The Career Key®

Solutions for College Career Development Professionals

Download our free white papers/guides for professionals, like "Personality-College Major Match and Student Success" (new!)

I believe you will find Career Key an attractive option for helping students and alumni. Our respected career personality test, career information, career advice, and career development tools are based on the best practices and science of career development. And they are very affordable.

As a professor at North Carolina State University, I worked with career development professionals at the NCSU’s First Year College, Career Services, and Counseling Center

– as well as those at Duke and Carolina. We developed the Career Decision Profile, the Career Key, and other career planning materials. They are now used in a variety of higher education settings. I recommend,

1. The Career Key® personality test to spark students’ exploration and good decision-making. Students taking the Career Key career test assess their six Holland personality types, identify career opportunities that match, get full and accurate information about each one, and download a 4-page interpretive booklet – encouraging career exploration.
   
   Research shows that a good personality-career match is a predictor of career satisfaction and success (if you use a valid career test). Cost? A dollar with our group discount plan.

   There is also the paper-pencil version of the Career Key at the eBookStore.

   "Hello! I just want to write and say that I work with undecided students frequently here at UNCW and I am so thankful to have the Career Key as a resource. The connection to the Occupational Outlook Handbook is so helpful, especially to our freshman orientation students that research occupations for an in-depth paper." -- Mary

   Transparency is important: the Career Key manual is online so you can review its construction, validity, reliability, and other features. There is also a comprehensive e-book version of the manual. Counselors have used our website with confidence since 1997.

   Simplicity, practicality, and validity are Career Key’s strengths. It takes about 15 minutes; results are immediate; and there are no complicated tables or abstract concepts to explain. It also provides a gateway to services unique to Career Key -- see the following:

2. Choosing a College Major or Training Program that fits students’ personality. A close personality-major match is vital. Research shows it is one of the predictors of academic success and satisfaction -- GPA and graduation. This online article is based on unique research. It will help them make a good choice. To learn more about this research and how to apply it in your practice, be sure to read our white paper Personality-College Major Match and Student Success A Guide for Professionals Helping Youth and Adults Who are in College or are College-Bound.

   For students (and college-bound adults and youth), we recommend:

   • The white paper -- Choosing a College Major Based on Your Personality What does the research say?
   • Choose a College Major or Training Program
   • Personality-College Major Match - Why It is Important
   • The Holland College Major Environments
   • Learn More about College Major Environments
   • Select a College, Apply, Finance
   • Liberal Arts, Humanities & General Studies Majors
   • Match Up! Your Personality to College Majors e-book is the only resource that links the Holland personality types to all 1300+ college majors and training programs (more on our ground breaking research).
   • College Major Match service: A new service, free to our group purchase customers, where we scientifically classify and display your school's majors by Holland personality type and Career Key Work Group. See the Colleges that Match Up.

“Match Up! encourages a learner-centered interaction between understanding one's key personality types and occupational and training information… [It] will be of great use to students and counselors who need to provide a list of options related to personality in a quick manner... It is a great resource that provides solid information necessary for making effective career decisions.” Read more. Debra Osborn, Ph.D. President-Elect, 2010-2011 National Career Development Association

Self-Employment helps the student who is considering this option.

3. Identifying and strengthening students’ job skills. As your adult students know, job skills are what count in the workplace. Period. The Foundation Skills: Job Skills All Workers Need article describes those that are essential.

   In The Free Agent Outlook on Work students learn why marketable skills are the key to success. And, Identify Your Skills and Make Them Work for You gives students invaluable advice and practical steps they can take.
   

4. Making good decisions. Our article Decision Making Process teaches students
   how to make good decisions. The ACIP method is practical and based on numerous research studies. Good decision-making is emphasized throughout our site. It is an essential life and work skill.

   Our popular e-book, The 2011 What Job is Best for Me?, walks the student through these steps. It embodies the essential concepts of our website.

5. Assessing “career decision status”. Colleges use the Career Decision Profile to evaluate career development programs, assess career decision needs, and to provide a self-help guide, directing students to sources of help based on their needs, and in career counseling. Students find the article Undecided a helpful guide in understanding their indecision and the steps they might take.

   “As a counselling tool the CDP allows us to discuss very specifically where the student is in the process of career development and where they want to go next. Students appreciate the simplicity of the CDP and using it to formulate next steps…” Read more. Felicity Morgan Assistant Director, Career Development University of Toronto Mississauga

6. Learning about Holland’s Theory of Career Choice. This article is one of our most popular. Career development professionals and their clients praise its clarity and practical applications. And, literally hundreds of studies show that the theory has a solid scientific foundation. Our e-book, What Color are Your Feathers?, describes his theory and expands on how to apply it to career choice.
   
   
7. Visiting our eBookStore. We offer many high quality publications. All are offered in a "green", sustainable PDF file that you download to your computer. Your purchase is an important way to support our efforts.
   
   
8. Linking to our website. There is no site license or cost to visiting or linking to our home page or high quality career advice articles without framing. We show no advertising and do not accept reciprocal or paid text linking. Your voluntary links help us keep our website ad-free. Nearly 2,000 non-profits, libraries, and educational institutions link to us and we welcome yours.

Lawrence K. Jones, Ph.D., NCC President, Career Key.