There are myriad free career aptitude tests—commonly referred to as career assessments—to choose from that can support you in determining a long-term career path. Career aptitude tests help determine the best jobs that align with your skills, interests, personality, and work values.
Review how career aptitude tests work and test out several free career assessments that serve different purposes.
What is a career aptitude test?
Career assessments support you in narrowing job and career options by asking you specific questions based on what the assessment is designed to evaluate. Some assessments will evaluate and ask you questions about your interests or your personality, for example, while others will evaluate your skillset and the values that matter to you at work. Though career aptitude tests aren’t meant to provide clear-cut answers to what you want to be and where you want to work when you grow up, they can help you explore options that match your personality and what is essential to you in your career.
How can a career aptitude assessment help you?
Whether you’re looking for your first job, a new job, or are considering a career change altogether, career assessments can be a valuable tool to guide you.
There are numerous career quizzes and tests available for free online. It’s best to take a few different career assessments that assess similar and different things and compare the results to identify patterns or themes across all of them.
Free career aptitude tests
Here are some commonly used online career tests to help you navigate the type of job and work environment for your next career move.
Note: Many career aptitude tests and assessments found online are not empirically tested for reliability or validity. Sites offering career tests often provide background information about the test to help you decide whether to take it for your purposes.
Career aptitude test by 123
The 123 aptitude test is based on psychologist Dr. John Holland’s Holland Code personality types. It is a 15-question test that takes approximately five minutes and provides insights into job types that align with your personality.
Career Cluster Match
The National Career Clusters Framework is applied for this assessment. The Framework highlights 16 clusters with each cluster’s related career pathway. Career Clusters offer a broad view of occupational work groups requiring similar skills. Pathways within the Career Clusters provide insight that helps you develop career goals connected to industries, jobs, and educational programs.
Career Explorer
Career Explorer offers assessments to test your career matches, personality archetype, and degree matches. Taking the assessments requires about 30 minutes, and results are provided in a personality report and a trait report.
CareerOneStop Interest Assessment
This free Interest Assessment takes about five minutes to complete and asks you 30 questions regarding what you do and don’t enjoy doing. Based on your answers, the quiz provides you with the types of careers that could interest you.
CareerOneStop Work Values Matcher
The Work Values Matcher asks you to rank statements about your ideal work environment. In return, you receive results about choosing work environments that also encompass your work values.
Enneagram Personality Test
The Enneagram is a well-known quiz assessment that explores nine personality types and which ones you align with most. The results offer insights into how you relate to yourself and others.
Interest Finder
This Interest Finder also provides job results based on your personality code type. Try the longer version takes approximately 20 minutes to complete, and the shorter version takes about 10 minutes.
Keirsey Temperament Sorter
As the name implies, the Keirsey Temperament Sorter assesses one’s temperament to provide one of four personality types that predominates over the others. The four types are Artisan, Guardian, Idealist, and Rational. Since your temperament impacts your job satisfaction and performance, this assessment helps you identify the best positions to apply for during your job search.
Interest Profiler by O*Net
My Next Move offers this profiler, which asks 60 questions based on an inventory of interests. Also based on the Holland Code, a profile is created for you that highlights your interests in Holland’s six areas based on personality: Artistic, Investigative, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. Additionally, careers that align with each area are listed. The careers are also separated into job zones based on what is required for you to get to the next zone according to your “Future Job Zone” and “Current Job Zone” reports.
Quiz Expo Color Personality Test
Blue, red, white, and yellow are the four colors of the personality according to the Quiz Expo Color Personality Test. The eight-question quiz offers insights into who you are, how you work, and how others view you.
Red Bull Wingfinder
The Red Bull Wingfinder takes a bit longer—about 35 minutes—than most of the other assessments listed here. The same goes for the results, which is a 19-page free report with a strength analysis, which assesses drive, thinking, creativity, and connections.
Skills Matcher
This test focuses on matching possible career options to workplace skills. It takes up to 10 minutes to complete.
Test Color
You can do this test in as little as one to two minutes. It assesses 11 personality traits and ranks them based on your input.
The Big Five
Instead of being based on a type model, this assessment focuses on a trait model. Five dimensions of personality are explored, including agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism, openness, and conscientiousness. Each factor is ranked as low, average, or high in your results.
Truity Career Profiler
This profiler uses the 16 Myers-Briggs personality preferences with 23 additional detailed type facets for more personalized results. Your personality preferences with links to one’s strengths are provided in the results.
Truity Photo Career Quiz
This quiz is fun, easy, and quick. You click on your picture preferences in a series of images and receive a profile of your career interests based on your input.
How do you assess your test results?
After you’ve taken a handful of assessments, look at them all together to identify what stands out as common themes to you. If your results are similar across assessments, you’re onto something and should take note. From there, begin conducting research on job openings and companies that align with your results.