Are you uncertain about the best first job to start a successful career? Wondering where to turn now that the career you have enjoyed no longer exists? Simply dissatisfied with your current position? Considering entrepreneurship? If the answer to any of these is yes, a robust, unbiased career assessment of your options, strengths and areas for improvement can guide you forward with confidence.

Let’s face it: Most of us spend way too much time working not to enjoy it. This is important to savvy employers, too: They understand that higher job satisfaction usually translates into greater performance and success. A well designed career assessment helps employers and employees by aligning your preferred job characteristics and work style with the requirements of the position.

Total Career Success offers Harrison Assessments, which we have found to be the most robust, insightful and reliable career assessments available. In the eight years that we have used Harrison Assessments, only two of our clients—out of hundreds—questioned their profile, and even then only over a trait or two out of 150 traits assessed! It validates what you may know about yourself and gives you insight for current and future options.

The theory behind the Harrison is that WHAT you like is what you do and is what you become good at doing. So, while it does not assess skills, it is an excellent predictor of whether your preferences are an appropriate match for various careers. It also predicts whether you will likely perform well and find satisfaction.

An investment of just 30 minutes of your time to answer 24 questions produces an analysis of your work style and preferences that considers more than 8,000 data points.

The Career Report uses your preferred work styles and job characteristics to identify the types of careers and positions where you are likely to succeed. (It does not evaluate whether your education and training are appropriate, however.) It identifies the factors that cause you to value a job highly, the characteristics of work you tend to dislike, and your preferred type of work environment. This report compares your behavioral profile to more than 600 careers. It also differentiates careers requiring two years of advanced education from those requiring four years or more. Also included is your Behavioral Matching Report for one specific career that you may select from the list of careers for which you are best suited or a career you are considering.

The Full Report compares your preferred work styles and job characteristics with the required and desirable traits of individuals likely to succeed in one of 350 specific types of positions, from entry positions to upper management. With a Full Report, you will:

• Learn which traits define your work style.
• Understand how your preferred work styles are likely to impact performance—for better and worse—against key job requirements.
• Identify your strengths and shortcomings regarding each trait that is considered essential or desirable for a specific position.
• Gain deep insights that may have gone unnoticed for years in how you handle certain situations—both under normal conditions and under stress. Examples include whether you tend to be frank or diplomatic in communication, and whether you mostly analyze situations or rely on intuition to make decisions. These insights can produce a valuable roadmap for personal improvement.
• Receive position-specific interview questions that supplement the 100 Tough Questions of The Total System, better preparing you for the interview and to win the offer.

The information in the Full Report is vital to assessing your career advancement potential, identifying best fit for various types of companies, industries and roles. It is also extremely useful when completing an A+ Resume and developing reference letters that validate your strengths and personal characteristics.

An important part of the Full Report is the Paradox Graph. Unlike most career assessments, which consider one personal trait at a time, Harrison goes deeper, simultaneously comparing individuals’ preference for complementary traits. This unique paradox concept reveals your preferred range of behavior AND potential stress behaviors in many situations, from communication to decision-making. The dynamics of behavior and performance potential gleaned from the Paradox Graph are truly unique and very revealing for planning career development and transition.

Ready to take the plunge into the world of independent work options?

Strong/MBTI Combination: For would-be entrepreneurs, independent contractors and consultants, Total Career Success offers another comprehensive combination report — the Strong and MBTI® Entrepreneur Report. It combines two well established, reliable and verifiable instruments, the Strong Interest Inventory™ and the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator® inventory, to explore how your styles of work, learning, leadership and risk taking compare with those of business owners. Moreover, it details the tasks required to run a business and points out areas where your preferences may hinder success. The primary areas assessed are:

• Interests – Realistic, Enterprising, Conventional, Investigative, Social, Artistic
• Marketing and sales
• Financial management
• Operations and administration
• Human resources
• General management
• Personal styles – Work style, Learning Environment, Leadership Style, Risk Taking

If you are considering striking out on your own as an independent, this assessment will help you determine whether you have the “stuff” to succeed outside the employment ranks.

Harrison Self-Employment Report: In addition to the Strong/MBTI Report, if you are considering independent work options, you will benefit from completing the Harrison Full Report which includes a self-employment competency report. An example of the first page of the report is shown for someone who is NOT a perfect match for self employment.

Armed with the understanding of your potential strengths and possible hindrances to success in self employment, you can make a better decision on your best fit and path forward. Avoid the trap into which many people fall as a result of striking out on their own before understanding whether their behavioral preferences, interests and values fit the independent success profile. There are enough challenges to success as an independent without risking a poor fit personally. The TCS assessments will help you make a sound decision and give you greater confidence that when you take the plunge you can succeed!