Whether your client is just starting out in their career, or ready to make a career change, career assessments can be a helpful tool to spark ideas and identify strengths. While some career professionals may prefer to use only paid assessments, these are not always financially accessible to all service providers. Of course, with any career test, it is important to analyze whether it is the right fit for your client as well as its reliability and validity. (This post from CLSR titled “Always assess the assessment” may be helpful in your analysis.) Here are 15 free career assessments to help get you started.
This article was originally published in November 2018 and was updated in June 2021. CareerWise has not tested these assessments and encourages practitioners to undertake their own analysis to determine effectiveness.
CareerFitterThis 10-minute, 60-question career test highlights personality strengths and potential career matches in a free report. A premium report, available for purchase, delves into greater detail on personality facets, ideal business environment and more.
Career Cluster Interest Survey (CAREERwise Education)This assessment lets clients rate activities they enjoy, personal qualities and school subjects they like to discover career clusters that are a match for their interests. It takes five to 10 minutes to complete. The website contains a disclaimer stating that this survey does not make any claims of statistical reliability and is intended for use as a guidance tool to generate discussion.
Career Quizzes and Tests (Government of Canada)The federal government’s Job Bank website offers short (5-10 minute) career quizzes to assess interests, abilities and work activities, as well as personality tests on multiple intelligences, learning style and work values. Jobseekers will need to create a profile and sign in if they want to save their results.
Career Quizzes (WorkBC)WorkBC’s Career Compass offers three Career Quizzes: The Abilities Quiz assesses the individual’s talents and helps match them to careers; the Work Preferences Quiz identifies how the individual likes to work; and the Subjects Quiz analyzes the test taker’s strongest subjects and aligned careers.
Charity Village Career Assessment QuestionnaireThis multidimensional assessment offers guiding questions for clients around job/career satisfaction, career path/options, attitude/motivation and the role of their family in career change/job search. It also offers definitions for terminology used in the assessment, which could be helpful for clients who are using it independently.
Entrepreneurial Potential Self-assessment (Business Development Bank of Canada)This questionnaire has users rate a series of statements (e.g. “I want to build something that will be recognized publicly”) to help evaluate entrepreneurial traits in regard to their motivations, aptitudes and attitudes. It takes about 10 minutes to complete.
Essential Skills Indicator (Government of Canada)This assessment from Employment and Social Development Canada aims to help individuals gain a better understanding of their essential skills levels. It contains a series of short quizzes that analyze strengths and areas that may require improvement.
Holland Code Career Test (Truity)This career assessment is based on psychologist John Holland’s RIASEC model of career choice. It follows the theory that careers can be classified into six broad areas. This 60-question assessment generates a brief report outlining the assessment taker’s primary career interest area and a list of possible careers; a premium report is available for a fee.
InSight™ Values / Work Characteristics Inventory (Career Perfect)The InSight assessment helps clients clarify and prioritize their values in relation to their working life. It evaluates responses in 10 categories, including structure and pace, challenge, environment and creativity. CareerPerfect also offers a Work Preference Inventory, a quick assessment of preferences in regard to work assignments.
Interest Assessment (CareerOneStop)CareerOneStop is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labour. This assessment takes people through 30 short questions to generate an Interest Profile, which is linked to potential career matches. The information and formula for matching interests to careers come from O*NET Web Services.
Keirsey AssessmentThis assessment aims to help individuals better understand their temperament, which can influence their communication patterns, contributions they make in the workplace and roles they place in society. It identifies four temperaments: Artisan, Guardian, Idealist and Rational. Estimated time for completion is 10-15 minutes.
Motivational Appraisal Personal Potential (MAPP) Career Assessment (ASSESSMENT.com)The MAPP test comprises 71 questions exploring likes and dislikes and is meant to be done quickly, taking approximately 22 minutes to complete. Users must register to take the free sample assessment. Paid packages are also available, which offer different assessments and career matching opportunities.
O*NET Interest Profiler (My Next Move)This test aims to help people find out what their interests are and how they relate to the world of work. The O*NET is an American job classification system, so results may need re-interpretation in the Canadian context.
Self-assessment package (University of Toronto Scarborough)This assessment consists of four exercises that will take between 15 and 30 minutes to complete. They analyze Skills, Personal Qualities, Interests and Values. The website notes that this package aims to help start career planning and recommends that individuals review their results with a career counsellor.
VIA Survey of Character StrengthsThis free self-assessment takes fewer than 15 minutes and aims to help individuals understand the positive parts of their personality that make them feel authentic and engaged. VIA Reports provide personalized, in-depth analysis of the free results.
Additional reading
- The Assessments Issue, Careering magazine (CERIC)
- Assessment Tools for Career Development (CERIC) [Literature search, 2018]
- Best practices for administering online assessments (CareerWise)
- Career Exploration – Free Career Assessment Resources (Career Professionals of Canada)
- The Self-Directed Search assessment: Can it really help my clients? (CareerWise)
- You want to work as what? The real problem with career-matching tests (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Did we miss something? Leave a comment below or send us a note at if you have information that can help make our article even better.
Lindsay Purchase oversees CERIC’s tri-annual magazine, Careering, and the CareerWise website, along with the CareerWise Weekly newsletter. She has a background in journalism, having worked previously as a digital editor and reporter. Lindsay is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University’s Global Studies program.
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Lindsay Purchase oversees CERIC’s tri-annual magazine, Careering, and the CareerWise website, along with the CareerWise Weekly newsletter. She has a background in journalism, having worked previously as a digital editor and reporter. Lindsay is a graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University’s Global Studies program.