Aptitudes Are Not the ONLY
Factor in Choosing a Career

While aptitudes are very important, we are also affected by other aspects of life, which also have a bearing on making the right career choice. These include:
 

Your Interests

Interests are activities to which people find themselves attracted. Sometimes interests reflect a person’s aptitudes, sometimes not.

Our interests tend to drive our acquisition of skills and knowledge.

Interest assessment testing can help but only to a limited extent. These tests are usually based on choices, which the test, not you, has selected, and the results are very general in nature—for example, you enjoy working outdoors or you enjoy being a leader.

Interests may or may not have a bearing on making the right career choice. For example, Debby may be interested in and enjoy traveling and exploring nature, but becoming a travel writer would not be ideal for her as she has low Classification ability and her aptitudes point towards working with people.
 

Skills and Acquired Knowledge

People acquire significant degrees of skills and knowledge in many ways.

Sometimes they gain skills and knowledge that they personally value. Other skills and/or knowledge they’ve acquired may not be especially meaningful to them, as it was forced upon them.

Some people may wish to consider the skills and knowledge they already possess, when making a career choice.

Others may think in terms of skills and/or knowledge they would like to acquire but have previously not had the opportunity.

Unlike aptitudes, many skills will deteriorate over time if they are not used.
 

Past Achievements

There are things we did at one time or another that we remember and feel good about because they gave us a sense of having accomplished something worthwhile that is meaningful to us.

A significant past achievement can be something major or just a minor, brief incident. It could have occurred in school, at home, in a work environment or anywhere.

Past achievements often point to an aptitude we have and enjoy using.
 

Personality or Personal Style

Your personality type is related to your aptitudes in that it is essentially innate (although some researchers say it can be modified during childhood). But once we reach adulthood, it is set for life.

Three major aspects of personality are:

a. Introvert/Extrovert
b. Generalist/Specialist
c. How you think about and utilize time

Knowing your personality traits can be very valuable in choosing a career, but it is not the be-all and end-all that some psychologists seem to think it is.

Extroverts need to work with people (from which they derive energy) and start to feel restless if they have to work alone for long periods. Introverts enjoy working alone (from which they derive energy) and tend to be less comfortable working in groups, although they generally don’t seem to mind working with others one-on-one. Some people score in the middle, which indicates they can feel reasonably comfortable either way.

Generalists tend to enjoy acquiring a wide range of knowledge, and that knowledge has been described as tending to be a mile wide and an inch deep. Specialists, on the other hand, tend to delve deeply into one field to where they develop a significant level of expertise. Generalists enjoy variety in their work, while specialists like to excel in one area. Generalists are often good at organizing teams of people, while specialists, when they lead, tend to do so by example.

The time-frame test shows whether a person tends to be oriented towards short-range, mid-range or long-range undertakings.

We give personality tests as part of our aptitude test battery though an additional personality test may also be given.

Taken alone, personality test results are too vague to lead a person to a career choice and, more importantly, leave out a great deal of other vital information that also must be considered. But they have proven to be a valuable tool when used in conjunction with all the other aspects of the program.
 

Values

Values are ideals, principles and/or beliefs that are personally most meaningful to someone. They are therefore a major factor in helping you select a career that you deem worthy of your time and efforts. Values are related to one’s moral and ethical standards, and are often acquired from our parents and other people who’ve been influential in our lives—not from what they say or teach us so much as from how they live and the example they set.

Furthermore, our values are markedly affected by how life has treated our parents (or other caregivers), and whether or not they are what we would consider successful.

Considering, examining and being aware of your personal values boost your self-image.

Choosing a career that promotes one’s personal values or at least is in accord with them is critical for a person’s happiness and sense of well-being.

Many people are passionate about doing something to make the world a better place. Just what specifically that might be is closely related to one’s personal values.
 

Family History and Influences

People tend to identify with their parents (or other primary caregivers).

We are affected by both the history and the influences of the family in which we were raised, regardless of whether the work history of our parents was primarily positive in nature or mostly negative. Either way, family influences are naturally absorbed.

People’s attitude towards work and career is often similar to that of their parents and other family members. It is therefore useful to understand how and why family members made their career decisions and what impact this has had on us.

Some people have a tendency to repeat their parents’ mistakes.

We need to see our parents as separate individuals and ourselves as independent from them in order to concentrate on careers that are meaningful and enjoyable to us.

While it is good and natural to cling to the positive family influences that have come our way, it is very valuable to recognize them for what they are.
 

Personal Priorities/Goals

These are sometimes described as tangible values.

They are (non-career) aspects of your life that nevertheless tend to affect your choice of a career.

Here are some examples:

a. Where you want to or have to live (determined by wanting to live in a nice neighborhood, family considerations, health reasons, etc.)
b. How long of a commute is acceptable
c. Whether you are willing to travel as part of the job
d. How much money you need or want to earn
e. The kind of life style you wish to live

Many careers can only be pursued in certain locations.