I'm trying to decide if I should change my major or not... for the past year or so. Seriously, it's been too long. My school offers some career counseling by giving you some tests, which I'm not sure how accurate they are. My interests tend to fluctuate so I'm skeptical about this. I tried to cover this in therapy but there were issues that had to be dealt with first.
If your career counseling office only gives you some tests, it's probably not particularly helpful. Tests are extremely limited and often not valid. When I was in college, I spoke to an advisor in the career counseling office. I went in as a business major to talk about double majoring business/psychology and walked out as a psychology major. Mostly talking to him just made it click in my head that psychology is what I really wanted to be doing. Nine years later, I'm not working in psychology but I don't regret my decision in the least. Unfortunately, career counseling offices can vary from helpful to mediocre to downright detrimental to your career. If you're not finding yours helpful in making a decision, you might be better off speaking directly to professors and professionals in your potential departments.
Hi there! I second the suggestions that Aspen has provided you with. If your school's career counseling is heavily based on the tests, it might not give you the full picture on your interests and what you would like to pursue. While tests can help and offer some insights, it would be good to speak with somebody about the results and gather some additional information that could help you to gain the insights you need. If you don't mind me asking, what are your interests at the moment?
Hi! So the schools will issue me a code to a test that's supposed to be more accurate than random tests lying around the internet. Once the results are generated a counselor is going to tell me what those figures mean. I can get into full counseling that school provides, but I signed up for the test to see what it says. Right now, building pcs, writing, and drawing pretty pictures interest me. My therapist(actually a school counselor) pointed out to me that I never settle on a single thing because I try avoid any stressful situations. I don't know what I'm supposed to persue anymore.
It would be worthwhile to speak with a counselor more in depth after the test or once the counselor has provided you with the information on what the results mean. A good counselor will guide you and help you to make a decision that could work for you. Sometimes, it might be necessary to speak with a couple of counselors as well as teachers/professors and others as Aspen mentioned, to get the insights you might need. Having a diverse set of interests is great! For your career field, try to pair down your interests a bit more. If you look at your interests, try to think about whether there is one that appeals to you more than another.
There are some really good occupational interest inventories that can be super helpful. But the thing to remember about any such tests is what they are looking at is aptitude; in what areas do you have a particular ability or capacity for understanding, and then, what careers are most likely to make use of those skills. But aptitude and interest or desire are completely different, and that's where a good career counselor (or even a therapist) can be really helpful. For example, I've taken a number of occupational interest inventories over the years, and one thing that consistently comes up is that I would apparently be an excellent attorney, because the particular skill sets I have happen to match with that career path. Except that I have absolutely -zero- interest in that field. So that's a hard no for me, even though it scores high. But there are many other fields that utilize the same skill sets, and I've found many opportunities to utilize those skills in other ways that are more fulfilling. Also, the difference between a properly validated scientific instrument designed to identify skills and interests, on the one hand, and a Buzzfeed survey (or even a free survey on some website) focused on finding your best career choice, on the other hand, is... well, let's just say it's sort of like comparing a Tesla with a Ford Pinto or a Yugo. So I'd say take the tests, pay attention to the types of skills it says you test well in (rather than the specific careers it recommends) and then think about both the careers it suggests, but also other creative ways in which you might put the skill sets you have to use. And make use of whatever counseling is available, but also do some of your own study. I highly recommend the book "What Color is your Parachute", which is entirely about finding work you enjoy doing.
