Before beginning the process of searching for colleges or skill training in a technical field, it is helpful and informative for your student to spend some time in self-reflection and possibly complete a few different aptitude, interests and gifting tests.
Aptitudes: capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; “natural ability to learn or perform in given areas” regardless of exposure or environment
I use YouScience.com to help students learn more about how they are innately wired, how their interests guide their calling, and how this combined knowledge can inform their career and major research.
YouScience’s Aptitude and Career Discovery application “uses a series of 11 engaging exercises or ‘brain games’ to measure 9 aptitudes that are key to career performance: idea generation, numerical reasoning, spatial visualization, sequential reasoning, inductive reasoning, visual comparison speed, timeframe orientation, vocabulary, and work approach. The results include a review of your strengths, suggested careers that best fit your aptitudes and interests, and detailed information on over 500 careers including a personal fit analysis, job responsibilities, salaries, job forecasts, and educational pathways.”
“What’s YouScience? | Discover careers perfect for you” from YouScience on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/647002647
I also use a the free SHAPE Test to help students understand how their spiritual gifts, heart (passions), abilities (skills), personality and experiences do shape their purpose and calling in life as well.
The YouScience and SHAPE Test are best for students 14 years and older. To begin the conversation, though, with middle school students, I use a free Career Interest Survey. This allows the student to begin to see how they are uniquely wired with strengths and interests that eventually may lead to a career path and purpose for their lives.
For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been fearfully and wonderfully made. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began. PSALM 139:13, 14a, 16
Every person has a unique purpose and calling on their lives that are God-given. Our family, our experiences in life (both good and bad), our strengths and weaknesses, our innate abilities and aptitudes that have been wired into us before our birth, have purpose and intention. Finding that purpose and to see our calling applied is a gift and a worthwhile pursuit.
I can help advise students on their academic plans for both high school and post-high school, whether military, career, tech school, 2-yr college, or 4-yr university. This includes career and major research, as well as, college research that best aligns with their unique wiring.
To utilize my services in this process, you can purchase (at a discounted rate) the YouScience and Consultation meeting, or it can be completed as part of the College and Career Prep Course for your juniors and seniors.
If you are looking for more in-depth assistance, feel free to contact me: sharianne@ccctoolbox.com to discuss my one-on-one academic advising options that might be the best fit for your family.
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