When I recently heard about an aptitude test given by the Johnson O’Connor foundation, I knew I had to sign Sophie up for a test. She’s a sophomore in college and still trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. I would have loved the opportunity to learn about my strengths so early in life. So it seemed like a good use of a day before she headed back to Boston.
What the testing was like
The testing is $850, which seems like money well spent, if Sophie ends up using the results. $850 seems like a cheap price for potentially avoiding an ill-suited career or focuses her attention on more promising opportunities.
I signed her up about 3 weeks in advance, and the woman who scheduled the session told me that summer and holidays are the most popular time, when kids are out of school and thinking about their futures. She said they also get a fair amount of people in the second half/third of their careers who want to do something different.
Sophie spent most of a day in downtown San Francisco taking a variety of tests. According to Sophie, the tests ranged from some physical tests (assembling blocks) to visual to computer based. She had a pretty good idea the ones that came more easily- and the ones that were really hard for her.
The next day, her results were back, and a counselor took her through the results in a 90 minute Zoom call. Sophie left with a number of booklets on career opportunities based on her individual assessment. And she also had a lot to think about!
Why should we all be thinking about taking a test like this?
Maybe you are one of those lucky souls who stumbled into the perfect career or knew from the beginning exactly what you wanted to do. I am neither! Although I can gin up a logical and compelling story for how it all fits together when talking to a recruiter, it has been haphazard at best.
With the benefit of almost 35 years in the working world, I can see where things might have been easier in my career along the way. And a lot of those opportunities would have been possible with two things: knowledge about myself and knowledge about the process. What am I good at? What do I enjoy? And how does the matching of people with opportunities actually work in the real world?
There’s not much I can do about the past, of course. But the future is a different matter entirely. I am thinking about how I might spend the next (and final?) 10-15 years of my working life. And it’s hard to overlook the potential impact of AI while doing so. If the robots are going to take many of our jobs, our best chance at being able to contribute is in working in areas where we are all at our best. And where we find the most joy.
I am hoping Sophie gets something out of the aptitude test that she took. Perhaps she’ll fumble around for 10 years like the rest of us. Who knows. But worst case, she’ll find her results in 35 years and have a chuckle. And it will all make sense at that point.
Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation, 350 Sansome St #760, San Francisco, CA 94104
