly answer: “I’m not sure”. Indeed, like many I was not certain at the end of high school, so I sought advice among student services at my school and ended up taking a career assessment test which resembled a personality test. Apparently the result was business and administration… As you can probably guess that didn't turn out so well for me. During my first semester at CÉGEP, I was eager to start my first business class and as soon as the teacher was done with his second lecture I knew this was wrong and I needed to question myself again about what path I should take.

My first reaction was disappointment and frustration, why had this test not worked on me? Or did I do the test wrong (even if it was supervised by an orientation counselor? Yes, I suddenly felt like a character in the book Divergent (by Veronica Roth, if you haven’t read it yet you should!). Unfortunately, I can’t remember which test it was I took but it was based on the Holland’s RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) theory of career assessment. This theory is based on the idea that one will flourish in a career that fits with one’s personality and interests. Since it would not be logical to expect everyone to fit perfectly in one of the groups, rather to be a combination of types, these characteristics are ranked and highlight your 3 main characteristics.

I think the test I took was reliable because my family and friends as well as I agreed with the personality results, indeed, multiple informants came up with the same results and I would get the same consistent results if I would take the assessment again. However, I am not convinced of its validity. Validity is important when evaluating a test because it demonstrates its usefulness. Thus, for it to be useful it should have predicted correctly my career selection and given me proper information that would have helped me make the right decision.

Luckily, I also had an introduction to psychology class my first semester and we all know how that turned out!

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