What You’ll Learn

• Understand the purpose of career assessments in the advising process

• Distinguish between formal and informal assessments

• Prepare students to take online interest, skills confidence, and work values assessments

• Interpret Holland-coded interest results, including consistency and differentiation

• Explain skills confidence and work values reports clearly and accurately

• Guide students in using assessment results to explore high school plans of study, postsecondary majors, and career pathways

• Move from assessment interpretation to meaningful exploration and decision-making

Outcomes

Strengthen your ability to use assessments as a structured foundation for career planning. This course prepares you to help students better understand their interests, perceived skills, and work values—and use that insight to focus exploration rather than feel overwhelmed by options.

You’ll leave prepared to:

• Set realistic expectations before students take assessments

• Interpret score reports using research-based frameworks

• Discuss Holland codes in language students can understand

• Connect assessment results to programs of study and career clusters

• Support students in evaluating education, training, and lifestyle implications of potential pathways

• Ensure assessments are used as one data point—not a prescription

Applied Learning

Throughout the course, you will practice:

• Preparing students for assessment administration

• Interpreting Holland profiles, including ties, consistency, and differentiation

• Reviewing work values rank-ordering and connecting values to life roles

• Using skills confidence data to inform development planning

• Helping students narrow options through structured exploration activities

• Guiding reality testing through coursework, job shadowing, internships, and informational interviews

By the end of this course, you will confidently integrate assessments into advising conversations in ways that increase student clarity, engagement, and purposeful career planning.