Inscribed on the walls of Apollo’s temple at Delphi in Greece are these words: Know Thyself. This assertion indicates that one must stand and live according to one’s nature.

Making a career choice is an important decision as a career spans nearly 40 years of an individual’s life. And, to be successful, one must be engaged and feel enthusiastic about the work at hand. Therefore, students need to think carefully, go beyond their academic performance, and reflect on their interests and values while making a career decision.

“Many factors are important in choosing a career, including ability, specific skills, motivation. But interests are crucial. Research shows that when a person’s interests converge with the requirements of the job, they will experience greater job satisfaction, stay in the role longer and perform better,” says John Hackston of The Myers-Briggs Company, which calls itself one of the “largest business psychology providers”.

In India, Class X is considered the first fork in the road. Students have to choose between streams — science, commerce and arts. But if you ask a Class X or XI student what he or she enjoys or is interested in, there might be no clear answer. This is where a psychometric test, which is a scientific tool to assess a student’s personality, interests, skills and values, plays a vital role.

There are different kinds of psychometric tests — some identify personality and preferences while others measure interests and abilities. “A psychometric tool has validity only when you use it for the right purpose. So, if you are trying to choose a career, pick an instrument that will assess interests, work styles and work environments rather than a personality assessment that may suit an entirely different purpose,” says C.S. Mahesh, director of Anahat, a management consulting firm in Chennai.

Strong Interest Inventory (SII) is a career assessment tool. It is based on the RIASEC Code (realistic — doers, investigative — thinkers, artistic — creators, social — helpers, enterprising — persuaders, conventional — organisers). The test contains 291 questions and usually takes about 60 minutes to complete. The assessment report lists the top 10 career options, extra-curricular activities, work styles, learning styles and team orientation.

Atheesh, a student of Class Xl in Chennai, had opted for science with mathematics. But he was confused and uncertain. He was not keen to take the JEE exam though he was interested in computers and coding. So he took the SII and his theme code was ESI — enterprising, social and investigative. It helped him decide on a course of action. He says, “The results resonated with me. I had previously thought about getting into commerce or business management but instead went with my parents’ wishes and chose science. Now I have decided to pursue business management in college and will continue to develop my programming skills on the side.”

The SII has an additional feature. It links suggested careers to a career library called O.NET. This well-researched database contains extensive descriptions of almost 1,000 occupations, educating users and helping them explore different careers.

Stream Selector Test (SST), Ideal Career Test (ICT), Engineering Branch Selector (EBS) and Humanities Career Selector (HBS) are some of the tests offered by Careerguide.com. They also have a few skills-based assessments in Indian languages.

The SST is designed for Class X students. It has 76 objective questions, of which 36 measure interest and 40 measure aptitude in various streams. The results are categorised into different segments — mathematics, biology, commerce and humanities — and prompts the most suitable stream and combination of subjects a student should select.

Sheetal Juneja, a Class X student at Bethany High School, Bangalore, could not decide between science with mathematics and science with biology. She took the SST and it indicated science with biology as the first option and commerce as the second option. “I further discussed the findings with my counsellor and now I am going ahead with biology. It was good to have scientific backing to my decision,” she says.

The ICT can be taken by high school and college students. The reports highlight three career clusters a student may opt for. It also gives additional information on career motivators and aptitude.

Technology has come into play in psychometrics as it has in various other areas. IBM and Eduguy recently launched an AI-driven career assessment tool, Eduguy Career Predictive Test, in Calcutta. This 120-minute assessment has three segments: attitude, aptitude and aspiration. Based on the scores, the AI algorithm gives three best-fit career recommendations. The report also highlights strengths and improvement areas.

Says Jhelum Banerjee, senior manager at Eduguy, “That way, a student taking the test in Class IX can make the necessary changes by the time he or she gets to Class XII.”

At hand

Apart from psychometrics there are personality assessments. Here are some that you can take online, free of cost

Via Character Strengths: www.viacharacter.org

Enneagram Personality Test: www.truity.com

Big Five Personality Test: www.truity.com

DISC Profile: www.tonyrobbins.com/disc