Honing a Career Choice

Author: The Age  |   Date: July 07 2008

Thanks to the internet, we now have access to all the information we want on any job that springs to mind; where and what to study, the necessary skills, and the particular salary and working conditions. It would be quite easy to spend hours poring over the details - but what’s the point if you don't have a realistic idea of the kind of jobs you aresuited to? 

Outsourcing and recruitment company Chandler Macleod recently launched its latest competency assessment, CMyPeople; an online questionnaire that measures both intellectual and personality capabilities, and considers suitability across 1100 professions. Kevin Chandler, general manager of Chandler Macleod, says the system has so far been extremely successful, particularly for those about to re-enter the workforce, and those entering it for the first time, and could be particularly valuable to young people.

"We have found there are people doing apprenticeships who are simply not suited to them," he says. "They may have failed something or felt they were no good at school, and either thought or had it suggested to them that an apprenticeship might be good for them. "It’s actually quite a problem; the drop-out rate for first-year apprentices is about 50%. If young people were more aware of the jobs they were suited to, they could make informed choices about what to study." 

The questionnaire has four sections: reasoning with words, reasoning with numbers, abstract reasoning, and a personality test. Once finished, you meet one of the in-house career consultants who will go over your results, and look at possible job options. At this point it is possible to apply an interest filter, whereby you only look at jobs in categories that interest you. When this journalist wandered down to Chandler Macleod’s offices in Melbourne to take the test, she wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Curiosity, not nervousness, prevailed; would the results suggest a career in swimming instruction? Aircraft mechanics? The reasoning with words section passed uneventfully, but parts of the numbers section proved challenging – time quickly ran out. Several questions in the abstract reasoning section made no sense whatsoever, and the personality questions seemed to focus rather strongly on how often a person worries.

The results revealed a few surprises - this journalist can reason with numbers a little better than the scope of the questions had suggested. The reassurance didn't stop there; if the journalism career fails, other options are writing books and music composition.The problem with the CMyPeople assessment is that while it may offer options at which you could succeed, and might interest you, it can't necessarily point you to professions you'd enjoy. Apparently, I would also make an excellent laboratory technician. But finding repetition mind-numbing and precision difficult, I couldn't imagine anything worse.