A client comes to a Career Consultant and asks, “I have a FRIS test report. What job should I look for?”, “We did a series of tests at work this year. Can we discuss them?”, “The report says I’m a good manager. Why am I not being promoted?”, ” In recruitment, I have to go through Hogan. Can you help me prepare?“. The third weekend of the Career Advisory postgraduate studies was devoted to a wide range of tests, their role in career advisory, and their usefulness when working with clients.
The role of tests in Career Advisory
The first day of the third weekend was hosted by Sandra Bichl, who focused on the topic of “Tools and tests in identification and verification of professional goal”. The formula of this day was slightly different from the previous ones, as each student prepared a description of a test of their choice from a pool of the most common tests used on the market, to, among other things, assess their usefulness when working with clients who are just starting their career path or those professionally experienced, who, for example, are at a crossroads. After each mini-presentation, we discussed the pros and cons of the presented diagnostic tools.
Among presented and discussed tests were: Pymetrics, Extended DISC, MBTI, Facet5, SHL OPQ, Hogan, APIS-Z (R), MTQ48, CliftonStrengths (Gallup) and FRIS.
That day’s guest speaker was Joanna Chrobak, who discussed recruitment processes from the perspective of a headhunter. Joanna uses a series of Thomas tests in her daily work.
Briefly about Joanna Chrobak:
Managing Director at HR Level Up and career mentor. Business practitioner with over 25 years of experience as, among others, Sales Director and General Manager in FMCG industries; she managed teams of up to 200 people. For several years now, she has been running her own company, as a trusted partner of many international and Polish corporations in the field of personal consulting. She supports managers in their personal and professional development. She skillfully combines business experience in sales and company management with the competencies of a professional mentor. She specializes in the assessment and development of management competencies, supports clients in the search and development of talents and executes outplacement projects.
To sum up – according to students, the role of tests in career advisory relies on:
“building the candidate’s self-awareness” and “a starting point for conversation and reflection”
“speeding up the process of getting to know the client in order to have the so-called “big picture” of personality”
“a hint about natural aptitudes”
“career orientation and diagnosis of roles that may more or less fit the client”
“indication of risks in the career”
“providing terminology (nomenclature) for working with clients”
Career View by Decision Dynamics
The second day of the third weekend Ania Zadrozna started with the question: “What is your definition of career success?”, to which the students answered, among other things:
“For me, success is when I achieve my goals.”
“Doing things that align with my values and give me a sense of purpose and benefit others.”
“When there is a balance between values, development and earnings.”
“Success is when I work on things that give me joy […] and I have the opportunity to grow.”
“When at work I feel that what I do is meaningful […] it is in line with my potential and values.”
This question was an introduction to the topic of career path management, based on over 40 years of research. It distinguishes between:
- four career patterns: Expert, Linear, Spiral and Transitory
- two perspectives, the so-called Career Motives and Career Concepts
In the practical part of the weekend students undertook exercises such as:
- analysis of sample profiles that often appear in the work of a Career Consultant
- preparation (“drawing”) of profiles based on descriptions
- modeling competences based on job advertisements
- job crafting based on the so-called “job fit”.
We also discussed how to define and identify different organizational cultures based on the company’s strategy and structure, and how employees are assessed and rewarded.
In addition, we compared how well a person’s career profile fits into the culture and how important it is during changes within an organization. Read more about career management here.
Reflections after the second day of the third weekend
“I was struck by how important is the heart component when making a change.”
“I deepened my knowledge of the tool. I understood where I am in my current organisation and role.”
“The most important is the identification of the source of frustration. It is important to see ‘where it hurts’ and only after analysing the divergences take a further step.”
“I did the Career View test a long time ago. The result convinced me to change industries.”
“This is a great model for working on yourself […] as well as for working with clients to better understand them.”
We will keep you informed about our students as well as the progress of our studies.
The enrollment for the 2022/2023 academic year has opened:
- study in Polish – details of the program
- study in English – details of the program
PS. read more about the other meetings:
Are you interested in this field and you don’t want to wait for the next edition? Follow information about our courses – also in-house – on this page:
https://careerangels.eu/become-a-career-consultant/