Assessment Reviews
Self-Directed Search
The Self-Directed Search, 4th edition [form R] is an assessment tool used in vocational counseling to asses an individual’s occupational daydreams, personal activities, personal competencies, occupational interest, and skill self-esteems in order to provide an individual with an idea as to what careers they would do best in (Holland, 1994). According to Plake and Impara, the Self Directed Search is “designed to identify 'a person's particular activities, competencies, and self-estimates compared with various occupational groups” (2001). The Self-Directed Search (SDS) was published by Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. and it was created by John Holland in 1971, and modified by Amy Powell and Barbara …show more content…
As long as the counselor wishes to administer this assessment to more than one client, the SDS is considerably inexpensive. The administration process takes about 30-50 minutes depending on the client and can be administered by the counselor or self-administered (Plake & Impara, 2001). The client records their answers on a rating scale which “results in a three letter code describing their occupational personality” (Brown, 2014). This code is taken from six different types which include realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional; these types are what make up an individual’s personality and codes that are similar to other individuals codes in a certain occupation indicate an appropriate career fit (Plake & Impara, 2001). The materials of the SDS are well done and easy to use for the age range of 12 years and older; the form R (which will be used for this client) is meant for high school students as well as college …show more content…
This assessment was created by Frederic Kuder in 1977 and by Kuder, Inc. and “assesses activity preferences to suggest possible satisfying occupations” (Carlson et al., 2014). According to Zytowski, the Kuder Career Search may be helpful in clients who do not yet have the necessary knowledge of occupational possibilities that is needed when choosing a career (1997). This is important to take into account when a client has not had an opportunity to explore different career choices or clients who have been in the same career over a long period of time. The Kuder Career Search is able to be administered to middle school age clients through adult clients and only take 20-25 minutes to administer and score (Carlson et al., 2014). This assessments scores are based off of six activity interests including outdoor/mechanical, science/technical, arts/communication, social/personal services, sales/management, and business operations (Carlson et al., 2014). These scores cover possible activities that individuals might enjoy in their free time and it applies them to careers that incorporate those activities in some way. The scores are then “compared to a pool of over 2,000 responders in the KCS database who have at least 3 years of work experience and are satisfied in their work” (Joshua & Brandé, 2015, p. 354). This is so then