Not too long ago I was talking with a friend – friend of mine, but also a friend of Project:IDWIL. Although I'm at a place where I'm still growing this project, and like to think that I am wide open to opportunities, it took a couple of his basic questions to really make me think about the big picture. As I explained what my vision for Project:
IDWIL is, he noted that it could benefit from some deeper analysis.
“ so I like what you have to say about inspiring people. The website sounds like a great place for people to find inspiration… got it. Then from there, the viewer can align their thoughts and feelings to find a path to follow. If you think of it on a timeline, watching an inspiring video is like an event – a point. Everything to the right of that point is the viewer continuing on, now inspired. One thing I would like you to think about is what is ‘to the left of inspired.’”
I love this idea! It is one thing to be exposed to possible inspiration, but I need to take another step back to see an even larger picture. I've come from position that the processes that we've used in the past should just be put to the side while developing this project, and I realize how limiting that can be. For example, I've known of, though have never taken, career assessment tests. I realize that it is one of those tools that helps students get some direction when thinking about their career path. So I decided to look into this more, Because this seems like an obvious answer to help find what is on the left of inspired. In essence, we need to "mine" for information that can help us figure out what we can align to later.
I took a couple tests that were easy to find on the internet. Something I noticed was that, regardless of the "correctness" of the possible careers that the tests were giving me, there was a consistent problem: the test would spit out a list of possible jobs for me to look into – some of which even had hyperlinks – but all of the information was so static...like reading a textbook. I saw a huge possibility here where an assessment test could be built and linked to the eventual content of Project:IDWIL. So, think about taking a test that provides results for you to look into, and on the end of those links are professionals that not only describe what they do, but why they do what they do, and most importantly, why they LOVE what they do. I'd love to figure out how to create an assessment test with some accuracy. Maybe just as importantly, I'd love to figure out how to provide results that are wide-ranging. (even when we find certain things that were interested in, I see value in finding out about other – perhaps not obvious – options.)
Have you ever taken any career assessment tests? Have the results been helpful to you? If so, what are some good ones? If not, what are some that I should avoid?