Last week I wrote about a conversation I had with a former colleague some years ago.

To recap, he had been working for almost 30 years but could not find a job, or career, he enjoyed. His words still echo in my mind, “I have no idea what I want to do.” In the first part of this article, we discussed turning to, and recalling our childhood dreams, in the search for career direction and inspiration.

And we probably all know several people who went on to become what they dreamed of being as children, such as accountants, architects, real estate agents, dentists, writers, or lawyers, to name but a few ambitions.

But what about those of us who did not have such clear ideas about what we wanted to do? What about those of us who, despite giving the matter considerable thought, still cannot find any career inspiration or direction?

We were not quite as lucky as our school mates who, at what seems like age 11, knew where they were going. But the only difference between us and them, is that we are the people who have to do a little work, or research, to find a career that, in the words of Gilligan to the Skipper, “floats our boat”.

Let’s make a start. The first step is to compile, or list, your existing skills and qualifications. Whether you put these on paper or a spreadsheet, make sure that you have them recorded somewhere. This list, or skills inventory, will also be useful in determining your transferable skills, that is, talents and abilities that can be “reused” in other career fields.

A good example of a skills inventory can be found at the Online Writing Lab, and you can print out the list they have compiled, and simply mark or highlight whatever skills of yours appear on their list. Be sure to also add your own ideas.

As I’ve said before, knowing exactly what skills you already have will make the process of working out what you need to acquire a whole lot simpler. Once you have completed your skills inventory, put it aside for later reference.

Now it is time to embark on a little self discovery. Personally this was the part of the career change process I enjoyed the most, because while I was learning a little bit about myself, I was also having some fun.

Online career aptitude and competency tests are a relatively quick, and inexpensive, method of garnering information about yourself while also discovering some career direction possibilities.

While there are number of organizations providing online tests of this nature (one or two are listed in these posts), I have always found the tests offered by Tickle (formerly known as Emode) to be comprehensive and informative.

These are not tests of the “five question instant result” variety, and in fact you will need to allow 20 to 30 minutes to work through individual tests. I have listed four that I have found to be the most helpful, and while more are available, given that almost two hours is required to complete these four, I won’t suggest any more right now!

Career Personality Test is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which analyses aspects of your personality and then suggests careers best suited to your Myers-Briggs personality type.

Career Interest Inventory tests your interest in 12 different career areas and determines where your work related preferences lie. It provides a number of career options that suit your interests, plus also a list of more “off beat” possibilities that remain in keeping with your core career interests.

Right Job/Wrong Job examines some of your competencies and assesses your primary and secondary career personality types (unrelated, by the way, to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test).

The results suggest a job that is right for you, with reasoning why, and to offer contrast, a job that is wrong for you, and why. I found studying the comparisons between the two quite revealing. It also offers salary expectations, although these may only be of relevance in the US.

What’s Your True Talent? This test is a little more testing as it assesses your skills in five primary areas being, abstract reasoning, verbal ability, numerical ability, spatial ability, and mechanical ability. Again, career and job options that match your strongest ability or talent are provided.

By the time you have completed these four test you will certainly have two or three definite career possibilities that you can begin to further investigate.

There are a few points to bear in mind while taking tests of this nature though. The first, and perhaps most important, is the need to be completely honest with yourself. Remember no-one needs to see, or even know that you took these tests, so be completely open, completely yourself, when answering the questions.

Also, approach these tests with an impartial attitude. Answer questions as things are, not as you would like them to be. You may despise your current job or career with a loathing, but don’t answer the questions with any sort of bias.

For example, if you are an accountant and you are asked whether you enjoy a particular part of that work, answer honestly. Don’t adopt the mind-set that because you can’t stand accounting period, you therefore hate every last aspect of the work involved, and are determined your answers will reflect that attitude also! This will only skew the results in a wrong direction.

Another tip is to print out your test results and reports. Although a service like Tickle/Emode keeps the results archived permanently on your account which you can always access, having a paper version you can sit down and study, and also refer to at anytime, is very handy.

These tests not only suggest career options, and also some alternatives, they also offer a plan of action so that you can get the ball rolling, should you find something of interest.

Finally, you will be required to set up an account, which includes supplying an email address, and while basic test results are free, to receive the detailed reports you will need to pay a small cost.

At the time of writing this was about US$10 (ten) per report, but usually when you buy one report, you are granted full access for a week to all Tickle/Emode tests, so what you can do is buy one report, and then take as many others as you want, free, over the next seven days.

Tomorrow I will look at a few more methods of finding career direction, in the third part of this series.