Online Career Tools
Whether you want to find out more about your skills, your career options or get familiar with some of the tools recruiters use, there's a host of information available.
Discover your skills with Occumi
Occumi is a tool which allows students and graduates to identify and understand the transferable skills that they have developed from their educational qualifications and work experience.
Identifying, understanding and articulating your transferable skills is key to career sucess. Employers are now putting a greater impetus on students showing that they have developed skills that can be transferred to the workplace during their studies.
Occumi is able to identify your transferable skills thanks to a unique skills identifying algorithm which is backed up by extensive research. With over 1,000 unique data points - including the input of over 650 university lecturers, course outlines and existing research - Occumi’s algorithm is able to accurately identify the skills of any student or graduate. All you need to do is enter your educational qualifications and work experience.
Once you have entered your educational qualifications and work experience, you'll be instantly presented with a skills dashboard.
The dashboard allows you to see all of the transferable skills that you've developed from your education and work experience. It provides definitions and additional information on each skill and allows you to reflect on the skills you've developed. It's great for CVs, job applications and interviews.
Our partnership with Occumi allows you to access a free Occumi account. Simply follow the links in your Gradsouthwest account.
Graduate recruitment assessments and tests
Many of the larger recruiters use online assessments as part of the selection process. New ones are being developed all the time but psychometric testing remains popular. Most tests need to be carefully administered so they are not generally available for private use on the internet but you can be prepared by reading up about the following:
Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ)
Popular with graduate recruiters, this measures either sixteen or thirty two dimensions of an individual's personality grouped into four areas; relationships with people, thinking styles, emotions and energies. The full OPQ is not freely available online, but the SHL Personality Questionnaire will give you an idea of what's involved. The test takes approximately 20 minutes, after which you can download a free report. The report will help you identify your potential competencies which are important for success at work.
16PF
16PF measures 16 personality tests to predict behaviours. The test also looks at extra-version, anxiety, tough-mindedness, independence and self control. It takes approximately 40 minutes to complete and must be administered by a qualified practitioner. It is not currently available free of charge online.
The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
This is one of the most common personality tests based on Jung's personality types. The test tends to be used once you have been employed for team building. It must be administered by a qualified practitioner and is not available free of charge online. The Myers Briggs Foundation gives guidance about paying to access the test.
Aptitude tests
These are designed to objectively evaluate how you perform on task or react in different situations and include IQ tests and verbal, numerical and diagrammatical reasoning. The tests are usually time limited multiple choice, and unlike personality tests, there are right and wrong answers!