Hi friend! We are in a series of posts on how to find the right college fit for your student, including how to do college and career research and how to know which colleges to apply to.
If you’re just joining us, here’s the link to the first post, where I talk about YouScience and how extremely helpful I found it to be. In this first post, I suggested that it is great to get a general idea of what career possibilities your student might be leaning towards to start with. This is not to say they have to be locked in to this decision forever, but a way to give you a place to start for your research. And it gives them confidence when someone asks them what they want to do, they can say, “Right now, I’m considering the field of _________.” Much better than, “uhhhhh. I dunno!”
Today we’re going to look at what other options there might be for career and personality exploration.
I didn’t want to only give you one option to check into. So, this list will give you other ideas. I highly recommend you take into account your student’s bent in terms of personality, spiritual gifts, and aptitudes. Every student is unique and what works for one student may be the exact opposite of what will work for another. So, check out some of these resources and become a student of your student! This will give you a good basis for where to start in college research.
Career Resource List:
- YouScience (discussed on previous blog post)
- The Strong Interest Inventory Test
Link 1: Career Assessment Site
Link 2: Discover Your Personality.com - BJU Press Career Direct: Tests personality, interests, skills, and value https://www.bjupress.com/category/testing-career-direct+
- Myers Briggs Type Indicator
- Cappex.com Take the free: My Careers and Majors Quiz
- http://studentpatterns.com
- My Career Design by Crown Ministries; has several levels including a free personality ID profile
- Diagnostic Prescriptive Career Guide Guide for homeschoolers which includes 4 diagnostic tests.
- StrengthsFinder 2.0 book by Tom Rath (buy it new so you can take the online test with the code provided)
- What Color is your Parachute? Book by Richard Bolles
- A lot of colleges have career wizards on their websites that will link you up with majors that would be a good fit for you. Here’s one to try.
I’m sure the above list is not exhaustive. If you find another one you love, send it on to me and I’ll add it to this list for others!
Temperament and Personality
Additionally, don’t forget studying your child’s temperament and personality. A really friendly, outgoing boy who loves people, the outdoors, dreaming about the future and the big picture, and could care less about the details in life, may not make the best research scientist!
Here’s some great recources for studying your child’s termperament and personality.
- How to Develop Your Child’s Temperament by Beverly LaHaye
- Transformed Temperaments by Tim LaHaye
- Personality Plus for Parents by Florence Littauer – understanding what makes your child tick
- The Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman
Keep a Notebook or Folder of Your Findings
I suggest as you do these activities that you keep a folder or notebook with notes in it so that you can look back on your results. It’s amazing to me now as I look back on what I learned years ago, how accurate it is turning out to be!
Here’s a link to the next post in this series!
I’d love to hear what you learn, so let me know!
Some of the links above may be affiliate links. Click here to read my affiliate policy.
Blessings,
Michelle