You could spend 30+ years in retirement, what sort of retirement do you want to have? 

Retirement is one of the most difficult life adjustments adults make. A recent survey showed that 41% of those who recently retired didn’t want to settle for a typical retirement. They still want the challenge of work, and the feeling of accomplishment that came with the job. Let me help you to find out the right career option and life style options for you that meets your needs and utilises your natural talents and abilities. 

Many people have reached the company retirement age but are not yet ready to stop working.  What are you going to do next?  You could stack shelves in the supermarket? Do voluntary work? Or perhaps you have some dreams you still want to achieve.

You may have sufficient money so you don’t need to work, but having been a bit of a workaholic are wondering whether playing golf and household chores will be enough. A number of clients opt to take the Highlands Ability Battery.  Not only to help think around work options but also for developing new hobbies and interests in music, arts, genealogy etc.

Or perhaps you never did get around to investing for the future and you need to earn just to pay the bills?

Take some time to plan the rest of your life, and explore paid work and other interests.

The Highlands Ability Battery can be very helpful for this next stage of your life, and can help you to consider what you want to do forpaid work and other activities. I remember discussing this with someone of about your age and he said that the results really helped to make sense of his past and was helpful for the future.

 I’d be very happy to chat with you about this, and you may also like to have a trial go read more about the highlands ability battery at http://www.amazingpeople.co.uk/highlandsabilitybattery.htm

The Strong Interest Inventory is based on the work of John Holland and was first developed back in 1943.

The theory is based on the premise that if behaviour is a function of interests, personality and social environment then people enter an occupation because of their interests and personality.

There are 6 personality types and 6 working environments – Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional.

You can read more here: http://www.personalassessments.co.uk/Holland_Codes_RIASEC.html

Over time people learn that they like some experiences more than others and tend to focus on the ones that they do like. This generally means that people become better at these areas. So if you have a realistic (practical) personality, you will tend to seek out jobs that are practical and work with other people with similar interests.

Obviously success in a career and enjoying our work is based on many factors, not just how closely it aligns with our interests. We also need to consider motivation, opportunity, ability, and sometimes its down to luck. That’s why I recommend that the Strong Interest inventory is used alongside other assessments to help make an effective career choice.

The assessment consists of 291 questions that identify interests in areas of study, careers and occupations and you are compared to a database of people who are satisfied in their work.

When you take the Strong Interest Inventory you get a list of jobs, in descending order that matches, or not with your interests. Some of these you may not have much knowledge on, so you would want to explore further using web sites such as learn direct and graduate prospects.

To read more on the Strong and to decide if it would be the right assessment for you, you can visit my website

An article in the Wall Street Journal – personal journal on 18^th June discussed to what extent a test can help young people choose their ideal career.

The article says that there is rising demand for young people to take these to help choose what to study at university and for a future career.

Remember a test can never tell you what to do, but it does help develop self understanding so you are better paced to make the right choice for you.  

The university career service is always the first choice to see what help is available, and for many this will help steer them into the right place to look for the careers that interest them. They have less time though if you are unsure and need to take more time on exploration.

Popular low cost tests are interest inventories such as the Strong Interest Inventory assessment or The Self Directed Search – both based on the work of John Holland which divides people and jobs into 6 categories

·         Realistic - practical focused jobs

·         Investigative – research and analytical jobs

·         Artistic – creative jobs in an unstructured environment

·         Social jobs – helping, caring for or instructing people

·         Enterprising jobs – involving selling, business or persuading

·         Conventional jobs – systematic jobs involving organising and processing data

You can take the Strong Interest Inventory via a number of online websites including my personal assessments web site. You answer 291 questions and your answers are compared to people who like their job, are good at their work and have been in their job for 3 years or more.

The downside of these sorts of tests are that they are based on interests and just because we have certain interests doesn’t mean that we can do these – I’m a close match with fine artist, but don’t have the talent.

It’s for this reason that people will choose to take an ability assessment such as from the non profit Johnson O’Connor Foundation which provides 2 in person in-depth assessment sessions and a follow up interpretive session at their centres, or The Highlands Ability Battery which is based on the Johnson O’Connor assessment but available as an online assessment and followed by an in-depth discussion.

In the article in the Wall Street Journal, the authors daughter took the Highlands Ability Battery and he derived more than 12 possible careers and also discussed career planning skills.

You can read more about the Highlands Ability assessment via the Highlands company web site or take it via Amazing People here:

I had an enquiry from someone who had taken the MBTI and received the career report. She was feeling really down by the results – she had hoped that they would help her decide on what she could do for a new career but was focused on what she couldn’t do.

She hadn’t taken advantage of the included discussion but when I read what was written on their web site it didn’t sound like a proper feedback session but a chance to ask questions.

It’s important to have a feedback session with the MBTI, to enable you to really understand the assessment and what it means for you. There is a difference between the reported type – what is identified via the assessment and the verified type which is what is the one you identify through an in-depth feedback discussion. You then choose the best fit type.

Without a discussion people can misunderstand what an assessment is about, and that’s why people are trained to administer and interpret assessments.

Assessments can be really helpful for personal development and to help make career choices, that’s why I regularly use them with my career coaching clients but I do make sure that I discuss them properly.

You may have come across the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, one of the best ways of gaining an in-depth understanding of yourself which can be used to enhance relationships, work better in a team, choose a career and more.

One of the scales is Judging and Perceiving   

People who have a preference for Judging:

• Prefers an organised lifestyle

• Likes order and structure

• Likes to have life under control

• Enjoys being decisive

• Likes clear limits and categories

• Feels comfortable with concluding

• Handles deadlines and plans in advance

People with a preference for Perceivng:

• Prefers a flexible lifestyle

• Likes going with the flow

• Prefers to experience life as it happens

• Enjoys being curious and discovering surprises

• Likes freedom to explore

• Feels comfortable with openness

• Meets deadlines by a last minute rush

This can cause difficulties between people:

Judging types like to plan their work and work their plan. They tend to be steadier in their work habits and like to know the objective to be attained by completing the task.

Perceiving types like to be able to respond to the needs of the situation as they arise. They may work in spurts, with high levels of involvement in the task followed by periods of reduced task involvement. They like to get involved in the task to see where it will lead them before defining its objective.

If you would like to find out more about the MBTI, you can find more here: http://www.amazingpeople.co.uk/myersbriggstypeindicator.htm