I was first prompted to write about vocational preference tests after a ninth-grader I knew took a widely used test developed by a well-respected institution of higher learning. The test, which consists only of 20+ questions (hardly in-depth), indicated that she was cut out to be a painter, a floor and carpet layer, a heavy equipment operator, a baker, a rotary driller, a parole and probation officer, a coach and recreation director, or a firefighter.
Of course, she did not want to be any of these things and she was bright enough to ignore the test results. But many people, especially teens, no matter how bright they are, do not. Instead, they start amassing experience in the field that the test says they should be in and if things don't work out, they simply blame the test - or themselves. Supporters of vocational preference tests claim they are only "idea" starters or "guides" or "suggestions." Such words, however, are meaningless to teenagers or vulnerable adults. As far as these people are concerned, the test has come to a conclusion for them and they cannot be expected to interpret it any other way.
Americans in general have become too dependent on things and other people making their decisions for them. We have a tendency to neatly analyze things and put them in boxes. We avoid hard choices such as those that are necessary to carve out a successful career path. Vocational preference tests are another example of the American way.
But letting a test make your decisions for you is absolutely no way to approach your career A story I have used before helps to illustrate the point.
A national study of more than 1,000 nurses found that some 90 percent of them were unhappy with their careers. Now, suppose you took a vocational preference test and after matching your answers with the common denominators of people in the nursing profession, the computer determined that you "should" be a nurse. The test would be steering you toward a career in which you would have a nine in ten chance of being unhappy - just like nurses. It just doesn't make sense.
Here's another case in point:
A teenager was told by a vocational preference test that he was well-suited to be a funeral director. Because there is good money in that field, his parents began pushing him towards it. Prior to that time, he had given no thought to being a funeral director. In fact, if he had been asked if he wanted to be one, he'd probably have answered a flat "No." But because of a test, his answers, which may have been formed by his mood or by social forces and parental pressures, suddenly stripped him of an element of free will. It's frightening. (This is not meant as a slap at funeral directors. All of the funeral directors I know are outstanding people who truly love their work and the vital service they provide.)
Good career consultants have horror stories to tell about people who were misled by these tests. Yet the popularity of these tests grows and now we find them rearing their ugly heads at high school freshmen. Avoid these tests. If your children are subjected to them, urge them to ignore the results (or at least not take them as an end-all conclusion) and to make their own decisions.
I suppose vocational preference tests can help someone get at who they really are and what they really want, or be a means of identifying strengths and weaknesses, but there are definitely better ways of doing it.
The most important idea that I can leave with you is that career decisions must be made by you, the individual, based on awareness of your own needs and talents. No one else, nothing, no test, can make that decision for you.
In fact, one of the smartest, most successful people I have met was a Chicago businessman who had never gone past the second grade. He used to delight in his "uneducated bumpkin" image and would even play up to it by pretending not to understand certain words. But I would pit his knowledge (and his incredible vocabulary) against that of any MBA anywhere.
Another former client was a man who, at age 14, had been set up in his own small business by his parents. He sold the business when he graduated from high school and was so far ahead of his classmates in terms of his business knowledge and decision making capability that there was simply no comparison.
Rather than going to college, though, he went to work at a higher-than-usual rung of the field he had decided to enter, worked his way up for five years, then went to college to strengthen his career He was a chief executive officer by the time he was 30, and I doubt that anyone has ever asked him about his degree.
There's no doubt that a college education can broaden your mind and develop your abilities to think and reason - abilities that can be applied to many fields. But let's keep things in perspective. Career choice should come first. Education should support it.
