Almost everyone who works will face a career crossroads at some point. After several years of laboring for the same employer, you may be unsure whether you’d like to continue. Or you may forgo your choice of career, regardless of your feelings about your current boss or manager.

If you’ve reached such a crossroads, a career test for adults can help you cut through the fog and shine a spotlight into your future. A well-designed career test for adults can help you identify the real source of your present dissatisfaction, and point you toward new career alternatives if you’re ready for something different. Your test results could also show that your current restlessness is only a temporary state, and that you’ll be best off in the long run if you stay where you are and try to work through your problems.

Career tests for adults are invaluable tools for those who are questioning their professional choices. If you have doubts about what should come next in your working life, the results of a psychologically sound career test could point you in the right direction.

Dissatisfied with your current employer? A DISC assessment can help you determine your next step

First developed by psychologist William Moulton Marston almost a century ago, the DISC Personality Assessment is one career test for adults that has stood the test of time. It is still in wide use today because it gives accurate and insightful results to help you figure out who you really are at work and what kind of work environment you require to feel satisfied and fulfilled.

The data you input while taking the DISC test will be used to detect your primary workplace motivation and thus your preferred working style. Once you’ve been properly placed on the DISC spectrum, you can project yourself into various types of work environments and forecast how you would perform and determine whether you’d be able to find happiness in the relevant career fields.

The four working styles associated with DISC include:

These labels essentially identify your comfort zone, within a workplace context.

If your preferred working style is identified as Drive, it means you’ll be most comfortable when you can take direct charge of your personal and professional destiny—and you’ll be convinced that this will benefit your company just as much as it does you. If your style is Influence, you’ll crave opportunities to inspire your co-workers with your visionary ideas. If you prefer to offer Support, you’ll relish the chance to help your co-workers reach their full potential, for their good and for the good of the company. Or if your preferred style is Clarity, you’ll be at your best when you can organize workplace activities and practices to promote the most efficient performance by everyone.

With your DISC results in hand, you can sit back and analyze your current role in your company’s workplace, asking yourself, “Is what I’m doing right now truly aligned with my personal needs and work preferences?” Through DISC, you should be able to more easily identify the job responsibilities—or lack thereof—that have left you feeling stressed, frustrated or misused, and possibly ready to bolt if your concerns aren’t going to be addressed.

Ideally, after your DISC assessment is complete you’ll be able to have a constructive conversation with your supervisor, manager or employer where you can state your concerns and express your desire for change. If it becomes obvious after these discussions that they either can’t or won’t accommodate you, at that point you can begin your search for a new job with a clear conscience, knowing you’ve done everything you can to salvage the situation with your previous employer.

Thankfully, the information you’re provided in your DISC assessment should help you target employers and jobs that are suitable for someone with your personality.

Uncertain about where to go next? Let the Holland Career Code Test be your guide

The Holland Career Code test is designed based on the assumption that those taking it are first-time job seekers looking to discover their ideal career path.

But while often recommended for new college graduates, the Holland Code can be just as useful for experienced workers who are fed up with their current jobs and are seeking something fresh and different. The Holland Career Code test is a terrific option if you’re ready to change course, but aren’t yet sure if you want to switch to a new career field or simply look for a different type of job in the field you’re already in.

The Holland Code was the brainchild of a Johns Hopkins University psychologist, Dr. John L. Holland, who wanted to develop a career test for adults that would classify people according to their chief work-related inclinations and capacities. In the Holland system people are identified as one of six types, which are:

  • Builders
  • Thinkers
  • Creators
  • Helpers
  • Persuaders
  • Organizers

Each of these categories is linked with career choices that offer opportunities to indulge the dominant inclinations.

When you’ve been identified as a Builder, for example, you’ll be guided toward careers that let you work with your hands. As a Thinker or Creator, you’ll be advised to consider jobs that will let you develop your intellectual abilities or creative instincts to the fullest. Organizers are given recommendations for positions that will allow them to put their organizational skills to good use, while Helpers and Persuaders are steered toward careers where building constructive interpersonal relationships with co-workers and/or clients is paramount.

Once you’ve learned your Holland Code type, you will be able to better evaluate how well your current job and career path match your classification. You may well discover that your career field and personality characteristics are in harmony, suggesting a change of jobs within your present field might be the best way to lift your spirits. Conversely, if the match between your personality and your work is not a good one, an entirely new career path might be your best option. But either way, after you’ve taken the Holland Career Code test you’ll be prepared to make an educated choice that offers the promise of a brighter and happier future.

Want to try a new career? The Career Personality Profiler could be your launch pad

Are you truly ready to make a profound change in your career path, charting a brand new course for yourself as you venture forth into the future? If you’re absolutely certain the time has come to choose a new career, a career test for adults that lets you imagine yourself in various roles related to different job categories is likely to bring you the type of clarity you need to make a thoughtful and sensible choice.

When you need a test that will help you carefully consider all the possibilities, the Truity Career Personality Profiler is just what the doctor ordered. Rooted in the Holland Code and the Big Five personality system, the specificity and comprehensiveness of this custom-designed career test for adults makes it highly useful for individuals who are certain they want to make a change and are ready to get moving.

This innovative self-evaluative test asks you to picture yourself performing a broad range of work-related tasks, and to then rate your level of interest in those activities. You’ll also be asked additional questions about your personality characteristics, as a way to correlate your identified work preferences with your most distinctive emotional and psychological traits.

Once your test results are determined, you’ll be provided with a long and exhaustive list of career possibilities. These potential careers will be synonymous with the types of work duties you’ve indicated you’re interested in performing, and will likewise be appropriate for someone with your unique set of personality features.

The Career Personality Profiler won’t be able to choose your new career for you. But, it will certainly equip you with the knowledge you need to make an intelligent selection, one that is virtually guaranteed to bring added joy and meaning to your life.

Nathan Falde
Nathan Falde has been working as a freelance writer for the past six years. His ghostwritten work and bylined articles have appeared in numerous online outlets, and in 2014-2015 he acted as co-creator for a series of eBooks on the personality types. An INFJ and a native of Wisconsin, Nathan currently lives in Bogota, Colombia with his wife Martha and their son Nicholas.