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Career Finder
The National
Institutes of Health's Office of Science Education offers
an online Career
Finder™. Before you read further, click on
the link and take a look at it.
I believe you will agree, it is attractive and appealing.
It promises
students to identify "work that fits your life best." The
website says it will give the student " . . . a
list of jobs for you to explore based on your
interests and skills". It asks students
to self-assess the Holland types that "apply to
you" and the skills "that you have." Clearly,
students are being asked to assess themselves. It is
a career test. But is the Career Finder a valid measure
of Holland's types? Of skills? Nothing is offered to
support their claims.
What method
is being used to match students' scores to the "work
that fits your life best"? What evidence is there
that it is a valid way to match students' traits and
careers? Can you imagine a method that would support
this extravagant claim?
There are
other problems:
- In the skills
assessment, students are asked whether they have skills
like "Operation and Control," or "Systems
Analysis." How many students, or adults for that
matter, will understand what these mean and rate them
meaningfully? Will their responses to these skills
match, or mismatch, them to promising careers?
- Among the skills
listed, there is none in the arts area -- like acting,
dancing, or music. Are students' skills like these
unimportant? Are there no careers for them? Are they
being misled into other careers?
Until satisfactory
answers, supported by scientific evidence, can be provided – counselors
and educators are wise to assume that the Career Finder™ is
harmful to students.
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