Career Assessment and Guidance
Career guidance is a combination of assessments that help gr 7 – 12 learners to make the right career choice.
Career guidance
Career development and career guidance is the process which assist an individual in developing a work identity.
Career guidance is a developmental program that assists young individuals in making mature, informed educational and career choices
iGoli Net use these assessments in the career guidance process:
- an aptitude test
- Interest questionnaires
- personality profiling
- values profiling
Goal
The goal with career guidance is to establish a link between the internal career (interest, personality, abilities, skills, aptitude, self-concept, values and beliefs) and the external career (view of success, career anchors and stage of career).
We reach this goal by
- enhancing the individual’s self observation and self-knowledge
- exploring maturation (self-development) and career options
- facilitating an informed career choice and career plan
Nevika Singh of the University of Pretoria investigated the career guidance needs of post-secondary learners in South Africa.
She found that learners have a dire need for:
- assistance in overcoming career confusion
- information about improving grade 12 results
- information on opportunities such as learnerships and employment
- information about educational goals
- opportunities in the post-secondary environment
- support in overcoming constraints such as career confusion and financial challenges
In line with the purpose of the research, Singh’s findings “confirmed the need for a career helpline service to provide learners with career information and career guidance in order to help them achieve later career success.”
That is exactly the service iGoli Net provides to learners in a one-on-one situation.
We do individual career guidance with
- the Differential Aptitude Test (DAT)
- interest questionnaires
- personality profiling
- values profiling
Purpose
The aptitude test is designed to be an assessment which evaluates the talent (ability and potential) of the learner to perform a specific task without any prior knowledge or training.
It is designed to assess certain facets of intellectual functioning.
Aptitude tests are mostly based on the research of psychologist Martin Seligman, so the aptitude tests are designed to predict a learner’s ability to learn or profit from an educational experience (training). Aptitude grows slowly and is a result of daily learning. We evaluate a learner’s or employee’s potential to benefit from training or education.
What we do is that we ascertain an individual’s (learner or employee) learning ability in a specific direction. That provides peace of mind to the learner, parents, employee and employers that the person tested, in fact has the interest and ability to be successful in a career.
The DAT consists of a group of tests that assess a range of aptitudes (abilities) such as
- vocabulary
- reading comprehension
- verbal reasoning
- non-verbal reasoning
- calculation
- mechanical sense
- spatial ability
- memory
- detail orientation
The iGoli Net aptitude test has a South African base and consists of different tests for different groups as follows:
- DAT R: Grade 7 – 10 Standard form
- DAT S: Grade 7 – 10 Advanced form
- DAT K: Grade 10 – 12 and adults Standard Form
- DAT L: Grade 10 -12 and adults Advanced form
The tests are available in English and Afrikaans.
Interest Questionnaires
South African Vocational Interest Inventory (SAVII)
These questionnaires test vocational interest, which is the subjective attraction of a career direction or occupation.
The purpose of the questionnaires is to assess an individual’s natural inclination or preference for certain activities over others.
It tests fields such as
- practical realistic
- scientific investigative
- artistic
- social service
- business and management
- clerical administrative
It is used to determine whether an individual can engage in the activity as a hobby or as a way of earning a living.
A large part of career counselling and assessment is the measurement of vocational interests and that is what these questionnaires measure.
The target group is Grade 8 – 12 and adults
Personality Profiling
Jung Personality Questionnaire (JPQ)
The purpose of this profiling is to evaluate an individual’s personal attributes, values and life skills in order to integrate those attributes with a career choice or to enhance job performance.
JPQ is based on the four functions of Jung’s personality theory
- extraversion vs introversion
- thinking vs feeling
- sensation vs intuition
- judging vs perceiving
These personality types also indicate what type of learning style a person prefers.
The target group is Grade 8 – 12 learners and adults
Value Profiling
Value Scale (VS)
Every person has an internal value system, and values profiling gives insight into the values an individual will probably employ when making decisions. Values guide behaviour and play an important role in motivation.
Value systems guide people in identifying preferences and formulating priorities and it applies to actions, objects, situations, events and persons.
Research shows that people who are in careers which meet most of their values, are generally much happier and satisfied than people who work in careers which clash with some or all of their values.
Value scales are psychological inventories which are used to determine the values according to which an individual lives.
They can be used cross-culturally because it gives unbiased results, and indicate what people experience as fulfilment. It relates to study, work and other roles in life.
Value scaling was developed by psychologists as a self-report tool which measures intrinsic and extrinsic values. Values scaling allows us to determine what a person values and, to evaluate the purpose and function of these values in an individual’s life.
All the instruments (tools, questionnaires, tests and interviews) we use, are tried and tested for use in circumstances where the lives and careers of people are the focus.
What iGoli Net stands for is that people will leave us better informed, better equipped and ready to reach their highest potential.
They can only do that in the best way, when we have done our work in the best way.