Expanding the Focus of Career Assessment

Abstract

Improvements in technology, enhanced access to information, changes in the job market, movement to multiple careers, greater sophistication of job seekers, and increased emphasis by employers on career assessment all indicate the need to expand traditional views of career assessment. New data also indicate the need to assess more than the traditional catalog of individual skills, abilities, and interests. Both individuals seeking career advice and potential employers are interested in more than job and skill fit; they also want to know about a person's ability to move outside the bounds of traditional career ladders and about the fit between an individual's and organization's goals and values. We present an expanded model of career assessment and some preliminary data to support this model.