Interest and Psychometric Questionnaires

The tests delivered and managed by the registered career guidance counsellors and www.CareerGuidance.ie are also used within University College Dublin (UCD) and National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway).

There are three types of Career Guidance Interest tests available, click on the direct links below to gain further information, sample reports and pricing. All tests are taken online and reports emailed.

Please note when making a purchase you can direct that your report goes directly to a dedicated independent career guidance counsellor for professional interpretation (highly recommended) or to your own inbox. If you would like a professional guidance counsellor to go through the report, please select that particular checkbox on purchase.

On purchase via credit or laser card, detailed instructions will be sent to your inbox

ABOUT THE QUESTIONNAIRES:

1 Career Interests Inventory (CII)

Helping people explore areas of work that make the best use of their interests, values and motivations. Aimed at young people (14-19 years) this uses words and pictures to structure interests around Hollands Career Themes.

Interests are the most natural starting point when exploring the world of work. When we first start to ask ourselves ‘what do I want to do?’, our answers reveal what we see as being exciting, challenging and fun – in short, what we are interested in. Based on John Holland’s widely used model of vocational preferences, the CII explores interests, competencies and work styles to provide a multi-faceted tool for supporting career exploration.

Opening up the world of work

The CII is an engaging self-report instrument for those starting the career exploration process. Aimed at younger people or others with minimal work experience, the CII acts as a catalyst at key decision points, guiding choices through enhancing self-understanding and encouraging exploration of the world of work.

Using Holland’s model of vocational preferences, each preference is examined from three perspectives, so giving a rich and stimulating source of information for exploration of potential career areas:

• interests – a normative and ipsative assessment of interests, giving alternative benchmarks for interpretation;
• competencies – self-report of key work-related skills and abilities;
• work styles – an assessment of preferred working styles.

Supporting career exploration

The CII acts as a focus for career exploration. Respondents are encouraged to widen their personal exploration by looking at how their competencies and work styles relate to their interests, so setting an agenda for potential development.

CII reports encourage research into potential careers, containing links to careers libraries and a range of online resources for further information. Prompts also encourage critical reflection on the CII results, so supporting respondents through the first stage of their career decision-making.

2 Learning Styles Indicator (LSI)

Based on the model of Psychological Type and dividing preferences into the Activator, Innovator, Clarifier and Explorer.

The Profiling for Success Learning Styles Indicator provides an effective tool to identify an individual's preferred learning style. Reports encourage learners to reflect on their preferred style and consider how they can remain effective learners in environments that do not match their preferences. Tutors can use the information to tailor their courses to ensure maximum learning and student retention.

Learning Styles

Have you ever wondered why some lectures or lessons really grab your interest and others leave you cold? How interested you are in the subject will obviously play a part, but learning styles are just as important.

Learning is often described as a cycle. Many popular models have described four stages or preferences in this cycle. See the diagram below for characteristics associated with each stage:

Clarifiers are at their most natural when having time to reflect on what has happened, what others did and how they experienced it. They contribute by recalling a lot of information and detail, asking questions about what was done, and encouraging others to be patient and reflect on their experiences.		Innovators are at their most natural when using their experience to bring new understanding and seeing the wider implications of their experiences. They are creative and can see the ‘big picture’, bring clarity to complex and ambiguous situations, and can reframe problems and ideas to make them more accessible to others.
Activators are at their most natural when learning through practical, concrete activity. They contribute through making situations as active and practical as possible, finding ways to make concrete progress, getting stuck in and ‘doing’, turning ideas and plans into action.		Explorers are at their most natural when taking ideas and experiences and turning them into plans for action and delivery. They are good at providing general ideas (although not always practical ways of doing things), bringing in new ideas and angles that may have been overlooked, and picking up on any last-minute changes.

Theories of learning styles are based on the belief that people differ in how comfortable they are with different stages of the learning process. Put simply, different people learn in different ways!

Learning styles - Why understanding is important

The theory of learning styles tells us that learning should be maximised when the way in which we are taught matches our preferred style. When learning experiences do not match our preferred style we find learning more difficult or incomplete.

Understanding your learning styles therefore helps you to:

• recognise the ‘style’ of different learning situations
• maximise learning when your preferred style matches the learning environment
• recognise learning environments that you may find difficult
• develop strategies to help deal with difficult learning environments
• shape your personal learning environments and strategies to make learning most effective

Remember, we can all learn in all environments. Sometimes we just need to do things a bit differently or be prepared to work a little harder!

Learning to work with others

Learning is an essential part of many modern jobs. Learning styles therefore tell us something very important about how we approach work and how we work with others with different styles. Remember, the ability to work constructively with others is a skill valued very highly by many top organisations.

Learning styles – Becoming a better learner and beyond

Developing your style of learning to cope with different environments takes time and effort, but is an essential skill for both your academic study and career development. Try the following:

• identify the ‘style‘ of different learning environments you experience
• work on the development suggestions in the learning styles reports
• when starting new learning tasks, think about what styles will be most productive – don’t just use your preferred style
• when working in groups, think about how each person contributes in terms of their learning style
• think about your learning style in group tasks – what effect does this have on others?

See sample report from the Learning Styles Indicator, and so understand the type of feedback you will get, see sample report below.

3 Type Dynamics Indicator (TDI®)

A full Type Indicator with innovative features challenges a person to explore their view of themselves, their underlying needs and the direction for personal development.

Personality

Our personality influences how we do things – interact with others, plan our work, use our leisure time and tackle problems to name but a few. Because of its wide-ranging effects, understanding personality is central to our self-awareness and development.

We are unique individuals because of our personality. Some people do not like the idea of ‘measuring’ personality because they believe every person is unique, but so do most psychologists who develop personality assessments! Try asking yourself these questions:

• Do you think of yourself as unique?
• Do you share some characteristics with other people you know?

The chances are that you answered ‘yes’ to both of these questions; we can be both unique and yet share characteristics with others. Theories of personality tend to describe what is common between people. Personality assessments then describe how individuals vary along these common dimensions.

The personality questionnaire available through this site – the Type Dynamics Indicator (TDI®) – looks at your preferences or how you are likely to react and behave in different circumstances. It is based on the work of psychologist Carl Jung, whose theories are behind the most widely used personality assessments in the world.

Personality – How understanding can help you

Increasingly employers at all levels, but especially graduate employers, want you to have a range of skills in addition to your academic qualifications.

Employers will differ in what they look for, but the following are likely to be high on their list:

• team-working
• adaptability
• communication skills
• decision-making
• ability to influence others
• leadership
• interpersonal skills
• creativity
• learning
• problem-solving
• motivation

Your personality will impact on all of these areas. Understanding more about your personality will help you to recognise the way in which you are likely to approach different situations and those where you might have to change your preferences to work more effectively.

It is important to remember that personality assessments look at how you typically behave or what your usual preferences are. When necessary we can all change our behaviour; this may just take a little work and conscious effort.

Sample Reports and Pricing

* Please note The Learning Styles Indicator reports can be generated from the Type Dynamics Indicator (TDI®) – if you have any queries, please call 01-707 0077 or email info@careerguidance.ie

About Team Focus

Team Focus Limited has made its name by developing tools and consultancy that get to the heart of working relationships. We are the publishers of the Profiling for Success (PfS) Tests and Questionnaires. We recognise that the way people apply their capabilities is critically influenced by how they manage themselves, both at an interpersonal level, and emotionally. That’s why in selection and development scenarios we look at people from multiple perspectives, in particular the ways in which personality, emotional intelligence and values shape performance.

The psychometrics we offer, like the TYPE MAPPING system, are designed to give everyone who uses them a broader yet more finely tuned assessment experience: be it through the integration of different tools or by using paired assessments. And it’s the insights gained from these extra dimensions that are leading increasing numbers of HR professionals, psychologists and coaches to choose our products.

Business focus
Our key brand is that, even in our assessment and selection work, people receive a truly developmental outcome. So tests and questionnaires are not used to label and constrain people, but as models for enabling them to enhance their own talent and build performance through better relationships.

Why we’re different
There are many consultancies and test publishers, offering good services and products, so why talk to us?

• We’re managed and staffed by Chartered Psychologists. This is a badge of quality that means we are not swayed by the latest management fad or proprietary consultancy process. What we introduce is best practice, the most up-to-date science, and challenging analysis and solutions.
• We don’t just give you the numbers and walk away. Whatever sort of assessments we use, including our own innovative tests and questionnaires, we take great pains to explain what the results mean and what you should do about them. And then how you can continue to gain value from the information you have gained.
• Team Focus comprises a small, dedicated team of professionals. That’s deliberate. We don’t treat people like an entry on a spreadsheet and if you phone you’ll talk to someone you know. What’s more the rest of the team will be told about your requirements and what you expect to happen next.

We understand that you have a full time job running your business or department. Team Focus can be an informed, constructive and critical friend, offering continuity and assurance in an often confusing and complex area: the psychology of people performance.

Some key clients

UCD, NUI Galway, Admiralty Interview Board, Bayer Crop Science, General Medical Council, Marks and Spencer, M&G Investments, National Policing Improvement Agency.

 

CAREER SECTORS PROFILED