5 free online tools to help you to assess your skills and make a career change

Need to make a career change but don’t know where to start? Try these quizzes and skills analysis tools that are quick and easy to use.

Making a career change can be overwhelming with hundreds of job options available.

Using an online tool can help filter the pathways to pursue and learn how to make the transition.

These are five of the best free tools that take just minutes to set jobseekers on to a new career.

JOB OUTLOOK QUIZ

joboutlook.gov.au/career-tools/career-quiz

This online tool asks users to take a quiz to identify the work tasks they most enjoy doing from a group of several options, to whittle down their interests and personality type.

It then presents a list of occupations that would suit someone with those interests, ranked in order of how much their interests match those of the job.

It also outlines the average weekly pay and future jobs growth, with links to the JobOutlook database describing the occupation, the qualification level required (such as a diploma or bachelor degree) and skills that would be useful.

JobOutlook also has a Skills Match quiz – joboutlook.gov.au/career-tools/skills-match – that analyses current skills and suggests roles in which they may be useful.

It asks users to outline their current occupation and conducts a report on the skills that are required to do that role, then suggests other occupations that require similar skills, ranked on whether it is a strong, moderate or weak match.

It also outlines the average weekly pay and future jobs growth for each job, with links to the JobOutlook database describing the occupation.

SEEK SKILLS MATCH

seek.com.au/career-advice

Users type their occupation into the “Where can skills take you?” field to uncover a list of other roles they may be suited for, based on their current role.

The list outlines the most common salary advertised for that role, how satisfied workers are with their job, and how much their existing skills are likely to match the role on a scale from one to 10.

The list can be filtered to sort roles by salary, skills match and satisfaction.

The tool also suggests courses that could be completed to gain extra skills that may lead to new opportunities.

Users who have a SEEK profile or are willing to register can add extra skills, qualifications and other information to drill further into more detailed matches.

Other alternative roles will be suggested for those with a profile depending on whether they filter by their career history, skills or qualifications.

Free online tools can provide many career change suggestions and take as little as five minutes to complete.

OPEN COLLEGES

opencolleges.edu.au/careers/career-quiz

Completing a personality quiz determines five subject areas in which a career may be suitable.

Clicking on each area reveals potential roles and employment outlook, courses offered as well as a course pathway through Open Colleges that will lead to qualifications, and tips and resources such as how to write a resume.

Users also receive a personality profile that outlines strengths, weaknesses, and advice on the type of work environment that they should seek, such as one that is innovative, or offers workers independence.

LINKEDIN CAREER EXPLORER

linkedin.github.io/career-explorer

Users enter their city and job to find a list of occupation matches in their country to their skills.

The tool lists skills that a worker typically will hold in their existing occupation, and for each job suggested, another list of skills to build on to have a better chance of securing a role in that job.

It also lists which skills are held in common by the two roles.

The tool outlines how likely the user may be able to transition into the suggested job, given the experience of other people from their occupation.

Users who have a LinkedIn account or are willing to register for one can click on a list of jobs advertised now in that occupation.

JOB SWITCH

jobsearch.gov.au/jobseekers/job-switch

This Federal Government tool is available in beta on the JobSearch site, and therefore is still in development.

However it already is an informative resource.

Users type in the job title and location to find a list of careers they could make a change into, suggested training that could be completed to pivot, if many similar skills are shared, and the demand for new workers, including jobs that have been advertised in the past fortnight.

It also suggests roles in which not much training would be required to make the transition, or how to upskill.

Originally published as 5 free online tools to help you to assess your skills and make a career change