You've got questions.

We've got answers.

Frequently Asked Questions

 

General

Career Direct is not an online job board; we help you discover the occupation that best suits your talents, interests, and personality. Rather than merely listing employment opportunities, Career Direct looks deeper to identify why you should enter a profession.

People of all ages can benefit from Career Direct whether they are preparing for a career, entering the workforce for the first time, rejoining the workforce, or seeking to maximize their God-given talents and abilities.

Over his many years of providing family finance counseling, Career Direct co-founder Larry Burkett became concerned that so many people were in careers that didn't match their talents and abilities. He wanted to help people recognize their strengths and weakness and become good stewards – a vision of what would eventually become Career Direct.

Career Direct provides information similar to other well-known assessments that cover components such as personality, interests, or skills individually. Since Career Direct measures personality, interests, skills, values, stress, and financial management factors, it is one of the most comprehensive assessments available.

To obtain the best results with your assessment we encourage you to enlist the help of a qualified Career Direct consultant who has been trained to analyze the results of your assessment.

They can help you see how all the components connect, and help integrate the data into effective recommendations. Objective input from a consultant can make a significant difference in giving you the breakthrough you need as well as minimizing the stress often associated with educational or occupational decisions.

Stewardship of work-related talents is directly associated with stewardship of finances derived from work. True stewardship starts with understanding and managing your strengths and weaknesses.

Larry Burkett initiated the Career Pathways program as part of Christian Financial Concepts in 1990 using a combination of several pre-existing assessments. After extensive research and development, the first version of what is now Career Direct was introduced in 1995 as a paper assessment which was computer scored and printed. In 1999, the first CD-ROM version (1.8) was produced for use on individual computers. In 2003, the revised and reintroduced version 2.1 was released with electronic documents and audio CDs. The Internet-based Career Direct® Complete Guidance System was released in 2006 and includes several streamlined improvements.

It is estimated that well over 200,000 students and adults have taken Career Direct.

Our More Resources tab contains links to books, sound and video clips, web articles, and other helpful tips.

Research and Development

The factors from the personality portion of Career Direct were validated against and are correlated significantly with similar factors in other well-known assessments, like the Hogan Personality Inventory and Costa and McCrae's NEO-PI.

Reliability tests are well above acceptable levels as shown in the internal consistency and test-retest reliability measures below.

  1. Internal Consistency Cronbach Alpha ranged from .86 to .94 for the personality general factor scales, and .76 to .92 for the personality subfactor scales (n = 4463).
  2. Test-retest Reliability mean correlation and range:
    Time Frame Personality General Factors Subfactors
    1 week (n = 100) .91, .86 to .95
    3-6 weeks (n = 166) .87, .85 to .90 .83, .65 to .90
    6 months (n = 75) .84, .81 to .86 .78, .60 to .87
    1 year (n = 50) .82, .80 to .86 .61, .58 to .87

In 1990, Larry Burkett tasked a research team with developing a career guidance program based on a combination of biblical and psychometric principles. What began as a paper test implementing elements of other well-known assessments transformed into a CD-ROM-based test in 1999; rather than using other assessments, Career Direct built this version from the ground up. And by 2006 the assessment became Career Direct® Online.

Assessment Questions

The Career Direct Assessment is a series of four surveys that – when scored - suggests careers that best suit you. To learn more about the assessment, visit the Career Direct Assessment page.

Although the assessment is stable over time, some areas change depending on your life experiences, training and education. Before making major life decisions, it is always wise to base those decisions on the most current information. It can be compared to taking an x-ray. Even though every x-ray is an image of your skeleton, each one tells a different story depending on when it's taken. One set might simply show a history of growth, whereas another – taken immediately after an accident – might show a broken bone. An x-ray is a snapshot of your distant and immediate past and it provides insight into how you can prepare for the future. Taking the Career Direct Assessment at strategic times in your life will help you make wise career decisions.

The assessment itself takes from forty-five minutes to one hour on average. Individuals utilizing all of the Career Direct applications and resources in the full Guidance System, including the Action Plan (interactive with O*NET, U.S. Department of Labor database), Questionnaires, and Audio Instructions components, will need additional time. Since progress is saved, you can complete each component in more than one sitting.

Since the Career Direct Assessment provides information about occupational pathways to help you make wise professional decisions, whenever you are considering a career move is a good time.

Disabilities

Career Direct has not been tested with a disability population and does not take into account any adjustments or allowances needed for particular disabilities. A qualified counselor experienced in the particular disability is the best choice for help in determining career direction.

Depression can affect and possibly mask accurate feedback from any assessment. Professional assistance and advice should be sought before making any major life decision in this situation.

Business and Consultant Training

Career Direct provides specialized training for people looking to become consultants. Each applicant undergoes a strict evaluation before being invited to attend a live training. Click here for more information.

In Career Direct, consultants can become network leaders and potentially master trainers. A network leader coaches new consultants, and a master trainer trains new Career Direct consultants. Each role has a specific set of expectations, requirements, and guidelines. Click here for more information on Career Direct consultants.

Promotional Materials