Career assessment instruments and information resources (O*NET, SII, MBTI, SDS)
Last reviewed September 2026 by Dr. Andrew Wichterman · Aligned to the current NCE blueprint. Valid for exams through June 30, 2027.
AI-narrated overview made with Google NotebookLM. The written lesson below is by Dr. Andrew Wichterman.
The remaining career items ask you to identify an instrument or information source from its description. This is a catalog; learn what each one measures and who wrote it.
Try to answer each from memory first, even if you have to guess. Guessing before reading makes the answer stick; reveal only after you have tried.
Interest inventories
The Strong Interest Inventory compares a person's likes to those of satisfied workers in many occupations; it reports General Occupational Themes, which are Holland types, Basic Interest Scales, Occupational Scales and Personal Style Scales. The Self-Directed Search is Holland's self-scored inventory. The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey uses forced-choice triads and compares to occupational and college-major groups. The Campbell Interest and Skill Survey measures both interest and self-rated skill. Interest inventories measure preference, not ability; the exam tests that limit.
Personality and values
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator sorts people on four Jungian dichotomies, extraversion-introversion, sensing-intuition, thinking-feeling, judging-perceiving, into 16 types; it is widely used in career exploration and is not a measure of ability or pathology. Values instruments include Super's Work Values Inventory and Values Scale, the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire, and Rokeach's Value Survey. Values predict satisfaction; interests predict direction.
Aptitude batteries
The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is used for military selection and in high schools for career exploration. The Differential Aptitude Tests cover verbal, numerical, abstract, mechanical, spatial, spelling, language and clerical speed for grades 7 to 12. The General Aptitude Test Battery was the Department of Labor's battery. Aptitude tests predict future performance; achievement tests measure past learning.
Career maturity and decision measures
Crites's Career Maturity Inventory measures attitudes and competencies for career decisions. Osipow's Career Decision Scale measures indecision. Holland's My Vocational Situation measures vocational identity, need for information and barriers. Krumboltz's Career Beliefs Inventory identifies limiting beliefs. Super's Career Development Inventory and Adult Career Concerns Inventory locate people in his stages. Career indecision is a normal developmental state; indecisiveness is a chronic trait across domains.
Information systems
O*NET, the Occupational Information Network, is the Department of Labor's online database of occupations with tasks, skills, wages and outlook; it replaced the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, which classified about 12,000 occupations with nine-digit codes. The Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes duties, education, pay and projected growth. The Guide for Occupational Exploration organizes occupations by interest area. Early computer-assisted systems were DISCOVER and SIGI. Job shadowing and informational interviewing are low-cost ways to test occupational information against reality.
Without scrolling up, write everything you remember from this lesson. Then check yourself against the key terms. Recalling the whole lesson once, right after reading it, does more than reading it twice.
Ten questions from this domain, with an explanation after each answer.
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