Your Strengths & Interests

Professional staff from Academic Advising are glad to visit with you to discuss your interests and skills and see how they relate to majors and/or careers. To make an appointment, visit our office in 102 Gilcrhist Hall / Follon Student Services Center or call 319-273-3406. Peer Academic Advisors in Residence are also available to assist you with your seach in these areas.

Online Resources to Explore Your Strengths & Interests

Use these resources to develop a better sense of who you are - your strengths, interests, values, skills and personality. Print out your results for your reference when you are working with an advisor to determine an academic direction or a career path.

Career Cruising - Career Matchmaker is a great starting point for people who want to find careers that suit their interests. Users can go through this interactive survey and find out how different careers 'match up' with their interests. The My Skills section of Career Matchmaker is designed to help users identify whether they have the skills necessary for careers that match their interests. Log in using your UNI ID number.

O*Net Online - The Skills Search function is designed to help you use your skill set to identify occupations for exploration. You select a set of skills from six broad groups of skills to create your customized skill list.

Events, Workshops, and Classes at the University of Northern Iowa

Career Decision Making (POSTSEC 1050)

On-Campus Resources to Explore Your Strengths & Interests

Before taking an assessment, and in order to receive the results either assessment, you must talk to an acdamic advisor.  Please contact Academic Advising at 319-273-3406 to discuss taking an assessment.

After completing either inventory, you will be asked to discuss the results with a professional staff member in Academic Advising to review your results and assist you in applying them to your career decision making.

Strong Interest Inventory - The Strong Interest Inventory measures interests (not skills or abilities) and the results can help an individual toward rewarding careers, work activities, education programs and leisure activities - all based on interests. The Strong is available to individuals at a cost of $9.00. The Strong can be a valuable tool in helping to identify interests, enabling you to:

• Identify career options consistent with your interests
• Choose appropriate education and training relevant to your interests
• Determine your preferred learning environments
• Use interests in shaping your career direction and focus for the future

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator identifies an indvidual's basic type preferences. From the assessment, a Career Report is generated which shows an individual how their type affects their career exploration and discusses the benefits of choosing a job that is a good fit for their type. It also explores preferred work tasks and work environments—as well as most popular and least popular occupations—for an indvidual's type. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is available to individuals at a cost of $14.00. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Career Report can help you:

• Identify job families, or broad occupational categories, to help get you started in your career search
• Choose a specific job or career
• Select a college major or course of study
• Identify strengths and potential weaknesses of your type for the career search process
• Plan your career development strategy and action step