Career Assessment

For current PSU students only (taking 5 or more credit hours).
The Center for Student Health and Counseling offers testing and counseling services to assist with the development of career goals. A Psychologist will work with you to assess your interests, personality characterists, and work values, and then to discuss which occupations are most congruent with those results. Because a Psychologist will meet with you individually, the process will be tailored to your personal situation and can include an exploration of any other factors that are influencing your career planning decisions.

Please note that career planning resources, including workshops and classes, are also available through the PSU Career Center. Link to the PSU Career Center.


The program is divided as follows:

bullet Step 1: Initial Interview
Meet with a Psychologist to discuss your current situation with respect to career planning, your educational and occupational background, and other influences on your career planning endeavors.

bullet Step 2: Testing
(Approximately 2-4 hours of testing total). Tests may include the following:

Interest Inventories - These asses your level of interest in several occupational groupings, and compare your interest patterns with those of individuals working in various occupations..

Personality Indicators - These identify various personality characteristics, as well as occupational setting and roles that best suit those characteristics.

Values Inventories- This helps you think about the relative value you assign to various aspects of the occupational environment.

Aptitude Testing - This brief assessment of your verbal, quantitative, and abstract reasoning skills is used to identify any strengths or limitations you may have in these areas.

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bullet Step 3: Interpretation
Meet with the psychologist to go over the test results.

bullet Step 4: Individual Planning
The psychologist will help you map out a course of action. (Steps 3 and 4 may be combined.)
Since a range of tests are used, a realistic question is whether or not they will help you. The key to getting the most out of a battery of tests is to use them as one tool in a process of self analysis. The tests can help you to pull together a lot of information, make a self-assessment, and thereby reach some clarity about yourself.

A battery of career tests is only one tool to use in the process of self analysis for career planning. Although testing will not tell you which career to choose, it will engage you in a methodical assessment of your interests, personality style, and work values--information that can then be used to help you identify occupations that are most likely to be a good fit.

Registration

IF YOU ARE:

A full-time PSU student (5+ credit hours)

  • Contact the Center for Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) to make an appointment with a psychologist for an "initial career assessment interview." Call: 503-725-2800.

  • Your student account will be billed at the time of your first testing appointment.

  • Fee range is $40.00-100.00. A fee will be determined once you meet with a Psychologist and determine your assessment needs. Fee is based on the number of testing instruments assigned during your initial appointment. There is no charge for appointments with a Psychologist. Fee is subject to change.