Wikipedia describes a career as a journey through life whose importance is based on its ability to provide sustenance for families through the provision of income. What influences your career direction? It could be one or more factors.
 
Factors influencing a career choice
 
• Skills – individuals select careers based on their aptitude, hands-on skills, level of training, and academic qualification.
• Values – people select careers that align with beliefs, culture, and ethical values.
• Goals and ambitions – an individual is inspired to choose a career that will enable them to achieve their heart’s desires such as settling down in relationships or reaching high levels at work. Additionally, an entrepreneur may have a reliable retirement plan as a goal. One may choose a career that involves a lot of traveling to achieve an ambition of visiting different places. Some people choose a career similar to that of a person they desire to emulate.
• Opportunities – high levels of unemployment have left people with fewer options when seeking jobs. Some individuals now select careers from the available positions in the local job market.
• Constraints – the environment can influence a career due to available resources and historical factors. Financial constraints can push an individual into jobs with seemingly higher pay than others to meet financial needs.
• Health status – in many cases, individuals have to work in positions that take into consideration their medical ailments. This applies to those with chronic conditions like asthma and arthritis as they have to avoid stuffy and cold workplaces respectively. The physically disabled are often limited to working in specific careers that do not subject them to physical strain.
• Personality – this determines individual motivations and is undoubtedly an essential element when making a career choice. Whereas introverts keep to themselves, they are usually prevention-focused, anticipating and learning how to manage risks well. Their analytical skills and thoroughness allow them to produce accurate and reliable work. Introverted individuals are open-minded and plan their time well. Their downside manifests itself in its inability to embrace change. Extroverts, on the other hand, are spontaneous at work, love traveling, have numerous ideas and options to propel their growth up the career ladder. Such people readily take risks, are super creative, and usually overly optimistic about their careers.
NOTE: If you are enjoying this content – you might also like this article that contains a completely different career test. The article discusses 15 reasons why you should take a career quiz to help you find the career you love – Best Job For Me Quiz
Career choice test
 
The primary objective of a career choice test is to determine if a career is in line with your beliefs, skill set, personality, ambitions, market trends, opportunities, career marketability, job availability, and acceptability. In this era, characterized by a dynamic job market, a career choice has to be well informed.
 
According to Wikipedia, a career assessment is a very important tool for matching a person’s attributes to his or her dream career. It has been utilized by individuals, corporations, career counselors, and rehabilitation counselors among others.
 
As Susan Bernstein of the Huffington Post puts it, there are two main paths to follow when choosing a career; the “Should” path and the “Want to” path. Current market needs drive the “Should” path and require the application of skills, abilities, and talents. The “Want to” path is driven by your gut instincts, passion, and curiosity for a given career.