From the time children are able to imagine it,  most visualize a lot of different possibilities when asked about their dream occupation. In high school, students are expected to make this decision to prepare them for life beyond high school. Some may choose a career before truly understanding what it requires and what it takes to get there. While some students have an idea about an occupation that they would like to hold in the future, others don’t have the slightest clue. Due to this uncertainty of prospective careers, personality tests are used in schools to help guide the student to careers that would be best suited for his or her personality type.

A personality test is a questionnaire or other standardized instrument designed to reveal aspects of an individual’s character or psychological makeup, and there are different types of personality tests with various uses. They were originally developed in the 1920s to help with the process of selecting people for a specific task, commonly used in the military. Nowadays personality tests allow employers to understand their employees; these tests can determine how an individual will manage a team, comply with rules, solve problems in practical manners, lead others, and cope with stress.

Personality tests can also determine an individual’s personality type, which specifies an individual’s personality traits. By understanding and evaluating one’s personality type, an individual can consider the career paths that would allow them to be their best.

Health Academy guidance counselor Leslie Mulet said that using a variety of tests such as aptitude, personality, and skills tests could benefit the student most to determine how an individual thinks and acts. Multiple intelligence tests such as these are available to students through the recently implemented Family Connections program to serve as a guideline to students.

“I would take a multitude of tests to look for the commonalities,” said Mulet. “For example, if more than one assessment is saying that you would be good for a career in nursing then maybe that is something that you should look into. I’m not saying that it is something you have to do, but if it is coming up more than once, then it might be a match to what your personality, interests, and aptitudes are.”

Multiple intelligence tests identify key characteristics of individuals that set them apart from others.

“Personality tests determine signature traits that help guide students in their immediate academic life after high school,” said Mr. Douglas Hernandez. “It allows students to distinguish what qualities they are strongest in and focus on careers that would allow them to effectively use them. If a student has strong leadership qualities and wants to feel significant, they should know that they shouldn’t be in a career that doesn’t highlight their significance.”

While there are many benefits to using personality tests, there are also many disadvantages. It is possible to get results that suggest careers that an individual would not be interested in because it is difficult to narrow down an accurate profile of an individual’s personality based upon a series of questions. It results in broad personality types and wide ranges of career paths. Senior Chase Miller said that it’s difficult to determine the accuracy of personality tests.

“I actually don’t think that personality tests would even be helpful because every time I take one I always get results in professions that I have no interest in,” said Miller. “I think that basing your job on a result from a personality test is counter intuitive because most of the time you are matched with careers with really broad attributes and it doesn’t really help you since the job itself is completely different. It would end up being a waste of time and effort. It’s almost like basing your career off of your horoscope.”

While there are stark contrasts in opinion when it comes to using personality tests to help guide the student to a certain career path, one thing is clear: personality tests allow the individual to understand themselves and the way they think. Whether or not they will use this to apply to their life is up to the individual. Regardless, it could be useful to use as a starting point for many.