About Career Assessment Institute

First we start by exploring your unique abilities, interests, skills, and personality - your inherited, innate capabilities. These capabilities predispose you to certain types of tasks and behaviors and drive your interests, skills and personality, etc. While they have been shown to remain quite stable from age five through adulthood they can change as a result of major trauma or therapy. But even after a major life event, we are likely to default back to our normal way of being. Even though you can't change your innate capabilities, you can learn to play the hand you have been dealt skillfully and to your best advantage. The better you understand the gifts you have been given, the more likely you will be able to have a successful and gratifying career.

After assessing your unique capabilities, we review your job possibilities. The middle circle of the model represents any hypothetical job. Different jobs vary greatly in terms of their requirements, characteristics, qualifications and specifications. The latest estimate made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that there are at least 20,000+ different jobs available in the U.S. job market.

For example, in addition to having a law degree, the position of Lawyer requires strong problem solving ability, a high level of communication skills, persuasiveness, the ability to adapt to change, etc. In order to find a great defense lawyer, you'd want one that has more than just their J.D. In order to win cases, he or she has to have the style and flair that sets apart the mediocre legal representative from the awe-inspiring attorney. A unique advantage of CAI is our depth of experience in analyzing and understanding job requirements in order to help match individuals to careers that will motivate and invigorate them.

After reviewing your job possibilities, we identify those jobs that are the best "match" or "fit" with your unique makeup (last circle of the model). To do this, we compare your unique qualities with the job and its given requirements. We do not believe "match" is an all or none phenomenon. There are varying degrees of match between individuals and careers. For example, when looking at a person's profile she may most closely resemble the attributes of a math teacher and sports statistician, while her second highest matches may be claims examiner and insurance agent. We view match as a matter of degree, where the higher the match, the higher the probability of job satisfaction, job performance and tenure in the career.

But what if there is a poor match between an individual and their job? Well, the good thing about humans is that they are pretty adaptive to their situation. We can "get by" and make it with what we have. However, because we are able to adapt so well we survive, but sometimes at a very high cost. At the worst extreme, we pay in terms of our health (ulcers, migraines, fatigue, general malaise and other stress-related diseases) and our happiness (depression, alcoholism, abuse). At the opposite extreme, we miss out on the fulfillment and satisfaction that occurs when one spends their life doing something they love and that comes perfectly naturally. The more severely you ignore your innate capabilities in choosing your career, the lower the likelihood your job will be satisfying and motivating. Typically, when a person is under-challenged for their job and their most important abilities go unused, they will tend to become dissatisfied and bored with work. When a person is over-challenged for the job and it requires talents he or she does not possess, he or she will find the work dissatisfying, difficult and frustrating. In both cases, dissatisfaction eventually leads to turnover from the job.

If you are feeling over-challenged or under-challenged by your work, you are not alone. In these circumstances, it is not only perfectly acceptable to reassess your current work situation, but it is a natural way to gravitate to a job that will be a better fit. It is interesting to note that The Bureau of Labor Statistics has quoted that on average, individuals hold roughly eight different positions across their career-life spans. At CAI, we can help you to make your next career rewarding, and long lasting.