The current layoffs and high unemployment rates have left many people struggling to find a new job or return to school. Clarifying your interests and abilities is vital to school and career success. When I was the director of a college counseling center, students found a number of psychological assessment tools very helpful, which were used with them for career planning and placement decisions. Today, similar tools are freely available online. Deciding on a college major or a new career direction can seemingly be a daunting task. The following online resources will help ease the burden.
The free Interest Profiler and Personality Test are online assessments that will help you determine your potential college/career interests, as well as your personality type. These simple and short assessments are easy to answer. Upon completion, they automatically even rate themselves.
Using information from the Personality Test Manual and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) can help narrow down your search for a college major or career direction. Use the personality test to refer to your personal handbook for career opportunities that are likely to be a best fit for you, based on your personality type. Narrow your search further by matching this information with the career opportunities that best match your particular interests, based on information from the Profiler. Finally, check the information within the DOT on job descriptions, educational requirements, near-future opportunities, salary ranges, etc.
In order to solidify your choice, there are a number of excellent self-help books to review once one is close to making a career decision. Additionally, state unemployment offices and vocational rehabilitation agencies may even have money available for qualified residents who need assistance returning to school or with new job placements.
Once your college major or career path is finally established, it’s very important to address issues ranging from job interview anxiety and job stress to dealing with procrastination and test jitters. Many people find self-hypnosis audio programs helpful in dealing with the normal anxieties surrounding these issues. Hypnosis is simply an exercise in deep relaxation and concentration. While in this state, people can often greatly benefit from “post-hypnotic suggestions” to help achieve a desired goal.
One example where the relaxing effects of hypnosis can be very beneficial is with “state dependent memory” or “state dependent learning”. This psychological notion is related to the idea that people remember things better when they are in the same emotional state during the recollection as when they first learned the material. This fact explains how and why many students often “freeze” during an exam. They may know they understand the material, but have difficulty remembering it, because they are anxious during the test after learning the material in a relaxed sleep.
By using these easy online career planning and placement tools, the new job applicant or new college student can finally move from confusion to clarity in choosing their best career path.