How to Find Your Dream Career in Fitness and Wellness

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Katie Evans

Each and every year, an abundance of people decide that they want to make their living in the health and fitness industry. Many have no idea where to start, let alone have the confidence that they are going to be able to secure a place in such a saturated market.

Here are a few ways you can begin securing your place in the industry now.

Get Some Training

Assuming you haven’t taken this step yet, you’re going to need some training. You could go back to school, get a degree, and learn all about biochemistry, anatomy, and exercise physiology. However, this will take you a few tears to do. Plus, it doesn’t really give you any advice on how you can start your own business from it.

Another option is training to become a PT. This is faster than going back to school, as there are self study courses. Plus, it costs a lot less money. That being said, many don’t see it as a credible degree, as just about anybody can do it and it doesn’t make them a good trainer. For example, not all Yoga teacher training is created equal. There will be high quality training, and lower quality, but it’s up to you to do your due diligence.

Start Coaching

Once you’ve got your training, don’t put things off. Start coaching. You don’t need to get a degree, rent space in a gym, or start your own studio. Start taking it one step at a time to help people improve their lives. You could even ask to shadow a teacher or trainer for the day to see how they handle things.

Getting really good at this is all trial and error. While you want to know as much as possible to be the best coach, teacher, or trainer you can be, all you need to know at the beginning is more than the person you’re training. It’s that simple.

If you start out with a simple certification, that’s fine, providing you start working towards getting something more substantial later on. If you have trained to be a trainer, coach, or teacher, it’ll help you to be aware of the multiple facets of health and fitness. Not just working out, but nutrition too. These things go hand in hand, and if you can help your clients with both you’ll get incredible results.

Get Some Business Training

It’s important to be well versed in business and how it works if you’re going to make a living out of this. You could get a mentor, do another course, or use free resources online to teach yourself what you need to know.

Once you’ve built a strong foundation of training, nutrition, and business knowledge, you must commit to learning and personal development forever. You are free to pick up the books you want and do the courses that appeal, but you will need to be committed to continuing this journey forever. There’s no one way into the fitness industry, but the above ideas will enable you to get started and eventually stand out.

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5 Amazing Medical Careers You’ve Never Heard of

Posted on November 13, 2018November 13, 2018 by Edna Crane

When most people think of healthcare and medical professions, the first careers that come to mind tend to be doctors and nurses. After all, these are professionals we all come into contact with on a regular basis. However, the healthcare sector is much more than just these two jobs, with hundreds of unique and fulfilling careers most people have never even heard of. Medicine and healthcare will always be in demand, making this one of the most reliable industries out there. If you are considering a medical career, here are five that you might have overlooked.

1. Dance Therapist

As made up as it sounds, dance therapy is a real treatment and one that has a major impact on the health and well-being of others, making it the perfect career for those passionate about medicine and dance alike. With some business know-how, you could even build your own facility offering healing services. This career does require a master’s degree and doesn’t pay as much as other masters-level jobs do, but it’s so rewarding most barely notice the difference.

2. Dosimetrist

Dosimetrists are practically unheard of, but they’re one of the most valuable jobs in the medical world. They specialize in radiation and work with oncologists to treat cancer patients using radiation therapy. It can take a long time to become a dosimetrist, and with the daily work with radioactive materials, the risks can be quite high. That being said, this is an incredibly lucrative position and is one that requires an incredibly special and passionate person to do it.

3. Cardiac Perfusionist

While most people have heard of heart surgeons, very few know of the cardiac perfusionists that assist them during surgery. These professionals operate the machines that pump blood into the heart while it is stopped during the operation. With the rise in heart surgeries, this vital career is becoming more and more in demand, making now the perfect time to rethink your professional life. This work does require a degree but offers excellent pay and relatively flexible hours.

4. Sonographer

Sonography is the perfect option for those wanting to work in the medical field but don’t want to go to medical school. These individuals use machines called ultrasounds to view joints, organs, and muscles, and spot potential injury or illness. With a qualified doctor and portable ultrasound machine for sale, you could even create your own mobile medical screening service. This career rarely requires a bachelor’s degree, but an associates degree and some training is necessary.

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5. Medical Transcription

Wanting to work in the medical world doesn’t necessarily mean that you want to work directly with patients. If this is the case for you, then a career as a medical transcriptionist might be the perfect solution. As a transcriptionist, you would need to listen to recordings of doctors and type what they say into reports and notes. This is a job that can be conducted in doctor’s offices and hospitals, but, thanks to the internet, you can work from home too, allowing flexible work days.

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What Do I Do after Graduation? Consider Your Options

Posted on November 9, 2018November 9, 2018 by Edna Crane

When you graduate high school or even college, the world can seem scary. Suddenly the routine of classes, finals, and essays is gone. What do you do next?

You have a few options:

Gain More Education

If you have a particular kind of career goal in mind which requires you to have a degree then it makes sense that you’d work towards one- starting with a college diploma or A-Levels. If you’re not sure what you want to to (and enjoy education) then it could also be worth continuing education. That way, you have time to work out your career path and once you graduate, you open the door to entry level graduate jobs.

You can then specialist by taking more education, for example a masters or course specific training at an institute such as the Ultimate Medical Academy. If you want to be a teacher or a lawyer for example, you’d usually take another year or two training after your degree. The more education you gain, the higher positions you can eventually apply for once you graduate.

However, education is expensive and a job isn’t guaranteed, so it’s not for everyone. Many graduates can find they struggle getting work as while they have the education, they have little to no experience in the working world. Think carefully and decide if this is for you. If you have a particular career in mind, doing some part time work alongside your studies or even some voluntary work can help to give you desirable experience.

Get a Job

If you get a job right after graduation, chances are you’ll be starting at the very bottom. And that’s ok, because from there, the only way you can go is up. Further study and education is never a bad thing, but it’s not for everyone. Maybe you didn’t perform very well at school or perhaps you just didn’t particularly enjoy it. If that’s the case then there’s no point forcing your way through it. If you’re keen to start work and begin earning right away then this could be the best option for you. In the time that your peers have gone to college, gone to university and found an entry level graduate job, you could have reached manager status and be earning just as well.

You will often be offered training and sometimes even education too by your workplace as you go along, for example if you work in care your workplace might pay for you to gain your credentials. It can make sense that you’d get a job roughly that’s in the industry that you want to work in. That way, all of the work you do is experience in the field as you work your way up. For example, if you want to become a retail manager then you could start off as a checkout assistant or shelf stacker. If you wanted to work in sales, you could start as a call centre worker or door to door sales person. As many companies hire internally, once better positions come up, you’re in a good place to be considered.

Get an Internship or Apprenticeship

An internship or apprenticeship essentially gives you the best of both world when it comes to paid work and education. You can still earn a wage (although this will be lower than minimum wage for your age group), but you’re given invaluable training and experience too. Many companies that run these kinds of programs give you the opportunity to apply for a full time job at the end of it. Otherwise, you have the skills and experience to apply where you want. This could be anything from working in a shop to learning a trade, see what’s available based on your skills and interests.

The only issue with apprenticeships is that they’re limited, and only usually available to younger age groups such as school and college leavers. If you’re focused at this age and know what you want to do, an internship really can allow you to get your foot in the door. See what kinds of things are available to you.

Go Freelance

Working for yourself has so many benefits. There’s no rubbish commute, no annoying colleagues and plenty of flexibility. You get to live life on your terms, and there’s no being micromanaged by a boss. However, it can take time to start earning enough money to make this work, which is why the older you get, the more difficult it can be to do. As a school leaver, you’re in a good position. If you have parents that are prepared to support you while you get things off the ground, you could really put your all into it. It might take you a year to start earning the equivalent of a full time wage, but once you’re established the only way is up.

You could become a blogger or a YouTuber, or you could work on freelancing sites. In time, you’ll develop long term relationships with clients which can give you a reliable income. Another option would be to start your own business, again as a school leaver you’re in a good position to do so with the support of your parents. This could be buying from wholesalers and selling for a profit, or making things to sell. You could through your own website, through social media or an online marketplace like eBay, Etsy or Amazon.

You could attend training days or undertake a part time business course online in your spare time to give you more understanding. Without the stress of having to keep a roof over your head, pay bills or feed yourself, you can dedicate your time to getting off the ground and earning money. But you’d need to check if this is something your parents or guardians would be happy with you doing.

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Do’s and Don’ts for Changing Careers

Posted on October 31, 2018October 31, 2018 by Edna Crane

If you current job or career isn’t inspiring you any more, it may be time for a change. Changing careers can be scary, and you have to be clear on your intention if you want to do it successfully. Here are a few Dos and Don’ts as you think about your career change:

Do Consider the Quality of Life You Want

First of all, when it comes to changing career, you need to think long and hard about the rewards that are involved. After all, even if you find the most perfect job in the world for you, if it doesn’t pay your bills and allow you to live the life you want, it may not be viable in the long term.

Therefore it’s essential to do some serious investigation on the type of wage or salary that you can’t expect from the field you are considering changing to. This means comparing various sources and even contacting people that are doing this job, or something similar to get this information directly from the horse’s’ mouth.

Do Consider How Your Skills and Experience Would Help Others

One area to consider carefully when changing your career is how what you have experienced could help others that are in a similar situation.

Something that you can see a fantastic example of in posts like this one where Nick Gross teaches gen z success based not on what they want to do, but who they want to become. In fact, his focus is less about the size of the paycheck they can expect and more about how they wish to affect the world.

Something that is not only a great example of how to change career from one field (rock band drummer) to another (career educator), but also advice that has relevance to anyone that is considering a career change themselves.

Don’t Rush Your Decision

Next, when you are looking at changing career, it’s crucial to give a decent amount of time and consideration to your decision. This is because most people have bad days or even weeks at work where they question why they are in their job at all. However, if you change career every time this happens you are likely to make rash decisions and end up with a patchy work history, something that may hold you back from success later down the line.

Don’t Burn Your Bridges…Yet

Lastly, while you may be sick of your old job and colleagues, remember that burning your bridges during a career change is not a good idea. This is because you never know when your old contacts will come in handy, and it’s always a good idea to have a plan B. Just in case your career chance doesn’t quite pan out in the way you had hoped.

If you’re not sure what kind of career you want next, try a career and personality test like Career Fitter. It can help you visualize and explore your options.

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How to Find the Right Career for You

Posted on October 31, 2018October 31, 2018 by Edna Crane

Isn’t it just a lit bit cruel, that so many youngsters are asked to effectively study for the career they want, when they haven’t even begun to live yet? As a result, many people end up in jobs that they’re not all that happy with, purely because they’ve changed so much from when they “chose their career” and by the time they actually begin it. Other people have no clue what they want to do, or even if they’ll ever have a job. But rest assured, there’s a job for everyone. Below, we take a look at some useful tips for ensuring you find the job that’s right for you, no matter whether you’re 22 or 42!

Try a Career Quiz

If you don’t know where to start in your hunt for the perfect career, try a career quiz like Career Fitter or Career Key. Career Fitter is one of our favorites because not only does it give you career suggestions, it gives you statistics, videos, and other helpful information about your career choices. It’s always our first suggestion when someone is stuck in their career path.

What Do You Like Talking About?

The usual job advice you get is that you should follow your passion. That’s not the worst advice in the world, but it can be a bit tricky to put into practice. For starters, there’s a level of wisdom needed to identify what your own passions are, and that wisdom is normally beyond most youngsters! So instead of identifying your “passions,” make a note of what subjects you always get fired up about when that conversation is steered that way. If you can talk about it for hours, it’s usually a pretty big sign that it’s one of your passions. From there, it’s all about looking for jobs around that interest.

Try Out Jobs

You don’t need to commit to just one career, and then set about finding work. You can “try jobs out,” so to speak. You might have an inkling that you’d like to work in the newspaper industry, but how could you know for sure unless you’ve lived in that world for a bit? Before saying “I want to be [X],” look at getting an internship in a related job for a while. It might confirm your dreams, or make you realize that it’s not for you. Also, don’t worry if you’re past the “usual age” for an intern – there’s no age barrier for these types of things, so don’t overthink it.

Work With Experts

You don’t have to battle through life alone. If you don’t know what you want to do and have no clue about how to go about finding the answer, then get help. There are experts who can help you find the right job for you no matter what circumstances you’re in. If you’re just looking for advice, then speak with a careers advisor. If you’re struggling to figure out what you can do because of a physical injury or disability, then contact disability employment services. It’s possible that there are many more options for you than you previously realized. Alternatively, you could also speak to a mentor, if you have one in your life. If you trust them and they know you, then they’ll steer you in the right direction.

Think Outside the Box

When we’re growing up, we tend to think that there are only a set number of jobs out there. All of them seem to take place in an office or otherwise corporate environment! But this isn’t true. While the bulk of work might be office-based, the economy doesn’t run on corporations alone. There are thousands upon thousands of jobs that need to be done, and the majority you won’t have heard of. So think outside the box. You might just end up with a job that’s way more interesting than anything you might have fallen into if you pursued office work.

Avoid the Big Decisions

If you’re really unsure about the work you want to do, then you’ll be well-served by avoiding any big decisions and commitments. There’s no law that says you have to pick just one career! Instead, why not job-hop a little? You’ll be trying out a host of different jobs. In time, you’ll have a better understanding of the industries and tasks that you like.

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It’s Never Too Late to Change

Of all the lessons to take from this article, make it this: it’s never too late to change your job. You might feel obliged to stay in a profession because you’ve built up so much time there, but don’t be. You’re free to do whatever you want, at all times. It’s possible that we’re not supposed to stay in the same job for years on end as it is anyway – so mix it up if it doesn’t feel right anymore.

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3 Real Estate Career Paths for People who Love HGTV

Posted on October 29, 2018October 29, 2018 by Edna Crane

Do you have a passion for real estate? Perhaps you love watching property shows, and find yourself browsing home listings just for fun. Maybe it’s something you’ve always wanted to go into as a career but found yourself not knowing where to start, or maybe just talking yourself out of it. Here are a few different options for ways you can make money with real estate:

Develop or Renovate Property

Developing property is a fantastic way to earn money- and you really can earn a lot. You could buy run down houses cheap, bring them up to a good standard and sell for a large profit- otherwise you could rent them out if you want to create a long term income. Another option would be to buy a plot of land, get planning permission and build from scratch. There’s a serious amount of profit to be earned, but of course there are some drawbacks.

Firstly, you need to be knowledgeable about property and the market. Some areas will have a ceiling price, limiting the profit you can make. Other areas will be up and coming and others will be in decline, and you’ll need to know what kinds of properties are in demand in which places. If you’re new to property then it’s important to get clued up on the topic before spending your money. The second and the biggest drawback for most people when it comes to becoming a property developer is that you usually need money upfront to buy in the first place.

You do have the option of getting a buy to let mortgage if you want to purchase a property to rent, but to renovate and buy you will need the cash to do so. If you’re buying at auction, then this will require cash. If you’ve got savings, an inheritance or access to money then this could be a rewarding and fun way to earn a living. But be sure to go into things with your eyes open.

Become a Real Estate investor

If you want to earn money from property but don’t fancy rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty, you always have the option to invest and become a ‘silent partner.’ If you have a business partner, family member or other trusted associate who wants to renovate or develop, you could contribute towards buying the property and then leave them to get on with the work. Decide on how the profits will be split, and then once it’s sold you have money in the bank without having to do a thing.

Become a Real Estate Agent

Another way to work in property in more of the traditional career sense would be to become an estate agent. There’s advice online on how to become a real estate agent, and it generally involves taking a course and gaining your license. From there, you can go on to specialist if you wish. You get to match up clients with their perfect home which can be really rewarding, and you can make good commission on top of your earnings.

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Should I be a Teacher? Questions to Consider before Committing

Posted on October 16, 2018October 16, 2018 by Katie Evans

Should I be a Teacher? Questions to ask before committing to the profession

Every semester a student asks me the question, “Should I be a teacher?” The answer isn’t a clear “yes” or “no.” It’s a hard profession where you’re under constant ridicule from parents, students, other teachers, and society at large. Most days, you will go home exhausted. But, when you truly touch a student’s life in a meaningful way, suddenly it all seems worth it.

Are You Ready to Work Hard?

When I started teaching 20 years ago, the statistics were daunting. More than half of all K-12 teachers stayed in the profession less than two years. No one is sure of the reason. Some think it’s because new teachers underestimate the amount of work it takes to teach effectively.

Sure, you might get to go home at 3 p.m., but you have to be at school around 7 a.m., and chances are, you’ll spend your evenings at home grading papers and preparing lesson plans. You’ll spend your weekends binge watching Netflix while grading essays. You’ll spend holidays planning for your next semester. Every new teacher underestimates the amount of planning it takes to teach effectively.

In truth, even I left K-12 teaching after three years. I finished my first master’s degree and became a community college professor and instructional designer. I didn’t want to leave teaching—I wanted to leave parents. College teaching is just as hard and don’t let anyone tell you differently. But, I can stand behind FERPA laws and avoid talking to parents, at least, most of the time. I did have a 30-year old’s mother yell at me for flunking her daughter for plagiarizing Wikipedia in a final essay.

These days, teachers need specialized teaching courses to land the best jobs. Competition is high in some areas, and low in others. If you choose to teach in a rural or high-need area, there are benefits like student loan forgiveness. Still, it’s hard work, and if you’re going to survive, you need to have clear expectations.

Why Do You Want to Teach?

Teaching is not an escape hatch you jump into just because you can’t figure out what you want to do with your career. It’s not a “just pay the bills” job. Those who are successful at teaching do it because they can’t see themselves anywhere else.

Some people come into the profession because they like being students and don’t know what to do outside of academia. Just because you’re a good student doesn’t mean you’ll be a good teacher. It’s a labor of love. It’s an uphill fight to do what’s right for your students in the face of all adversity.

If you think you’ll retire rich as a teacher because you read in The Millionaire Next Door that the largest group of self-made millionaires is teachers, you are delusional. Those who retire rich pick up side jobs in the summer, publish books, and hire financial advisors to make sure they’re saving all they should.

As for me, I have other skills that I’ve been able to use to supplement the ridiculously low wages teachers are paid. When you read statistics about how teachers are paid $30,000 per year or less in a lot of areas, believe them. Don’t buy into the BS about how teachers “only work 9 months per year, so their salaries are fair.” Teaching is a year-round job, even when you’re not in front of your students.

While I’m on my soap box, shame on every politician who doesn’t work to raise salaries for teachers and improve the conditions of schools for students.

The right reason to want to teach is because you want to become the champion for your students’ education. You want to inspire your students. You want to support them through the challenging days and rejoice with them through the victorious ones. You have to want to put your students first, even when standardized testing, pushy parents, burned-out colleagues, and administrators who have never taught a day in their lives do everything possible to distract you from your purpose.

It’s not for everyone. For most of us who do it well, it’s a calling.

Can You Explain Things Well?

Teaching means finding new ways to explain tough concepts. When a student doesn’t “get” something, you have to find alternate ways to explain and demonstrate a concept until you find common ground that the student can grasp.

This is especially tough in black-and-white subjects like math. Math teaching jobs are some of the easiest to find because they are tough, and not everyone loves math. Think about what you’ll do when a student doesn’t understand a math problem. How many different ways can you find to explain it? You will need real-life examples for a lot of learners.

Never forget: Everyone learns by doing. Never be the teacher who just stands up at the front of the room and talks. You have to engage your students and challenge them to try what you’re explaining. This can take unbelievable patience.

Do You Have Patience?

You will need more patience than you can imagine. You will need the patience to listen to your students when they come to you with a problem. You will need the patience to not to scream at parents when they tell you their child doesn’t have time to do your homework because they have baseball practice, cello practice, or have to water the plants when they get home.

You will need the patience of a saint when the principal pulls you into his office to discuss why your test scores are lower than the national average, when your class came to you with reading scores two years behind where they should be.

I’m not going to lie to you. There will be days when you go home angry. There will be days when you can’t do anything at all to help a student in a bad situation and you will cry.

Are You Empathetic?

If you teach K-12, your teaching job is far more than imparting knowledge. Teachers spot health problems and anxiety in their students. You have to be on the lookout for signs that things at home might be putting your students in danger. You have a legal responsibility to report signs that your students may be abused. So, the question is, can you recognize signs that things aren’t quite right with your students?

Beyond our legal responsibilities, empathy is important for watching the room when you’re teaching to try to gauge how well your students are grasping the lesson. You should be able to spot when a single student is struggling so you can reach out to him individually.

Can You Juggle it All?

The final question you should ask yourself before committing to the life of a teacher is, “Can you juggle all it takes to be a good teacher?” At school, you are mentor, confidante, champion, shield, endless grader, endless planner, and yes, sometimes you are a babysitter. But what about at home? Can you juggle all that being a teacher entails on top of your home roles like mother, father, wife, husband, and child taking care of elderly parents?

Some teachers have an innate ability to turn off their teaching role outside of the classroom. I never found that, and honestly, the best teachers I know never find that either. If you’re thinking about committing to the life of a teacher, you might do best to find a partner who understands the demands of your career.

Should I be a Teacher?

If you feel called to be a teacher, realize that it comes with a huge weight of responsibility. The good days are the best of your life, and the bad ones are some of the worst. It won’t make you rich. But, about ten years into your career, you’ll start to see the impact you have on other people’s lives. Your former students will thank you at their graduations. They’ll credit you as their inspiration. You’ll watch them step into their careers as strong, beautiful people that you had some part in creating.

The best part will be the former students who, inspired by your passion and dedication, follow in your footsteps to their own classrooms, where the cycle starts all over again.

If you’re still not sure, try a Career Fitter personality and career test to see what careers would work best for you.

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Career Key: Career Test Review

Posted on September 7, 2018September 7, 2018 by Katie Evans

If you aren’t sure what you want to do with your life, career tests are a great way to get ideas. This week, we tried Career Key, and while it’s a good tool, it might not be the right career test for everyone. Our Career Key review walks through the entire experience so you can decide for yourself whether it can help you.

Getting Started with Career Key

Career Key Home Page

Career Key is a career test that evaluates your personality and abilities and allows you to explore careers that fit your personality. The website claims that the test is used by schools and corporations all over the world. It’s listed on What Color is Your Parachute? author Dick Bolles’ list of career tests, so we certainly thought it was worth $14.98 to try it.

The link to take the assessment is about halfway down the Career Key home page, so it’s not in the most obvious place possible, but I found it without too much effort. The sign up form allowed me to link a Google account, but still required me to enter all of my mailing address information. It’s everything you expect in a sign up form—name, address, email, billing address, credit card info.

The sign up form does have one surprise, though: It asks where I am in my “Discovery Stage.” Obviously, I’m “working,” but it’s clear that the Career Fitter test is suitable for even the earliest stages of figuring out what you want to be when you grow up. It’s even recommended for middle school students!

Career Key’s Personality Assessment

Career Key has six assessment sections in their personality test, each with six questions or less. They advertise that you can complete the test in about 10 minutes. It took me about 7-8 minutes to complete, even with taking screenshots for this review.

The first section asks six questions about the things you like to do. You decide if you like to work with animals, solve math problems, or pursue creative activities. You don’t have to choose just one; instead, you rank how true it is that you like to work with each activity.

The second part of the assessment looks at your abilities—or rather, what you think your abilities are. The questions are similar to the first part of the assessment, only instead of asking what you like to do, the test is asking if you have “good skills in working with” the same activities.

The third part of the assessment gives you a list of jobs and asks you to select the ones that most interest you. You can select as many or as few as you wish.

The fourth part of the assessment asks you how interested you are in each job you selected in the last part of the assessment.

The fifth part of the assessment asks how you see yourself. Are you practical? Creative? Some of both? Once again, you rank each personality component based on how true they are for you.

Finally, the assessment asks about your values. The questions aren’t the strong moral questions we expected, but values based on the activities we’ve been ranking throughout the assessment. Again, do you value animals and mechanical stuff? Or do you value creativity?

Personality Results

The assessment then produces a report about your personality. For those of you who read this blog regularly, you probably already know that I am an INTJ who is more introverted than 98% of the population. I am a writer, a teacher, and an instructional designer, but I’m not a salesman. So, imagine my surprise when these were my results from the Career Key test:

That’s right—me, who would rather send an email and wait a week on a response than pick up the phone and get an answer immediately—gets “social” as a “promising environment.” The recommended jobs include social worker, nurse, and athletic trainer! I’m starting to wonder if my evil twin took this test for me…

The problem comes in with the personality explanation: Personalities are ranked from 0-33 based on your assessment answers. Well, if you look back at my results, I didn’t score anywhere close to a 33 in any of the suggested environments. I’m not strong enough in any one area for the test to give an accurate output, so the best it can see is that I am sorta artistic, and sorta social and realistic.

As an INTJ, I know very little of that is true. This doesn’t mean your test won’t be more accurate than mine. I’m probably a bad test subject for this particular assessment.

Pick Your Own Careers and Finish the Career Key Profile

After the personality assessment, Career Key gives you a big list of careers and majors that you can select and start a list of what interests you. Bookmark the ones you like to complete your profile.

Overall Impressions of Career Key

Career Key has a nice database of potential careers and majors at the end of the assessment. Since the assessment uses Dr. Holland’s theory of career choice,it may not feel like the right “fit” for people in the middle of their careers.

Dr. Holland’s theory relies on generalities, and to be fair, most personality and career tests do. These generalities can help you when you feel “stuck.” Dr. Holland’s theory, though, believes that there are only six personality types. He arranges them in a hexagon, and if you have one personality, the personalities listed beside it on the hexagon are complimentary, so they might work for you too. The personalities that are directly opposite are just that: opposite. So, they probably aren’t a good match for you.

Yet…if you go back to my test results…the two “promising” environments for me are “realistic” and “social”—polar opposites on the Holland Hexagon!

So, I guess that makes me a walking contradiction. In that case, this test might be quite accurate! If you’re interested, here is my full profile report: Katie’s Career Key Profile Report

If you’re at the beginning of your career, or in college and not sure of what major you should choose, Career Key would be very helpful. The list of suggestions it provides is comprehensive, and it is definitely worth $14.98 to try it.

Try Career Key and let us know what you think about it in the comments! I’d love to see your results.