Test Your Own Job Aptitude: Exploring Your Career Potential
Author: James Barrett, Geoff Williams, Jim Barrett
List Price: $12.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0140168346
Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) (January, 1995)
Sales Rank: 26,475
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
Bad Tests, Decent Book
The questions on the tests were fairly obvious (example: "are you a leader?") A lot of the questions were hard to answer, because you didn't know what context they were in, so they could be either way. I ended up directly in the middle for most of the personality and motivation tests because of this. However, I found the text after the questions to be very helpful, and that's why I'd reccomend this book. You have to look at what they say after the tests to really figure out what type of person you are for different jobs.. that part was really helpful, but the tests werent.
Rating: 5 out of 5
I love this book, it helped change my life!!!
I had been injured at my previous occupation, and was eligible for vocational rehabilitation. My employer and VR were willing to help me, but I had a big decision to make. WHAT KIND OF JOB / CAREER SHOULD I CHOOSE? I hit the bookstores and there are dozens of these kinds of books. However, this one is different. It not only tests your aptitude (like other books do and then stop) but also your personality and your motivation. For me this book made all the difference in the world. In other books, I always scored high in two areas. The titles of these areas might be different in every book, so I will use research and practical. "TEST YOUR OWN JOB APTITUDE" goes one step further and crossed referenced results like this. I researched all the choices and decided on a career in Biomedical Engineering Technology. I completed a two-year degree and now have a job that I LOVE. I love to fix things, I love to help people, and I hate being tied to a desk. This career was tailor made for me. I hope this helps you, I have recommended this book to many others over the last 3 years. Some have even changed their majors because of it. I also recommend that a friend help you answer the personality section. I was depressed when I did it by myself and it threw the results way off. A friend who knew me before the accident "corrected" some of my answers. By the way - I am a 41 year-old female and 20 years ago would never have dreamed I could become an Engineer!!!
Rating: 2 out of 5
Not helpful for me, may be for others.
I am going against the grain of the other reviews here, but this book was a waste of time for me. I was very disciplined in completing the ability tests, and followed all the advice about the personality and motivation portions. I really tried to approach this will an honest an open mind, otherwise you risk doing yourself an injustice (e.g., it's better to answer how you ARE instead of how you WISH TO BE).What did I learn? I got a "B" in four different abilities (no A's). You are only supposed to spike in one or two. I have "average" motivation in all seven motivation categories, and I am a "Specialist" or "Free Agent" personality (one of the four personality variables was down the middle).
There are dozens of combinations of skills/aptitude/motivation groups that I could try to analyze in order to conclude something. No thank you. A built-in excuse of any author of this type of book is that "I don't really know myself", but isn't that what this book was designed to solve?
In all fairness, there are some pearls of wisdom in this book and it would probably serve a new grad well. Plus, I like the idea of not just evaluating personality (which is common), but also to add the elements of abilities and motivation. The authors convinced me that these three dimensions are important in harmony with a career.
However, the ability tests were ineffective of finding my strengths. The motivation test didn't identify anything significant. The personality test is interesting, but the various Meyers-Briggs books have much more richness, examples and suggestions than the FLAG analysis. This book is cheap, so you may want take this just for the heck of it. But don't count on it working as well as it does for others. Maybe it will, maybe not!
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