Identify Your Interests

Focus 2

FOCUS 2 Career is an online assessment tool designed for you to complete a number of self-assessments and independently explore related academic majors and occupations. There are five self-assessments you can complete that provide you with personal insight related to your: work and leisure interests, values, skills, and personality characteristics. Your assessment results are matched to occupations and supporting majors at the University of Virginia that you can research and determine if you're interested in exploring these options further.

FOCUS 2 will increase your awareness of your interests in work, school and leisure, as well as provide a general sense for your core values, potential skills, and personality characteristics. It will also provide suggestions for occupations and UVa majors which seem suited to the type of person you are today. You can use the results to gather additional information about your options and add ideas within the "Take Action" section for steps you hope to take in the future. This assessment doesn't tell you what you SHOULD do, but provides easy access to options you can consider.

This is a tool that can be used independently and is easily accessible on most mobile devices. You do not need to meet with a career counselor prior to accessing this tool.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a questionnaire-style assessment which assigns each participant one of 16 personality types based on four different preferences. Knowing your personality type helps to determine a career "fit" based on how you communicate, how you take in information, how you make decisions, and how you complete tasks.

The MBTI will increase your awareness of who you are. It will also provide suggestions on how to improve your decision-making and communication style based on your personality type. You can use the results to gather additional information about your career options and work that matches your type. Remember, this assessment does not indicate what you SHOULD do, but provides suggestions to help you clarify and explore your interests. Although there are many web - based tests that claim to measure type, they are not validated.  If you'd like to learn more about type and development you can visit The Myers Briggs Foundation for general information surrounding type.

Meet with a career counselor first to determine if the Myers-Briggs is a good fit for your career questions. You take the assessment on your own time via a link. After taking the assessment, call the main number at 434-924-8900 to set up a time to meet with a counselor again and receive your results. Please note that there is a $45.00 fee associated with The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Finding a career that is a good fit for your natural strengths is a key element of the career exploration process. CliftonStrengths helps students recognize their unique gifts and learn how these assets can be used in their everyday lives to maximize potential for personal growth and career satisfaction.The Strengths Finder assessment identifies a student’s top five strengths from a list of 34 talents, while providing ideas on how to leverage their strengths to overcome challenges and reach personal, academic, and career goals.

What Would I Learn?

The CliftonStrengths will give you a deeper understanding of who you are, how you fit into the world, and how you can use your talents to stand out and be your best self. This assessment is based on the concept of intentionally developing your strengths rather than your weaknesses. Once finished with the assessment, you will find additional resources and discussion questions/prompts that will help you interpret the results, either on your own or with a career counselor. CliftonStrengths does not indicate what you should do, but rather provides ideas to help you better clarify your career interests. 

How can I take the Clifton Strengths for Students?

Meet with a career counselor first to determine if the CliftonStrengths inventory is a good fit for your self-discovery and career questions. Afterwards, the counselor will send you an email with a code and instructions to complete the assessment, which should take approximately 45 minutes to an hour. After taking CliftonStrengths, you can view your results online, and if you'd like to discuss your results with a career counselor, you can call the main number at 434-924-8900 to set up an appointment.

The Strong Interest Inventory (SII) is an assessment designed to identify your career interests by matching you with six broad basic interest areas and assigning you a 3-letter code for researching careers. Data is based on career themes, basic interests, personal style, and occupational compatibility.

The Strong Interest Inventory will increase your awareness of your interests in work, school and leisure. It will also provide suggestions for occupations, majors, internships, campus organizations and activities which seem suited to the type of person you are today. You can use the results to gather additional information about your options. This assessment doesn't tell you what you SHOULD do. It provides options to consider. You might also consider exploring O*Net Online and browse by interests to organize careers into categories.

Meet with a career counselor first to determine if the Strong Interest Inventory is a good fit for your career questions. You take the assessment on your own time via a link. After taking the assessment call the main number at 434-924-8900 to set up a time to meet with a counselor again and receive your results.

The Life Values Inventory (LVI)  is a questionnaire-style assessment which measures how strongly you endorse certain pre-determined values such as Achievement, Belonging, Financial Prosperity and Spirituality.  The assessment also measures where these values find their strongest expression and areas in your life where they are expressed least. 

The LVI  will increase your awareness of who you are. It will also provide suggestions on how your values interface with your personal and professional life, and whether or not the activities and experiences you engage in are in line with your highly prioritized values.  You can use the results to gather additional information about career options and activities that naturally align with your values. The assessment will also cover practical steps you can take if you want to increase the presence of a value in your life or seek a suitable place to express that value. 

The LVI is a free online assessment.  No appointment with a counselor is necessary, and you can immediately receive and review the results as you see fit.  Visit www.lifevaluesinventory.org to take the assessment and create a profile.  You can take the assessment as many times as you'd like and record how your values change over time.  You can always bring the results in to talk to a career counselor as part of an appointment.