Career Assessment Inventory - Enhanced Version

The Career Assessment Inventory — Enhanced Version assessment compares an individual’s occupational interests to those of individuals in 111 specific careers that reflect a broad range of technical and professional positions in today’s workforce. The inventory is used by guidance counsellors to help students and adults develop career and study plans, and by psychologists and human resource professionals to advise individuals on career development.

How to Use This Inventory

This inventory can be used to help:

•  Teach students to focus on the patterns of interest important in making educational and occupational choices
• High school and college students identify career directions and major areas of study
• Advise individuals who are re-entering the workforce, considering a career change, or have been displaced

Key Features

• Provides scales for 111 occupations requiring varying amounts of post-secondary education.
• Easy to administer, taking only about 40 minutes to complete.
• Graphic and narrative test reports can be shared with the client and the narrative report provides a 3-page counsellor’s summary.
• Combined gender scales allow for the broadest interpretation of survey results.
• The inventory closely matches the distribution of professional and nonprofessional jobs in the labor force, making it well-suited for assessing groups with a variety of career aspirations (e.g., complete high school populations).

Scale

• General Theme Scales:

R - Realistic Theme
I - Investigative Theme
A - Artistic Theme
S - Social Theme
E - Enterprising Theme
C - Conventional Theme

• Basic Interest Area Scales
• Occupational Scales
• Nonoccupational Scales

Norms

Reference Samples (for the Theme Scales, Basic Interest Area Scales, and Occupational Scales)

The reference sample consisted of 900 employed adults and students. The sample was stratified by selecting cases from a larger sample so that 75 females and 75 males had their highest score on each of the six different theme scales.

Criterion Samples (for the Occupational Scales)

To be included in a criterion sample for one of the occupational scales, an individual had to:

1. be currently employed in the appropriate job
2. have at least two years of experience on the job
3. respond positively to the question “Do you like your work?”
4. be less than 70 years old
5. have the proper accreditation or degree required for the occupation

Report Options

Profile Report
Provides a graphical depiction of the individual’s score on each scale, a list of Additional Occupations to investigate, and a page of career resources on the web. There is an option to print “Understanding Your Results,” an in-depth description of how the results apply to the test taker.

Interpretive Report
Presents several pages of graphs and narrative statements that explain the significant score elevations on each scale. It also provides additional reference information relevant to the highest scores, such as a list of Additional Occupations to investigate and a page of career resources on the web, new O*Net codes (SOC-Standard Occupational Classification) and older DOT codes (Dictionary of Occupational Titles) if required, and page references to the Occupational Outlook Handbook. There is an option to print a Counselor’s Summary, which graphically represents the individual’s scores on each scale, and “Understanding Your Results,” which is an in-depth description of how the results apply to the test taker.

Q-global® Administration Options

This product is available on Q-global with the following administration options:

On-Screen Administration (OSA)
Your clients can complete these assessment online through Q-global. Alternatively, your client can complete the assessment in paper-pencil format, and their responses can then be data-entered into Q-global for scoring and report generation. On Screen Administrations are proctored (supervised) unless specifically indicated.

Remote On-Screen Administration (ROSA)

These assessments can be emailed to clients, teachers, or parents, so that the assessment can be completed at their own location. These assessments are not proctored (supervised). 

If you would like more information, please visit the Q-global product page.

• CAI Enhanced Interpretive Sample Report (430.25 KB)
• CAI Enhanced Profile Sample Report (351.14 KB)