New Student Career Tool – Brisbane PD Workshop

In late February we got together with a group of Queensland school careers counsellors at Iona College to test out our new student career tool, the Personal Strengths Quiz. It was a great opportunity to get hands on with the new quiz and to do some upskilling on the wider Career Central programme. We did a refresh on the Future Pathways Assessment, and had a play with the automated CV Builder. Finally, we took a look at the ‘does this job suit me?’ tool which sits inside the job database.

About the Quiz

Over the last six months we have been busy developing and testing this quiz. Specifically tailored for young people the quiz can be used in combination with Career Central’s existing future pathways assessment to great effect.

The quiz provides a basic self-assessment of personal strengths in an eight page report.. It uses the ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions to help young people identify their personal strengths. Interactive reporting also encourages them to think about how these strengths may fit with their future plans. Especially around post school decisions (like study or training courses) and future career paths and jobs.

Quiz Design

• We used Five Factor Theory as our research base. This is a long standing, heavily researched personality theory. Many of the world’s leading personality assessments use five-factor.
• We used Globally Validated Questions. Question statements were sourced from the International Personality Item Pool.
• Our quiz is Youth Specific. Meaning the question style, scales and reporting were designed for young people.  Specifically, questions and results are easy to digest – succinct, strengths based and positively framed.

Brisbane PD Session

It was great to be able to get together a fantastic bunch of careers people to give the quiz a test drive. Participants attended from All Hallows’, Brisbane Girls’ Grammar, Iona, King’s Christian College, Lourdes Hill, Redeemer Lutheran College, Somerville House, and St Andrew’s Lutheran College.

The session included a range of hands-on activities:

1. We completed the Future Pathways Assessment and Personal Strengths Quiz. Then reviewed and unpacked our results using interactive student worksheets.
2. We used insights from our Personal Strengths Quiz results to complete modules on skills and personal qualities. Subsequently populating the automated CV builder.
3. In addition, we used insights from our Personal Strengths Quiz results to research target jobs in the job database. Followed by completion of the ‘does this job suit me?’ exercise.

Feedback on the new quiz was extremely positive!

“I really enjoyed today’s PD on Career Central’s new personal strengths quiz. I have used the Career Central tool for many years now and it is cost effective and has a student-centred approach. The platform is easy for students and teachers to navigate and is exceptionally well developed and maintained. I’m looking forward to using this new quiz with our students.”  Nyree, Somerville House

A huge thank you to Tania Cooper and Iona College for hosting. And to all attendees for their contribution.

Want to know more?

Interested in learning more about Career Central’s new student career tool, the Personal Strengths Quiz? A lunch and learn webinar will be held on Thursday March 30th at 1pm AEST.

CLICK HERE to register. Or click for more About Us and Our Platform.

Career Central provides cloud-based online student career management software to secondary schools throughout Queensland. Their student career tools are designed for students from Y8 – 12.