Career Assessment Inventory - Vocational Version

The Career Assessment Inventory has been updated to provide additional occupations, new suggested readings, new vocational codes, and career resources on the web. See the Profile Report and Interpretive Report descriptions later on this page for more information.

The Career Assessment Inventory – Vocational Version compares an individual’s vocational interests to those of individuals in 91 specific careers that reflect a range of positions in today’s workforce – including skilled trades and technical and service professions – requiring 2 years or less of post-secondary training.

The inventory is used by school counsellors, job training specialists, psychologists, and personnel professionals who provide career guidance, adult career development, and human resource development.

How to Use This Inventory

This inventory can be used to help:

• Guide students to focus on the patterns of interest that are important in making educational and occupational choices
• Explore new career options with clients in vocational rehabilitation settings or one-stop career centers
• Advise individuals who are re-entering the workforce, in workforce development, considering a career change, or who have been displaced
• Clarify vocational opportunities for individuals in Tech Prep and School to Work programs

Key Features

• Provides scales for 91 occupations, enabling exploration of a variety of career possibilities with the client.
• Easy to administer, taking only about 30 minutes on average to complete.
• Graphic and narrative test reports can be shared with the client and the narrative report provides a 3-page counselor’s summary.
• Combined gender scales allow for the broadest interpretation of survey results.
• Uses occupational themes based on the widely-accepted RIASEC model to assist in the interpretation and explanation of interest scores.

Scale

• General Theme Scales:

R - Realistic Theme
I - Investigative Theme
A - Artistic Theme
S - Social Theme
E - Enterprising Theme
C - Conventional Theme

• Basic Interest Area Scales
• Occupational Scales
• Nonoccupational Scales

Norms

Reference Samples (for the General Theme Scales and the Basic Interest Area Scales)
The reference sample consisted of 1500 employed adults (750 male, 750 female).

Reference Samples (for the Theme Scales, Basic Interest Area Scales, and Occupational Scales)
The reference sample consisted of 1,200 employed adults and students. The sample was stratified by selecting cases from a larger sample so that 100 females and 100 males had their highest score on each of the six different theme scales.

Criterion Samples (for the Occupational Scales)

To be included in a criterion sample for one of the occupational scales, an individual had to:

1. Be currently employed in the appropriate job
2. Have at least two years of experience on the job
3. Respond positively to the question “Do you like your work?”
4. Be less than 60 years old
5. Have the proper accreditation or degree required for the occupation

Report Options

Profile Report
The profile report provides a graphical depiction of the individual’s score on each scale, a list of Additional Occupations to investigate, and a page of career resources on the web. There is an option to print “Understanding Your Results,” an in-depth description of how the results apply to the test taker.

Interpretive Report
The interpretive report presents several pages of graphs and narrative statements that explain the significant score elevations on each scale. It also provides additional reference information relevant to the highest scores, such as a list of Additional Occupations to investigate and a page of career resources on the web, new O*Net codes (SOC-Standard Occupational Classification) and older DOT codes (Dictionary of Occupational Titles) if required, and page references to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. There is an option to print a Counselor’s Summary, which graphically represents the individual’s scores on each scale, and “Understanding Your Results,” which is an in-depth description of how the results apply to the test taker.

Q-global® Administration Options

This product is available on Q-global with the following administration options:

On-Screen Administration (OSA)
Your clients can complete these assessment online through Q-global. Alternatively, your client can complete the assessment in paper-pencil format, and their responses can then be data-entered into Q-global for scoring and report generation. On Screen Administrations are proctored (supervised) unless specifically indicated.

Remote On-Screen Administration (ROSA)

These assessments can be emailed to clients, teachers, or parents, so that the assessment can be completed at their own location. These assessments are not proctored (supervised). 

If you would like more information, please visit the Q-global product page.