Career Direction Works - 100% Objective & 90% Accuracy

Grand Prairie, TX, January 28, 2009 --(PR.com)-- “If you were a gambler, would you make a bet where your odds of winning were 90%,” asked Tom Thoms of CareerDirection.com. “Ninety-percent is the probability an individual has to accurately identify the best careers for them to pursue when they complete a Career Direction assessment,” continued Thoms, a principal of CareerDirection.com. The Career Direction assessment is a self-administered, career-identification tool that takes a little over an hour, on-line, to complete.

Rifle-Shot
“It’s a rifle-shot approach instead of a shotgun approach. Career Direction will objectively identify specific careers in which an individual has the greatest opportunity for success,” said Thoms. “An individual’s Career Direction Report includes a list of careers which the individual will enjoy and be productive. Career Direction is Not a test,” Thoms stressed. “There are no right or wrong answers. Assessment accuracy is as high as 90%, as long as the individual is brutally honest when answering the questions. If someone tries to manipulate the assessment, the results will be skewed and the accuracy will be diminished.”

Personality And Interest Tests
“There are hundreds of personality tests, interest inventory tests and vocational preference tests used to match people to careers. These types of tests certainly have their place, but most of these tests can be manipulated. An objective measurement called ‘mental aptitude’ must be included in a career-identification tool in order to have a meaningful measurement,” said Thoms. “Say for example, someone has the interest and/or personality for a particular job. Just because someone has the interest and/or personality does not mean they have the mental aptitude required to successfully perform that job. Likewise, someone having the mental aptitude and not the personality dimensions required would also be a shortcoming. Everyone knows people like this. The really brilliant guy no one gets along with because he lacks the personality for the position. In other words, a real jerk. Career Direction addresses this omission in those tests by objectively measuring both the behaviors and mental aptitudes required to perform a specific job. This is critical,” explained Thoms. “Everyone is unique. There are a myriad of correlations and relationships among personality traits, mental aptitudes, and the individual’s assessment results. Career Direction accounts for these variables.”

Benchmarks Established
The Career Direction assessment uses benchmarks to which an individual’s personality traits and mental aptitudes are compared. In order to create a benchmark, employers first identify their most successful performers (top 30%) in a particular position. Next, the top-performers’ personalities and mental aptitudes are statistically analyzed to determine the mental aptitudes and behaviors the group has in common. This analysis results in a benchmark for the job category.

This process is also termed a ‘concurrent validation’ study. The benchmarks used in Career Direction are the results of tens of thousands of assessments over four decades of continuous validation and development using concurrent validation. 'Concurrent validation' is the American Psychological Association’s highest standard of validation for a study. Career Direction is the only career-identification tool to use both behavior dimensions and mental aptitude in its standards and analyses.

Best Careers Ranked
An individual’s results are compared to all of the benchmarks in the database. The careers identified in this matching process are then spread among seventeen Job Family categories. A person’s Career Potentials are listed, and ranked in tiers as: ‘Excellent,’ ‘Very Good’ or ‘Good.’

“It’s not unusual for someone to pay hundreds of dollars for testing that is not as thorough and accurate as the Career Direction assessment,” emphasized Thoms. Career Direction results are presented in a report of up to thirty-pages. The report lists the best career options and provides insight into the individual’s character and capabilities. Strengths and weaknesses are identified and suggestions are made to effect change and strengthen behavior.

90% Accuracy
"Accuracy is extremely high because an individual's assessment results are compared only to those benchmarks of successful performers. By "successful" we mean only the top 30% of performers in over 1200 careers. Career Direction will objectively identify the best careers for an individual to pursue. But, before anyone takes the assessment, they should log on to CareerDirection.com and review the Career Direction sample report and the history of how the assessment was developed.”

“If you had a chance to identify your ideal Dream Job in a little over an hour - with 90% accuracy - wouldn’t you make that bet?” concluded Thoms.

Milt Cotter, a senior partner at Candidate Resources, Inc (CRIW), a Grand Prairie TX - based company, created the Career Direction System to fill the need for educators and counselors to have an accurate, efficient, and economical way to assist students (age 15+) and adults in career planning and career counseling.

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Candidate Resources, Inc. (CRI) specializes in the design, construction, and implementation, of custom-crafted, web-based, applicant management systems. CRI’s online systems perform all applicant screening, tracking and data management required to comply with all federal guidelines. CRI systems, meet, or exceed, all AAP, EEOC and OFCCP compliance guidelines, reporting and record archiving. See applicantmanagement.biz