We all have different reactions to testing. Some get a small sense of dread, others might feel a small thrill at the idea. But apprehension or anticipation aside, testing, particularly psychological testing is a vital part of the career consultation process. But why do we weigh testing results so heavily? In part 2 of Career Consultation 101, we’ll cover the basic explanation for using testing as part of the career consultation process.
To set the stage, remember that testing always involves a comparison. You could be compared to something external (a sample of other people) or internal (your own scores in another area or from another time you took the same test).
Our careers are important. We will dedicate more time to our work than almost any other activity. It is important to make these decisions carefully, using the best information we can get. That’s why we use testing.
Consider how we use a particular psychological test to measure career interests. The Strong Interest Inventory (named for Dr. Strong, not referring to the strength of the test) is a strong (I’m sorry) example. This test asks you to rate a number of work tasks and settings by how appealing each one is. It uses these responses to compare you to yourself (which interest areas to you prefer most) but also to compare you to a national normative group (compared with a national sample, how interested are you in each area).
So what does this get us?
Fair question, we might put the question even more strongly and say “what does testing get us that some serious self-reflection or a good conversation with a friend wouldn’t get us?”
In that case, we might answer that what testing gives us comes down to consistency and accuracy. A well developed test is scrutinized by its authors (and independent researchers) to make sure that it correctly measures what it claims to measure, and that it does so with enough consistency that we can make these (internal and external) comparisons that I keep talking about.
If that sounds painstaking, you’re on the right track because development of quality psychological tests is not for the faint of heart. This development process of selecting and testing each test item and version of the test is also what separates an honest psychological test from a Facebook quiz.
Fair question, we might put the question even more strongly and say “what does testing get us that some serious self-reflection or a good conversation with a friend wouldn’t get us?”
And now we get to why psychological testing can help in the career decision process. Because the tests we use go through such a rigorous development process, we can feel more confident about the information they provide. So when testing suggests that you might find a people-focused career more rewarding than a ideas-focused career, we can point to the data that supports this conclusion. Our careers are important. We will dedicate more time to our work than almost any other activity. It is important to make these decisions carefully, using the best information we can get. That’s why we use testing.
To wrap up, I want it to be clear that we value tests because of the comparisons that they allow us to make. And these comparisons are only possible when the test has been developed in a scientifically rigorous way. We’ll get more into why I use specific tests in future posts.
Read the rest of the Career Consultation 101 series:
