Find A Career Path
Frustrated in your current job, but not sure where to from here?
Unsure about which courses to enrol in?
Ever had the feeling that there was more out there for you?
Hi, my name is Dr Darryl Cross and I am a psychologist and careers coach who has spent a professional life-time helping people ...
- find their niche in life
- find their life purpose
- find the most suitable job for them and
- helping them find job satisfaction.
Some years back, I helped author a test to do just that…find your best career path.
It's called the
"Vocational Interest Questionnaire".
"For years I had this sense that I wasn't making the most of my life and what I should be getting out of it, but after taking the VIQ test and researching the options given to me I feel that I now have a direction and a purpose to my life.
Finally it all makes sense, after researching the job options given to me, I now have an excitement and passion to take on new challenges in the career that the VIQ test has given me.
I can't even begin to thank Darryl and the VIQ test enough for turning my life around.
To anyone out there unsure of whether to take the test or not I say "GO FOR IT".
Tracey Beck, Underdale, South Australia
- What direction should you head?
- What subjects should you choose?
- What training should you do?
- What degree should you enrol in?
- What careers might give you the most job satisfaction?
- What jobs might suit you best?
- What is there out there for you?
Bear in mind that the majority of the population (estimated to be around 88%) are in jobs that give them little if any satisfaction or fulfilment. What a way to live life!?
No matter whether you are ….
- an adolescent considering your future and having to choose subjects,
- a tertiary or university student who is unsure if he or she is in the right course,
- thinking about an apprenticeship or vocational training program,
- an unemployed person who is contemplating his or her future,
- an adult who is not happy in their current job,
...this career guidance test will give you a way forward.
The career test is called the Vocational Interest Questionnaire – the "VIQ" for short.
It looks at your interests. If you work in any area that interests you, you are more likely to do well in it and be successful!
For an investment of $27, you receive ...
- A profile of your work interests, together with the job tasks and roles that are most appealing to you, and a list of recommended jobs, along with the Career Action Plan which is also outlined for you to determine the job that suits you most of all.
After many somewhat rewarding, yet largely unfulfilling years in the workforce, prevailing circumstances directed me to consider my vocational future.
My search led me to Dr Darryl Cross, to whom I posed the statement “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up”.
Dubiously I filled in the “Vocational Interest Questionnaire” and I could not believe the depth of information gleaned from my answering a series of questions in a relatively short period of time. Career recommendations that I had past considered but rejected for one reason or another were presented to me along with several recommendations that I would never have dreamt of pursuing.
This is what I had been seeking – constructive vocational direction.
I have since applied for, and was successful in obtaining, a position at Uni studying my first preference, Behavioral Science (Psych.). As a mature age entry student I am excited by the challenges, rewards and opportunities that lie ahead.
“Don’t know what you want to be when you grow up?”
Take the test….discover what your future holds."
Catherine Mallett, Ascot Park, South Australia
The real benefit of doing the VIQ is that it shows you…
- what shaped "peg" you are and therefore what jobs suit you most
- allows secondary students in particular, to work out their subject selections for the last one or two years of secondary education and to work out what university, or tertiary courses they would apply for
- assists tertiary and university students to get into the right course for them
- gives adults a clear direction for their career path and the sorts of courses or training that they need to enrol in
"I found my Work Interests Questionnaire results to be very aligned with my personality. This really helped me to make sense of the jobs / careers that were presented and feel very confident that I would be able to move in the right direction. Thanks."
Simon Wotherspoon, Account Manager, Melbourne, Victoria
You've heard haven't you, that we spend more time working than in any other activity of life (except for possibly sleeping, but that depends on who you are!). So, we need to do our best to ensure that work life is fulfilling and gives us some sort of satisfaction.
The Vocational Interest Questionnaire (VIQ) is available to you right now on the internet for $27.00.
Think of the repercussions if your work life was anything but fulfilling and instead, was monotonous, routine and non-challenging. Occasionally too, our work lives can also fill us with dread and anxiety or even make us depressed.
We need to take a number of steps to make sure that we're headed towards the right kind of career that will give us the sort of satisfaction that we want and desire.
"I found the Vocational Interest Questionnaire fascinating and innovative. The statements offered in the VIQ were very comprehensive and covered a huge range of activities and possible workplace situations.
In my daughter's case, the assessment of interest was spot on and strengthened her choices of subjects and pathways to an appropriate career."
Ms Jacquin Seppelt, Parent of student, St Peter's Girls' School, Stoneyfell, South Australia
But understand this at the outset, there is not just one ideal job for you out there.
Our experience shows from three decades of career guidance and counselling, that what we really need to know is the "ball-park" or "playground" that is right for us. In other words, it is critical that we "play" in the right ball-park for us as a person rather than try to just focus on one specific job alone that will be our ultimate "ideal".
Below are some snippets from an example VIQ Report. You can also view the full example VIQ pdf report.
"Before completing the VIQ test I was still very unsure as to what I wanted to do. I found the VIQ test an invaluable tool in terms of choosing a career path that suited me."
Scott Uppington, Economics student, University of Adelaide, South Australia
Indeed, we will have a number of jobs in our work life, but generally speaking, those jobs will be in the one ball-park or in areas that continue to utilise our strengths, assets and abilities.
For instance, an individual may begin their work life as a waiter or waitress before perhaps becoming a restaurant manager before moving into a role as a functions/conventions manager.At a particular point, they may gain sufficient expertise in the conventions/functions/conferences area for example, that they may want to start their own business hosting and organising state, national and international conferences, seminars and workshops.
Research shows for instance, that school leavers today can expect a minimum of 8 to 10 job changes throughout their work life. It has even been suggested that school leavers may have 3 to 4 career changes throughout their life given the pace of change in the workplace.
“I find the VIQ an excellent springboard for students starting their Career Path exploration. My Year 10 students are stimulated by being able to identify their high interest areas and they begin to view the ‘Job Guide’ as a very valuable research tool.”
Barbara McFadyen, Careers Adviser, Kambala Church of England Girls’ School, Sydney, NSW
Career guidance though, in the initial instance, is really a case of finding if you're a round peg or square peg (or whatever) and fitting yourself into the right shaped hole.
Round pegs in round holes and square pegs in square holes (or whatever shape you care to be).
But how do you do that?
In a nutshell, the prime step in career guidance is being able to identify and measure your particular strengths and talents.
Basically, we need to ask the question, "Who am I?"
Everyone has specific abilities and talents (even if they don't sometimes believe that they do) which make them unique and individual. Yes, we all have particular talents!
The tragedy is however, that many of us lack confidence in ourselves and are not prepared to use our talents or put them to the test and we tend to feel inferior or believe that we don't measure up. This is an issue of self-confidence, not an issue relating to your particular skills, talents and abilities. You do have talents!
"I found that the questionnaire really helped me discover things that I was good at and unsure about, and I believe it was very accurate in its readings. Thank you very much for all the help."
Bernard O'Reilly, Science student, Flinders University of South Australia
In over 30 years of career guidance, I have never found an individual who has no talents or skills or abilities!
So, how do we find our particular talents and abilities?
In traditional career guidance, we look for your talents, assets, skills and abilities in five main areas. The five areas that we measure as a way of being able to describe you and your specific and unique talents are:
- Intelligence
- Aptitudes
- Work Interests
- Work Values
- Personality
Now traditionally, testing and measuring your abilities and attributes across each of these five areas is time-consuming. Nevertheless, they are important areas, but experience shows that a crucial first step is to measure work interests,…. especially for:
- secondary students aged 14-18 years who are in middle or senior high school, college or secondary education,
- post-secondary students who might be undertaking trade courses, pre-vocational courses or apprenticeships and not sure if they are in the right area
- tertiary students at university, colleges or institutes who think that they might be in the wrong course or who are lacking motivation
- adults who consider that they are in the wrong career or are bored, unfulfilled or dissatisfied or think that there is something more for them out there
"Wish I had this type of guidance in my day. We are very lucky that Pulteney Grammar School has set up this career guidance program using the VIQ."
Ms Marian Smith, Parent of student, Pulteney Grammar School, Adelaide, South Australia
Work interests is considered to be a critical area to explore first of all, because we all know that if we are interested in a job, we are much more likely to do well in it and be successful in it.
The best way that we know of measuring a person's career interests is to undertake a career interests test. The Vocational Interest Questionnaire (VIQ) is available to you right now on the internet for $27.00.
"As far as the testing with the VIQ goes, we have found it very fast, convenient and accurate for the students giving them an impressive file of information that they use as a starting point for their career research and subsequent Year 11 subject selection."
Ms Prue Wilkosz, Careers Counsellor, Sacred Heart College, Somerton Park, South Australia
The way that the VIQ has been put together is different from other questionnaires. It does not ask you to rate how much you would like to do a specific job; instead, it asks you to rate how much you'd like to do a specific task or role. This is much easier to do and more accurate in terms of your interests.
The VIQ measures 7 interest categories that are designed to show you your profile of interests.
These are the same categories as used in the job dictionary called the "Job Guide" (which is available on the internet too at www.jobguide.dest.gov.au ).
In other words, it is easy to interpret your results because they dove-tail exactly back into the job information produced nationally! Hence, job information and exploring what particular jobs actually do is readily accessible via the Internet address given above.
What does the VIQ give you?
The VIQ gives you a printout showing firstly, a profile across 7 main interest categories from the main interest areas that you are most attracted towards
down to the ones that you liked least, ie.,
- Analytic or Scientific
- Creative or Artistic
- Helping or Advising
- Nature or Recreation
- Organising or Clerical
- Persuading or Service
- Practical or Mechanical
Further, the report gives you more – as well as a profile of your work interests on Page 3, it also gives you:
- a description of your interest profile on page 4
- a list of the job roles and tasks that appeal to you starting on about page 6
- a list of jobs that seem most appealing for you on about page 8
- a Career Action Plan for you on about page 10 to assist you to research the most suitable jobs for you -- this is of significant benefit because it shows you the steps to take to find your specific career path.
The Vocational Interest Questionnaire (VIQ) is available to you right now on the internet for $27.00.
If you want to see a sample of the kind of report that you will receive, click here to view John A Sample's report.
What students from Woodcroft College said about the VIQ:
“I think it’s a great program and should be done for all Year 10’s to come”
“Until now I was really in limbo, but the VIQ and Job Guide have been very useful to me”
Over the last 12 years, we have seen around 50,000 secondary students (and their parents), tertiary students, and adults become excited about their VIQ results and profile.
This is because it gives them the direction they wanted in terms of choosing subjects, work experience, courses, and suitable jobs.
Completing the VIQ is easy in that you enter your details and click on the "Continue >" button and it will lead you through the steps.
At the end of the 140 questions, a basic report showing a profile of your work interests will be immediately generated for your download. It will also be emailed to you with the ability to purchase the full "gold" report.
This FULL Gold report including your interest profile, list of job roles and tasks that appealed most to you, and the most suitable jobs for you is priced at AU$27.00.
As I have often said to my students when I train them and my clients when I coach them ….
"If you don't know where you are going, how can you expect to get there"
Doing the VIQ will give you a clear sense of who you are and a clear pathway as to where you are going.
The Vocational Interest Questionnaire (VIQ) is available to you right now on the internet for $27.00.
All the very best in your career journey and career path.
(Dr) Darryl Cross
Crossways Consulting