How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success
Review
Author Nicholas Lore uses the techniques of his career-guidance network, the Rockport Institute, to make The Pathfinder a substitute for a great job counselor. Through goal setting, list making, and other techniques, the book leads readers though the process of deciding exactly what they want to do for a living and finding a way to make it happen. Lore realizes that people have different temperaments and decision-making methods, so he provides individualized advice to s…
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Free Career Assessement
Socrates once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Yet sometimes it seems that Americans are obsessed with self-examination and constant change. Individuals once spent an entire lifetime with a single employer, but most people today evaluate their career and lifelong goals every few years. It’s common to leapfrog from opportunity to opportunity and to re-make a professional identity several times over.
If you’re entering college and are perplexed about your future goals, join the club. Even as graduates enter the workplace, they continue to assess their skills and dreams to find lasting success and happiness.
Psychologists, educators, and employers have developed a battery of tests that measure your likes and dislikes, your aspirations and aptitudes. A dizzying range of online personality and career assessment tests are free for the taking to help you discover your heart’s desire or make mid-life course corrections.
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Some help you find out whether you’d rather pick flowers in Holland in the summer or drive an 18-wheel truck in blizzard conditions along the Al-Can highway. Employers administer assessments to see how well you’ll do in a team environment, if you can take direction, supervise others, or prefer to sit alone in a cubicle listing to your iPod.
You’ll find dozens–if not hundreds–of online career and personality tests. Many are free, while some companies charge money. Most offer a free topside overview, with more complex analyses available for a price. Beware, however, for aptitude assessment tests are not always as advertised.
Measuring the Tests that Measure You
No one likes being lumped into a career or personality group. In America, especially, we’re individuals to the very end. It helps to think of online test results as an effort to spot your tendencies, rather than making your choices for you. Above all else, you’ll want to focus your time on tests that rely on time-tested psychological models to drive the assessment. Examine the Web sites you visit for information on the methodology–and eschew tests that are glib, bizarre, or downright flakey.
Let’s look at four standardized aptitude and profile assessments used by professionals.
? Myers Briggs Personality Test (MBPT)
The granddaddy of most personality and job assessments, the MBPT is most likely the model behind the tests you’ll discover at online evaluation sites. You’ll be categorized onto one of 16 personality types, based on your responses to questions that evaluate how you deal with life (extroversion vs. introversion), how you process information (sensing vs. intuition), how you make decisions (thinking vs. feeling), and how you organize your life (judging vs. perception).
? The Six Factor Personality Questionnaire (SFPQ)
The SFPQ is a well-respected assessment tool that measures six personality factors, with each factor broken into categories that are calculated by 108 Likert questions. Likert questions ask you to identify with a given statement using the following scale–Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neither agree nor disagree, Agree, or Strongly agree.
SFPQ personality factors include Agreeableness, Extraversion, Independence, Openness to Experience, Methodicalness, and Industriousness. A SFPQ test can help you understand your traits with respect to temperament, autonomy, endurance, achievement, logic, and resistance to or acceptance of change.
? The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI)
Tests based on the HPI model measure your personality, your traits in respect to on-the-job performance, and your attitude. HPI tests fall into one or more of the following assessment categories–the Hogan Development Survey, Motivation, Values, and Preferences Inventory, and Hogan Personality Inventory.
HPI questions produce personality trait identifiers and motive qualities that can include colorful, dutiful, bold, imaginative, altruistic, power, security, cautious, and excitable. Occupational aptitude measurements rank you in categories that include integrity, leadership ability, initiative, decision-making skills, communication skills, self-esteem, curiosity, sense of responsibility, and creative potential.
? Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey (GZTS)
The GZTS is strictly a personality evaluator, used to measure learning potential, possible learning disabilities, personality, and temperament as it applies to the workplace, conflict, and personal relationship skills. Scales measure quantifiable responses to qualities of restraint, emotional stability, objectivity, friendliness, and thoughtfulness.
? 16 Personality Factors (16PF)
The 16PF text was created by psychologist Raymond Cattell to measure so-called primary factors that show your tendencies in major assessment categories of warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change, self-reliance, perfectionism, and tension.
Beyond the Personality Testing Numbers
You’ll no doubt discover a broad range of online career tests that are based on these highly regarded methodologies. While the governing categories may not be immediately visible, they are there. Instead of dry category breakdowns, you’re more likely to see questions based on the SFPQ model. You’ll be given a direct statement and asked to rank your identification with it. Sample questions/declarations might include:
? I love to work alone.
? I have difficulty reaching decisions.
? I prefer not to always show how I feel.
? I’d rather be a farmer than a stockbroker.
Your responses to these statements translate into raw numbers that fit the 16PF or SFPQ qualities.
If you’re taking a personality or career assessment test online, it’s vital to consider the results as sweeping generalizations about your career or life-goal tendencies that give you guidance but not clear-cut directions. Think of suggested career choices as options, and then see how you respond emotionally to detailed career descriptions you find elsewhere in your search.
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As a bonus, a test may reveal broader career fields than you imagined for yourself as well as greater self-wisdom about your likes, dislikes, aptitudes, and skills. Remain open to suggested fields. If a test sends you into unexplored territory and you respond with energy and delight, you may have hit the jackpot.
Caveat emptor–buyer beware. Online career testing is at best uneven and, at worst, misleading marketing junk to promote a paid survey. Before you ante up for extras or detailed analyses, look at the quality and sensibility of your free results.
They can be a useful thought starter and an important part of the career planning process.
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Hot Careers in Demand
The 10 hottest careers.
Let’s face it, if you’re just starting out in the job and careers market you want to have a solid track to run on. You want to be pointed in the right direction . . . a direction where you have an above-average opportunity.
Or maybe you’re already into a steady job or career, but you realize it’s time to look around. You want to advance yourself. Once again, there’s no better place to start your search than taking a look at where the best opportunities are.
Well, here’s where the best jobs will be in the future (which starts today).
Government economists have estimated which occupations would grow the fastest between now and 2014. They also predicted which occupations would have the most new jobs. Here they are:
** Network systems and data communications analysts
** Physicians assistants
** Physical therapists assistants
** Dental hygienists
** Computer software engineers, systems software
** Network and computer systems administrators
** Database administrators
** Forensic science technicians
If you’re just starting out as a high school or college grad you’ll want to consider these fields because they will give you the advantage of above-average opportunities. But there’s room for some creativity here. For example, maybe you don’t see yourself specifically in one of these hot careers. So check to see if there’s a crossover effect related to something you’re more interested in.
For example, if you’re a sports enthusiast there are unique opportunities where you can find a home for your interests as a physical therapist. Or, say, you have an interest in getting into a business environment in some capacity. Well, the needs for someone with various computer software or database skills are extraordinary. Or couple your goals in law enforcement with forensic science.
Please understand that the starting point for any intelligent career move is YOU! And a good first step is to make a careful review of what you’ve got going for you. Don’t rely just on your work history to make this list. Indicate your work-related qualities and your work "style" as part of this assessment. And don’t forget all those activites outside a work environment that contribute to the overall picture of you. This list will help you make a career choice.
Whatever you decide, it’s important to see yourself in the bigger picture. For those of us committed to the alternative job search and non-traditional career advancement movement, this has special significance. It’s what we call developing a "Failsafe Career." That’s one that you build for a lifetime of job success. Check it out!
Paul Megan writes for EEI, the world-class pioneer in alternative job search techniques and non-traditional career advancement strategies . . . since 1985. Grab our stunning FREE REPORT: "How To Find A Job In As Little As 14 Days!" Click on RSS for instant info! http://www.fastest-job-search.com
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You spend about a third of your life (or so) working, so it’s a hefty chunk of your time. Therefore, it would be nice if your job was truly satisfying. That’s why this is a such an important book for a lot of people- job satisfaction can definitely equal greater happiness in life.
At over 300 pages, the book is a bit on the long side. It also is quite detailed, so don’t expect to pick it up and have all the answers in an hour or two- there are exercises and “things to do”, so be prepared to put some elbow grease into it. But remember, if it was that easy to figure out how to have a satisfying career, we wouldn’t need career counselors or books like these. In the end, you will get what you put into it. Besides, the book isn’t just about having a great career, it’s about having a great life. Also recommend “Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World” for more on setting specific goals that can bring one long-term happiness.
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a great book!
This is the first book that I can honestly say changed my life. I was stuck in a job that was just not right for me. I hated going to work everyday.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely everyone should read this book
I was a single mother, unemployed, depressed, living in a ratty
apartment complex when I found the Pathfinder seven
years ago.
The Pathfinder is light-years ahead; Nick Lore has literally reinvented career counseling. If you want more than a job, this book is loaded with tools that really work . . .
As a career columnist and coach I’ve spent the last decade researching to find innovative career development tools. Most of what has been around for the last 25 years is job finding focused. If you need help with choosing your career direction, traditional tools will fail you miserably. All my mid-career clients who’ve been through the high school and college systems say, “There really isn’t much “life direction” counseling going on!” The more recent career books on the shelf have made attempts to fill this gap, but most of them make only small improvements to traditional tools that never really worked. Nick Lore has upped the ante . . . raising the bar of the career counseling profession to a whole new level.
The Pathfinder is brilliant. Nick Lore’s insights into human nature had me bursting into laughter, laughing at myself, and completely rethinking what a “career” is. Much like how transformational movies stick with you; Lore tugs on your heart and soul; you’ll never see your career in the same way. Despite your fears, he inspires you and gives you powerful tools to do something with your life. Nick Lore is a witty storyteller and social scientist who has invented a way to get you moving in the right direction. Intuitively, you get that the depth of Lore’s tools and inquiries can only come from someone who has committed himself to a life’s work. Rockport Institute’s approach to measuring innate talent and aptitudes is pure genius. Lore exudes a genuine-ness rarely seen, and you can tell the he has lived and breathed this stuff. On top of all that, The Pathfinder is wonderfully written and even has cool illustrations.
I’ve been using this program in my private practice, my clients all say they wished they had this before they went off to college and majored in the wrong field. They are getting results, and changing their lives . . . simply amazing. Once you’ve “done” this book you’ll wonder why it hasn’t yet become a key component of our educational system. In this regard, I highly recommend The Pathfinder to successful, but unhappy professionals, hard to please dreamers, and anyone who knows something is missing in their work but can’t put their finger on it.
To better guide future high school grads from the frustrations of spending lots of time and money on a degree that doesn’t fit, I also recommend this book to the US Secretary of Education, high school counselors, college career centers, and parents. Dear fellow career professionals, you are going to love this book. As a writer I quote from this book constantly, recommended it to my mother at 59, and use it exclusively with my career change clients. If you’re between the ages of 16 and 102, The Pathfinder just may well become your pocket guide for living an extraordinary life, or just keep hoping the answer will come someday . . .
5.0 out of 5 stars
A little help to identify the purpose driven life
I found this book so useful, I bought it twice. The first time to examine my overall interest and possible fit for career. Then, I lent the book out.
1.0 out of 5 stars
An Insulting, Creepy Book
If you are one of those radical airhead humanists who are looking for “a life that sings”; or if you are eight years old, this is a great book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A GREAT SOLUTION
The Pathfinder is the book in which you will find the answers to most of the questions you have when you are feeling lost in your carrer development.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Terribly insecure…
The author seems terribly insecure… Much of the first part is trying to convince you that the book will succeed in helping you find your true path…
4.0 out of 5 stars
Resume Section need to be beefed up
I bought this book after coming across resume writing advice at the RockWell Institute website and reading reviews here at Amazon.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Written for the 21st Century Job-Seeker
Nicholas Lore’s Pathfinder and Jay Levinson and David Perry’s Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters are hands down the best books on the market for job seekers looking for a new job…
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pathfinder – Expert Coaching at Your Kitchen Table
The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success.
The Pathfinder is the book I had been looking for and feared…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding!
Once you get past the first few chapters about whether or not you’re serious about changing your life, The Pathfinder takes you on an interpersonal journey that few books offer…