Aptitudes, Abilities and Skills: Start with Highlands

Posted on October 28, 2026October 28, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 28, 2026

Before deciding which skills to develop, understand the natural abilities you bring to the work. That is why I recommend starting with the Highlands Ability Battery—THAB—as the foundation for your career profile.

Your résumé records what you have learned and done. It may say little about abilities you have never had the opportunity to use, or why some tasks come readily while others require sustained effort. THAB helps us investigate that underlying pattern before deciding where to invest your time, training and experience.

Aptitudes, abilities and skills

These words are often used interchangeably, but distinguishing them makes career decisions clearer.

Aptitudes: your natural capacities: An aptitude is a natural capacity that can contribute to how readily you approach certain tasks. For example, you may readily visualize how three-dimensional objects fit together, even without experience in a particular trade.
Abilities: what you are capable of doing: Ability is a broader word. In everyday use it can describe capacity developed through learning as well as natural capacity. When I discuss THAB, natural abilities refers to the aptitudes it examines, including patterns involved in reasoning and processing information.
Skills: the proficiency you develop: A skill is something you learn to do through instruction, practice and experience. Diagnosing an engine fault, using design software or preparing a construction schedule requires knowledge and practiced techniques.

Having an aptitude does not mean you have already mastered the associated work. Lacking experience does not tell us that the natural capacity is absent. The useful question is how your abilities and learned skills work together in the career you want.

The Highlands explanation of aptitudes and skills describes this distinction and the importance of considering abilities within the whole person.

Why start with Highlands?

Interests tell us what attracts you. A skills history tells us what you have had the opportunity to learn. Neither fully answers how your mind naturally approaches a task.

THAB uses performance-based work samples: you complete exercises rather than simply rate your confidence in an ability. Those results give us a different source of information from an interest inventory or a questionnaire about perceived skills. The publisher’s overview explains the online assessment and interpretation process.

I start here because understanding natural abilities helps us ask better questions about the work itself. Which functions suit you? Which need an outlet? What might you have overlooked because your previous schooling or jobs never called for it?

The results provide a relatively stable foundation you can return to as your career develops. Your knowledge, experience, priorities and opportunities continue to grow; consultation helps you apply the findings to each new decision.

Being good at work is only part of the picture

Some natural abilities also help explain why you feel compelled to work in certain ways. Highlands calls these driving abilities. In my consultations, we explore both what you can contribute and the functions that need expression for work to feel satisfying.

For example, strong Spatial Relations Visualization can help explain a need for tangible results. That need could find expression in many settings, so we must also examine your interests and personal style. The Highlands description of driving abilities explains how different score patterns relate to work.

Scores are not a contest. We interpret the combination, including the significance of high, middle and low results. One result does not supply a complete career decision.

Natural capacity still needs training

Illustrative example: Someone is fascinated by mechanics but has grown up with little exposure to tools, machinery or repair work. They may possess relevant natural abilities without having acquired mechanical skills. THAB can help clarify their ability pattern; technical education and supervised experience develop the proficiency needed for the job.

The same distinction matters in career change. Experience in one field may have developed useful skills while leaving other abilities largely unused. We investigate which existing skills transfer and which new skills the desired work requires.

Read Natural Aptitudes and Career Skills for more about building the experience needed for your target career.

Then connect abilities with the rest of you

Starting with THAB gives us an ability foundation. We then bring that information together with the interests, personal style and other findings included in your selected package.

We also discuss what assessments alone do not settle: your responsibilities, income needs, location, feasible training and the opportunities available to you. You may be capable of particular work while wanting a different focus, or face practical requirements that change how you pursue it.

During consultation, I help you understand the findings, examine where they agree or differ, and apply them to your situation. Through your completed profile and consultations, you will know the careers in which you can achieve success and satisfaction—and what those careers need to offer you.

Start your profile

Begin by buying a profile package that includes THAB, then complete the online assessments specified in that package. Review its reports and interpretation format before purchasing; package components vary.

Each assessment includes consultation. Depending on the package, you work through video interpretation followed by a comprehensive consultation, or debrief through consultations alone. I am Marjorie Wall Hofer, the consultant for people coming through The Career Profiler.

Decide your next step at the final profile consultation. If you choose Targeting or Landing afterward, those involve further coaching sessions with me.

Find My Profile Package, or book a free 30-minute consultation to clarify the process before buying.

The Career Profiler owns TestEts, where assessment and package purchases take place.

Interpersonal Needs Assessments: Work Relationships

Posted on October 28, 2026October 28, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 28, 2026

An interpersonal needs assessment explores how you engage with people and how you want them to engage with you. This can help explain working relationships that feel natural, expectations that remain unspoken and adjustments that could make collaboration more effective.

Someone can enjoy their field and be capable of its work while finding relationships with a manager, team or direct reports difficult. Understanding that situation calls for a different conversation from choosing a new occupation.

What does FIRO examine?

The FIRO family examines interpersonal needs and behavior. It considers both how you tend to behave toward others and what you want from them. The publisher describes FIRO-B and FIRO Business and their workplace applications.

The distinction between what you initiate and what you want is useful. You may reach out frequently while wanting others to take more initiative with you. You may be comfortable directing work while also wanting input or support in particular situations. Consultation explores the context rather than assuming one score explains every relationship.

Questions it can help you discuss

How much involvement do I want in group activities and decisions?
When do I initiate contact, offer direction or wait for others?
What do I expect from a manager, colleague or team?
Which expectations have I communicated clearly?
Where might another person’s needs differ from mine?

These are discussion questions, not a replacement questionnaire or a universal set of report scales. The specific instrument and report determine the information available.

Interpersonal needs and personality

MBTI explores personality preferences, while FIRO examines interpersonal needs and behavior. Both can inform how you work with people, but they use different frameworks. One assessment should not be treated as a translation of the other.

For example, knowing that someone prefers time for reflection does not tell us every kind of involvement, influence or connection they want from colleagues. Discussing their relationships and actual work situations supplies important context.

Interest assessments answer another question: what activities and subjects attract you. Enjoying people-oriented work does not mean that every kind of team arrangement will suit you.

Where does DISC fit?

DISC-style products describe behavioral tendencies and may offer guidance for communication, collaboration and leadership. They are not the same assessment as FIRO.

Different publishers supply different DISC instruments, reports and terminology. Some include descriptions of natural and adapted behavior. Those features must be interpreted using the particular product’s guidance; they cannot be assumed to apply to every DISC assessment.

A report can support a conversation about adapting to work demands. It does not, by itself, prove the cause of a conflict or establish that someone needs to leave a job.

Apply the findings to a real situation

Illustrative example: A team member wants greater involvement in planning but rarely asks to join the discussions. Their manager interprets the silence as a preference to stay out. The useful next step may be a clear conversation about participation rather than a conclusion that either person is in the wrong career.

For a leader, consultation can turn findings into specific actions: clarify expectations, invite input in a useful way, discuss responsibilities or agree how feedback will be exchanged. We examine the circumstances and the people involved instead of using a label as the explanation.

Career direction and development

Interpersonal information can contribute to evaluating a work setting or developing effectiveness within a role. It need not generate occupation lists to be valuable. It also does not measure every need that affects satisfaction; ability-related needs, interests, values and external circumstances require their own consideration.

Check which assessments and reports are included in the profile package relevant to your goal. FIRO and DISC are not included in every package.

Your next step

Begin by buying and completing the profile package of your choice. Each assessment includes consultation, with video interpretation followed by consultation or consultations alone as specified by the selected package. I am Marjorie Wall Hofer, the consultant for people coming through The Career Profiler.

Decide your next step at the final profile consultation. If you choose Targeting or Landing afterward, those involve further coaching sessions with me. Find My Profile Package, or book a free 30-minute consultation to clarify the process before purchasing.

The Career Profiler owns TestEts, where assessment and package purchases take place.

Explore the other assessment types

Return to the assessment overview.

Work Values Assessments: What Matters to You

Posted on October 28, 2026October 28, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 28, 2026

A work values assessment helps clarify what matters to you in your career. It gives us a starting point for examining the rewards, responsibilities and working conditions you are willing to pursue—and the trade-offs you would find difficult to accept.

You can enjoy the subject of your work and perform its tasks well while still feeling that something important is missing. Greater independence, stability, meaningful service or room to develop expertise may matter more than a different occupation title.

What are work values?

Work values concern what you consider important in working life. Depending on the assessment, you may explore priorities such as:

Independence and room to make decisions.
Security and continuity.
Service to people or a cause.
Achievement, challenge or expertise.
The relationship between work and the rest of life.

These examples are not a universal set of assessment scales. Different instruments define and organize values differently. Their usefulness depends on the question you need to answer and how the findings are applied.

Career Anchors and values inventories

Career Anchors, developed through Edgar Schein’s work, explores a career self-concept involving perceived talents, motives and values. It is broader than a simple list of preferences. Reflection on work experience helps make the discussion concrete. MIT Sloan describes the career-anchor concept.

The framework can be useful when considering how you want your career to develop or why an attractive opportunity does not feel right. It does not establish your natural abilities through performance tasks.

COPES is a different instrument: a workplace values survey within the COPSystem. COPS assesses interests and CAPS assesses abilities; those are separate assessments. The COPES publisher describes its workplace-values focus.

Before choosing, examine the sample report, intended audience and interpretation provided. Some tools clarify priorities; others connect the findings with career exploration resources. They do not all produce the same kind of guidance.

Values need practical definitions

“I value independence” is a useful beginning. It becomes more useful when we ask what independence means in your daily work. Do you want to decide how to complete a task, choose your hours, avoid close supervision or build your own business? Those choices have different implications.

Illustrative example: A person may value autonomy and also need reliable income. Starting a business is one possibility, but so is a salaried role offering responsibility for how work is carried out. We need to investigate actual conditions rather than assume one employment arrangement meets every need.

Consultation helps distinguish a preference, an important priority and a requirement you cannot reasonably compromise.

Values and circumstances belong in the same conversation

An assessment does not establish whether a particular job offers what you need. Nor does it settle your financial commitments, family responsibilities, location or feasible training options.

We turn your priorities into questions to investigate: What decisions would I control? How predictable is the schedule? What does advancement involve? Which parts of the work serve the purpose I care about?

This helps distinguish dissatisfaction with a particular workplace from a mismatch with the work itself. It also gives you clearer criteria when comparing opportunities.

Connect values with your whole profile

Values add a perspective alongside interests, personal style, natural abilities and the skills you have developed. They do not replace those findings. A role may offer something important to you while requiring tasks you do not want as your main focus.

During consultation, we examine the combination and connect it with your goals. Values may be explored through a dedicated assessment or through discussion, depending on your selected package and needs. Check the profile package components before purchasing.

Your next step

The Career Profiler owns TestEts, where assessment and package purchases take place.

Explore the other assessment types

Return to the assessment overview.

Natural Ability Assessments: What They Reveal

Posted on October 28, 2026October 28, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 28, 2026

A natural ability assessment helps you understand the kinds of tasks that come naturally to you. It adds information that interests, personality preferences and a record of learned skills cannot supply on their own.

You may be good at something you do not enjoy. You may also be drawn to work you have never had the opportunity to try. Understanding your ability pattern helps us investigate both situations and identify work functions that suit you.

Abilities, skills and interests

These are three different questions:

Ability: What kinds of tasks do your assessment results suggest come naturally?
Skill: What have you learned to do through training, practice and experience?
Interest: What activities and subjects do you want your work to involve?

Someone may have abilities suited to mechanical work but lack the training to repair an engine. Another person may have developed strong technical skills while preferring a career focused on people. A sound decision accounts for the differences.

What does an ability assessment involve?

Performance-based assessments ask you to complete tasks, giving us evidence beyond your own rating of what you do well. The tasks assessed, scoring, intended use and reports differ by instrument. A questionnaire about perceived skill or confidence supplies useful information, but it is not the same as demonstrating performance on an ability task.

I recommend the Highlands Ability Battery for the depth of career-related information it provides. Its work samples examine abilities that can be interpreted in relation to work functions. Highlands also reports personal-style information and vocabulary; those components should be distinguished from its ability measures. Read the publisher’s overview of the Highlands Ability Battery.

Driving abilities need an outlet

Some Highlands findings concern driving abilities: patterns that help explain why you feel drawn to particular ways of working. For example, strong Spatial Relations Visualization can help explain a need for tangible, hands-on results. Idea Productivity concerns generating ideas; it does not measure their quality.

In consultation, we explore what these findings mean in your experience and where the relevant functions could find expression. The Highlands explanation of driving abilities also describes the significance of different score ranges. The aim is to understand your pattern, rather than collect high scores.

A need to use an ability does not identify a whole career by itself. Hands-on work exists in many fields. Your interests, personal style and circumstances help distinguish which settings and responsibilities suit you.

Read patterns, not isolated scores

A single result is less informative than its place within your profile. During interpretation, we examine combinations and discuss how they show up in problem solving, communication, learning and your approach to work.

Illustrative example: Two people may both work readily with three-dimensional information. One enjoys machinery; the other is absorbed by anatomy and helping people. Their ability information may overlap, while their interests direct exploration toward very different work.

The practical question is not simply “What occupation matches this score?” It is “Which tasks need to be part of my work, in a field and setting I want to pursue?”

Turn potential into preparation

Assessment does not replace education, supervised experience or other preparation required for a job. Once we identify promising directions, we investigate what you already know, what you need to learn and how to acquire that experience.

For more detail, read Natural Aptitudes and Career Skills and why I recommend Highlands.

Bring abilities into your profile

Your ability assessment becomes more useful when we connect it with your interests, personal style, needs and practical requirements. Compare the profile packages to see which include the assessments and reports relevant to your goal.

Your next step

The Career Profiler owns TestEts, where assessment and package purchases take place.

Explore the other assessment types

Return to the assessment overview.

Start here: Aptitudes, Abilities and Skills: Start with Highlands explains why I begin with natural abilities before planning skill development.

A New Len: Why Harris Lost and Trump Won

Posted on November 14, 2024October 23, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

by Marjorie Wall Hofer, TheCareerProfiler

November 14, 2024

The blame game among Democrats is raging but none of the arguments speaks to a fundamental innate human ability as a factor.

In the world of aptitudes and natural abilities, the focus is almost always directed at career or employment purposes. But it offers insights into the approaches each candidate has taken.

Tangible-Intangible Innate Ability Dichotomy
Buildings versus Words
Simple versus Complete
Fear versus Hope
Bottom-line versus Principles
Lies/Whatever versus Truth/True
Male versus Female
Intelligence versus Common Sense
Common versus Professional

Tangible-Intangible Innate Ability Dichotomy

Let’s just focus on one innate ability: the natural, genetically acquired ability to see 3-D. Its one of the REASONabilities^TMyou were born with it; or you possess its opposite ability. I call it the tangible versus intangible dichotomy.

Assessing it has seen some changes however with recent attempts to improve scores with practice. In fact, the Labor Departments version, GATB turned Ability Profile on their O’Net platform, has been abandoned because of the ubiquity of practice tests. People could “cheat”. But given novel situations where conditions and elements change, the performance of jobs requiring this ability lie with those possessing this innate ability.

There are a couple of key things to note about this ability. Research into it began after WW1 when the US Military discovered that they needed a full-proof way to place recruits, and most especially under wartime conditions. The ASVAB is the military’s answer to that need.

But research continued when findings were shared with large corporations like GE, Ball Aerospace and A&T. When the post WW2 recruiting boom ended some spun their research arms into foundations. Even with affirmative actions sequestering research in educational sectors, discoveries beyond work applications have emerged.

With the 3-D ability, we know that those who possess it are compelled to work with their hands and with concrete tangible objects, like equipment, tools, vehicles, buildings to name a few. They see what works automatically, with comments about ideas like “yeah, but, when the rubber meets the road” it won’t work. Let’s call this realist thinking. Because they work with tangibles, they are not eloquent or verbose. They tell it like it is. Just think of the meme a traditional laborer who gets off from work wonders into the bar and complains that his wife wants to talk about feelings as he uses his hand to show what that means to him. Got the picture. Its extreme and stereotypical but images like this help us grasp a better of understanding than words alone.

People who do not possess this ability possess a different kind –proficiency with intangibles. They craft pictures by manipulating of words. Numbers and laws and policies and emotions are their playground. Because intangibles are concepts and ideas they do not need to ‘touch the ground’ but are left in the universe of imaginary space. Let’s call this idealist thinking. Just think of a defense lawyer in court crafting words into pictures that paint “innocence” on the face of the accused or a politician who shapes laws that govern our country.

Thus, here we have the essence of Trump versus Harris performance in the 2024 election:

Buildings versus Words

Trump grew to fame as a real estate baron raising iconic buildings in New York and casinos on the Atlantic shores of New Jersey. He has become a master of building, not just physical structures, but campaigns that benefit himself first as a ‘ghost contributor’ to NYC media outlets and then in politics. Kamala, a lawyer, rose to prominence as California’s Attorney General and eventually was selected as Vice President of the United States of America. She has become a master of crafting intangible words to persuade juries to convict criminals.

Simple versus Complete

Trump has been condemned as a monosyllabic oaf who touts lies as truth. He slings simple words at us in rallies and on whatever media sources will carry or repeat his message. His simple words are memorable, and thus powerful. He slaps them together into a short phrase. His constituents parrot them like the bird extending his reach beyond media outlets.

Kamala, on the other hand, and much like Obama and Kerry, sought to carefully convey the nuanced meaning in words in order to ensure the full understanding of policies and positions. She answered TV anchor questions with too many words to be thorough and complete. It left viewers with no memorable slogan and ultimately cost her the attention and votes of listeners. Pundits correctly ascertained that Kamala “failed to find an effective message against Mr. Trump” Reid J. Epstein, Lisa Lerer and Nicholas Nehamas, “Devastated Democrats Play the Blame Game, and Stare at a Dark Future”. The New York Times, Nov. 7, 2024, viewed Nov 14, 2024, at 10:03 am MT.

Fear versus Hope

Trump extracts the fundamental thoughts usually fears held by constituents. He speaks to those fears and stokes them. While research tells us that fear motivates, Trump seems to know this intuitively. Fears drive people to seek safety. Trump was their savior. Make America Great Again was the ultimate message of messiah Trump.

Kamala, on the other hand, focuses on hope and joy. She presents herself as joyful to fearmongering Trump. She seems to carry this trait by nature. In contrast to the disunity and chaos sown by Trump, she presents pictures of hope and promise. She idealistically believes that hope will drive people to the polls. But we see that while people want hope and unity it doesn’t have the motivational power that fear has to garner votes.

Bottom-line versus Principles

The bottom-line objective is Trump’s focus. What works! That’s it. What ideas run on the road of life driving people to act. If Democrats had won, Trump stood a good chance of jail time. Bottom-line, he had to win the election. That bottom-line drove his campaign.

Harris, on the other hand, wants to ensure that she ‘earns people’s vote’. For her it is a process, not the bottom-line. She is driven to ensure that she does her job well. She focuses on the aspects of her job and presents herself as a worker bee, but not as a president. She held her work to a higher standard and hoped it would demonstrate her ability to lead when it conveyed her diligence and laudable principles.

Lies/Whatever versus Truth/True

Truth matters little to Trump. In fact, the opposite seems to be his forte. While I’m focusing on his realist thinking profile, it warrants mentioning the “nurture side” of the equation here. The trauma of abandonment at the age of 2, when Trump’s mother landed in the hospital for months after the birth of his brother, has played an impactful role in his abandonment of principle over self-preservation. While at one time his goal was to be famous, his need to win the presidency is all encompassing. He will say whatever it takes to win him the votes. Thus, truth matters little. And he knows too that repeating a lie often enough, which he has mastered, becomes ‘truth’ in the ears of listeners. His followers grow in numbers because they’ve been equipped to parrot his easy-to-repeat lies as truth.

On the other hand, Kamala stood by her principles. She would not debase herself by using Trump’s winnable tactics. She stuck with the careful crafting of messages conveying complete and holistic truth using long phrases and lots of words to convey essential subtleties held within word combinations and phrases. She chose words like “unfit for office” over simple more powerful ones like “terrible person” to describe Trump. She outlined policies articulated in detail to ensure its truthfulness but lost on the listener in doing so. While she captured the enthusiasm of the center and left at Biden’s departure, her numbers steadily declined as she wore out her followers with benign though fully truthful joyful messages.

Male versus Female

Gender votes also bear witness to this dichotomy. Three-D realist, those who need to work with tangibles, are more often men. Extensive research bears out more men possess the 3-D ability than women and testosterone play a role in its expression. More men are like Trump. And so, it should be no surprise that Trump attracted white men from the beginning and, in this election, gained ground among black and Hispanic men. They resonate on the same frequency. They understand the world in the same way.

On the other hand, women tend to score higher on the intangible, idealist end of the scale. And, in fact, Harris did better among women. One might argue that her position on abortion was the reason, and I have no doubt that it played a role, but to cement in her female followers, she spoke of things and in ways that resonate more with females, and its not just because she is female herself. More women see life through the idealist lens that Harris does.

Intelligence versus Common Sense

Finally, I want to bring in one more natural ability, vocabulary. It is often used as a measure of intelligence. Common sense is another matter more related to 3-D ability which one could call street smarts. Given Trump’s choice of words, he would not be marked as an intelligent man but standard measures. But he bears the marks of a man with common sense. Harris on the other hand has achieved high grades in law school and to pass the bar and risen from lawyer, one of the most language dependent occupations, to attorney general before becoming vice president. She bears the grades of an intelligent person.

Common versus Professional

Vocabulary is also an indicator of one’s natural ‘audience’. People are attracted to those who speak their language. In essence, the words people use naturally. The greatest number of people in society possess a simple vocabulary – simple common words without attention to nuance. This is how Trump speaks. He uses common words that speak to ‘common’ people, and that’s where most of us score.

On the other hand, lawyers, like Kamala, must possess a strong command of language. The job demands that they develop an extensive vocabulary even beyond their natural language level. At this level, words are coined to convey nuances of meaning not simple terms. Those who resonate with this type of language are often of the professional ranks of society. And, if you haven’t noticed, there are fewer of them than common folk. Obama, I noticed, worked hard not to make the mistakes of Kerry in speaking to the people instead of executives. But Kamala failed to learn this lesson, or maybe she simply didn’t have time to do so. If you want to attract the masses, a common simple vocabulary is key. Nuanced language is for those in law, legislation and professions.

The debate about why the Democrats lost the 2024 election go well beyond vocabulary and natural abilities but I could see that her chances of winning the election were dim simply given the behaviors associated with the 3-D ability dichotomy. It turns out that prediction was correct.

To see where your fall on this REASONability dichotomy as well as others, consider taking The Highlands Ability Battery (THAB) from TestEts.com, my assessment website.

Highlands Ability Battery vs. Johnson O’Connor

Posted on October 29, 2018October 27, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 27, 2026

The Highlands Ability Battery and Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation testing both explore aptitudes through performance-based tasks. The practical choice comes down to the abilities you want to explore, how you prefer to complete the assessment, and the interpretation and support you want afterward.

Highlands offers online testing through a consultant. Johnson O’Connor provides testing at its centers, using both digital and individually administered tasks. Neither assessment can make your career decision for you. The useful question is: Which approach will help you make the decision you face?

Our relationship: The Career Profiler owns TestEts, which sells Highlands assessments and profile packages. Clients coming through The Career Profiler work with career profiling expert Marjorie Wall Hofer. This comparison explains service differences; it is not an independent ranking of test accuracy.

Compare the two approaches

Provider details were checked on October 27, 2026. On a narrow screen, scroll across the chart.

Highlands and Johnson O’Connor: practical differences
What to compare	Highlands Ability Battery	Johnson O’Connor
Taking the assessment	Online, timed work samples. You can complete separate work samples in different sittings.	At a testing center, with digital tasks and individual administration using specialized equipment.
Time to allow	About three hours for the battery; interpretation is additional.	About five to six hours of testing, followed by a separate results appointment.
Scope	Work samples explore patterns in abilities such as reasoning, memory and spatial visualization.	Includes reasoning, spatial, musical and dexterity aptitudes, with personality and interest assessments also included.
Reports and interpretation	Ability reports with consultant interpretation. Career, student or leadership reports depend on the package purchased.	An interactive digital report, a results consultation and an optional follow-up consultation within the first year.
What to confirm	Included reports, video or consultation format, consultation time and any additional assessments.	Center availability, appointment arrangements and the abilities relevant to your question.

Sources: Highlands’ assessment overview and Johnson O’Connor’s testing FAQ. Check the provider’s current information before booking; arrangements can change.

When Highlands may suit you

Consider Highlands if completing an assessment online is important to you, or if you want to explore abilities as one part of a broader profile. A package can bring ability findings together with other information, such as interests or personality preferences, depending on what you select.

With The Career Profiler, Marjorie interprets the findings with you and relates them to your goal. Some packages use step-by-step video interpretation followed by a comprehensive consultation; others debrief the results through consultations alone. Those are package choices, not different promises about the accuracy of the battery.

When Johnson O’Connor may suit you

Consider Johnson O’Connor if you prefer testing at a center or want to discuss its hands-on dexterity measures alongside its other assessments. If a particular ability matters to you, ask the center what is measured and how the findings may inform exploration. A career-guidance assessment is not a professional licensing or job-qualification test.

Choose the support, not just the test

Ask what you will leave the interpretation session understanding. A report may suggest work activities or environments to explore; you still need to weigh your interests, values, experience, training requirements and circumstances.

Illustrative example: If you enjoy design, “design” is still too broad a career choice. A useful discussion would examine whether you are drawn to visual communication, physical structures, research or client work, then explore the different tasks and training involved. An aptitude result contributes to that discussion; it does not settle it.

Ask each provider:

Which reports and interpretation sessions are included?
How will we connect the findings to my actual decision?
What happens if a result surprises me or I need more clarification?
What support is included, and what would be a separate purchase?

Compare packages and current prices

For Highlands options, Find My Profile Package. The comparison page shows assessment coverage and debrief formats; current prices appear on the linked TestEts product pages. For Johnson O’Connor’s fee and scheduling arrangements, use its current testing information.

Once you buy and complete your chosen profile package with The Career Profiler, decide your next step at the final profile consultation. If Targeting or Landing is appropriate, those next phases involve coaching sessions with Marjorie. The plan and any further coaching are discussed with you, rather than assumed to be included in every package.

Questions before choosing? Request a free 30-minute consultation to clarify the process. For a closer look at interpretation, read what happens in a career test consultation.

A Career Profile Isn’t Enough… Get a Consultation!

Posted on October 23, 2018October 28, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 28, 2026

Your career profile identifies work that fits your interests, natural abilities and personality. A consultation connects that knowledge with the life you need your career to support: your income requirements, responsibilities, location, available time and goals.

The aim is clear: you will know the careers in which you can achieve success and satisfaction, and understand what you need from the work and the workplace. That is why consultation is part of The Career Profiler’s profile packages.

What a report cannot know about your life

An assessment can reveal a strong interest, an ability pattern or a preference in how you approach work. It cannot have a conversation with you about whether a particular opportunity meets your needs now.

Perhaps a career uses your abilities but requires training you cannot undertake this year. Perhaps you love the work but need a different schedule. Perhaps your current job pays well while leaving little room for the activities that make work satisfying.

Those details belong in the consultation. Marjorie Wall Hofer gets to know your situation, interprets your results with you and brings your internal needs and external requirements into the same discussion.

Bring the findings together

A profile package can examine different parts of career satisfaction. Interests reveal activities that attract you. Highlands ability findings help identify abilities you need opportunities to use. Personality findings help explain your preferred approach to work. The particular assessments and reports depend on your package.

The useful conversation is about how those findings fit together. A career title alone is not enough detail: two jobs with the same title can offer very different tasks, responsibilities, relationships and working conditions.

Illustrative example: You enjoy analyzing problems and explaining solutions. One role might let you investigate independently and then advise a client; another might involve constant interruptions and very little analysis. The consultation helps you specify the work you want to do and the conditions that let you do it well.

For a closer look at what each assessment contributes, read Career Satisfaction Tests.

Questions belong in the debrief

A surprising result is something to discuss. Bring examples of when the description fits and when it does not. You and Marjorie can examine the meaning of the result, the way you approached the assessment and how it relates to the rest of your profile.

The purpose is to understand and apply the findings, rather than accept a label without discussion. For example, the Myers & Briggs Foundation describes feedback as a collaborative process for verifying best-fit type.

Interpretation does not make a test infallible. If a concern raises a question about further assessment or retesting, discuss the reason, available options and applicable terms with Marjorie. A retest provided in a past client situation is not a blanket promise of a free retest.

Choose how to work through your results

Video + consultation: In packages offering this format, work through step-by-step video interpretation, then have a comprehensive consultation with Marjorie to connect the results to your situation.

Consultations only: Debrief the results directly with Marjorie through personal consultations.

Each assessment in your selected profile package includes consultation. Check the package’s product page for its format, reports and session inclusions. See Career Test Consultations: What to Expect for the full debrief process.

From your profile to a plan

First, buy and complete the profile package of your choice. Use the assessment debriefs to understand what you need at work and which careers can provide it.

Decide your next step at the final profile consultation. You and Marjorie can create a coaching plan for the goal you want to reach. Targeting or Landing may be the next phase; both involve coaching sessions with Marjorie. Agree on that further work and its scope rather than assuming continuing coaching is included in every profiling package.

Included consultation or free introduction?

Your assessment debriefs are included in the paid profile package. The separate free 30-minute introductory consultation clarifies the process and helps you understand package choices before buying.

The Career Profiler owns TestEts. When you come through this website, Marjorie Wall Hofer is your consultant. Find My Profile Package, or request a free 30-minute consultation if you have questions about the process.

Career Test Consultations: What to Expect

Posted on October 13, 2018October 27, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 27, 2026

A career test consultation, also called a debrief, connects assessment results with the decision you are trying to make. You examine what the assessment measures, discuss how the findings relate to your experience, and consider how to use them in choosing work, education or a development goal.

At The Career Profiler, each assessment in your chosen profile package includes consultation. Marjorie Wall Hofer is the consultant for people coming through this website. The Career Profiler owns TestEts, where you purchase your package.

What the consultation adds

A report can describe a pattern. A conversation helps you examine what that pattern means in your life. During the debrief, Marjorie gets to know who you are, what you do best, and the goal you want to reach. Together, you connect the findings to specific activities, responsibilities and choices.

The discussion can include:

Meaning: What does this assessment measure, and what does this score or term actually mean?
Fit: Where do you recognize the pattern in your work, education or life? Where does it seem different?
Connections: How do your interests, personality preferences, abilities and values relate, where your package assesses them?
Application: Which work activities, environments or development questions deserve closer attention?

Different assessments answer different questions. An interest inventory explores attraction to activities; an ability battery uses performance tasks; a personality assessment explores preferences. A consultation should make those distinctions understandable rather than treating every result as the same kind of evidence.

You can question a result

If a description does not sound like you, bring that into the conversation. Clarifying a term may help, but disagreement is not automatically a misunderstanding. The discussion should consider your examples, how you approached the assessment and the limits of what it measures.

For MBTI results, this collaborative process has a specific purpose: helping you identify your best-fit type. The Myers & Briggs Foundation’s guidance explicitly includes asking questions, agreeing or disagreeing with results, and considering which type fits best. That is different from being handed a label you must accept.

Illustrative example: You might question an Introversion result because you regularly lead meetings. A debrief can distinguish personality preference from a skill you have developed, examine your experience across situations, and consider how you prefer to work. The result is a question to explore, not a reason to rule out leadership. The MBTI publisher distinguishes preferences from skills and abilities.

Choose your debrief format

Video + consultation

In packages offering this format, work through step-by-step video interpretation, then meet with Marjorie for a comprehensive consultation. The conversation connects the material to your circumstances and addresses your questions.

Consultations only

Debrief your results directly with Marjorie through personal consultations. You discuss the findings and their application together, without using the video interpretation route.

Both formats include personal consultation. The number and length of sessions, reports and other resources depend on the package. Check its product page before purchasing. A video option does not mean that every TestEts product includes video.

From profiling to your next step

Buy the profile package that fits your goal. Compare its assessments, reports and debrief format.
Complete the assessments online. Follow the instructions for each assessment and note anything you want to discuss.
Debrief each assessment. Use your package’s consultation or video-plus-consultation process to connect the findings with your experience.
Bring the profile together. At the final profile consultation, review what you have learned and decide how you want to move forward.

If you want further support, you and Marjorie create a coaching plan around the goal you choose. Targeting and Landing are possible next phases; both involve coaching sessions with Marjorie. Discuss the scope and purchase of that further work instead of assuming ongoing coaching is included in every profiling package.

Prepare for a useful conversation

Bring the decision you are facing, two or three examples of work you have enjoyed or found draining, and any results that surprise you. Include practical requirements such as income, location, study time or family responsibilities. Those details help connect the profile to choices you can realistically investigate.

A thoughtful debrief helps you understand and use results. It does not make an assessment infallible, guarantee a particular job or promise happiness. You remain involved in interpreting the findings and deciding what to do with them.

Included debrief or free consultation?

The package debrief is part of the paid profiling package. It interprets your completed assessments and applies the findings to your situation.

The free 30-minute introductory consultation helps you understand the process, discuss package choices and clarify questions before purchasing. It is separate from the interpretation sessions included with a package.

Ready to compare the options? Find My Profile Package. If you have questions about the process, request a free 30-minute consultation.

Career Interest Tests: How to Choose

Posted on December 16, 2017October 28, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 27, 2026

A career interest test organizes the activities and subjects you enjoy into patterns you can explore through work or education. It can help you ask better career questions, narrow a broad search or find possibilities you have overlooked. It does not establish your ability to do a job or identify one guaranteed career match.

The best choice depends on what you need to understand: your strongest interests, the occupations connected with them, or the relationship between what attracts you and what you feel confident doing.

Interest is different from ability

“I would enjoy doing this” and “I can do this well” are different statements. Someone may enjoy music without having developed performance skills, or be skilled at accounting without wanting to spend a career doing it.

Keep four questions separate when interpreting a profile:

Interests: Which activities draw your attention?
Aptitudes: What do performance-based tasks reveal about your ability patterns?
Skills: What have you learned to do through practice and experience?
Values: What matters to you in your work and life?

An interest inventory does not replace those other perspectives. Also check whether a report’s “skills” scores come from actual performance or from your own ratings of confidence.

Four interest assessments compared

These are four established options, not a ranking from most to least accurate. Use the publisher’s current documentation to confirm the version, intended audience and available reports.

On a narrow screen, scroll across the chart.

What each interest assessment contributes
Assessment	What it provides	A useful question to ask
Strong Interest Inventory	Interest themes and connections with occupations and educational pathways. Career and college report options are available.	Which activities and occupations warrant closer exploration, and which report fits my decision?
Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS)	Parallel self-reports of vocational interests and perceived skills. Its publisher focuses on college-bound or college-educated users.	Where do my interests and confidence align, and where might I need experience or training?
COPS Interest Inventory	Career-interest information within the COPSystem. Abilities and values are assessed by separate tools, CAPS and COPES.	Am I looking at an interests-only result or a combined interests, abilities and values profile?
Self-Directed Search (SDS)	A three-letter summary code based on Holland’s six RIASEC themes, linked to occupations and educational options.	Which work environments should I investigate, and what do their daily tasks actually involve?

Publisher descriptions above were checked on October 27, 2026. See EdITS’ explanation of the separate COPSystem assessments. The CISS skills scale is self-reported; it is not a performance-based aptitude test. The SDS themes are Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising and Conventional.

How an interest result becomes useful

Illustrative example: Suppose your report highlights helping and analytical interests. That does not automatically mean you should become a counselor. You might enjoy explaining complex information, researching a problem or helping someone make a decision. Those activities occur in different occupations and settings.

In a debrief, we would explore which activities appeal to you, what you have already tried, and which responsibilities you would rather avoid. Then we would consider the other findings in your package and your practical requirements. The next useful question becomes more precise: “Where could I use analysis to help people, in a setting that suits me?”

Use a resource such as O*NET OnLine to examine tasks and preparation requirements for the possibilities you identify. Follow that research with conversations, relevant experience or other ways to investigate the work before committing to a change.

Choose the question before the test

Exploring a college major? Look for reports that connect interests with educational pathways, then investigate course content and the work those paths can lead to.
Changing careers? Consider interests alongside your ability patterns, transferable skills, values and constraints.
Enjoy your field but dislike your job? Examine the actual tasks and working conditions before assuming you need a completely different occupation.

A shorter or less expensive inventory is not automatically less accurate, and a more detailed report is not automatically more useful for your question. Look for an appropriate instrument, clear interpretation and a plan for exploring the findings.

Put your interests into a fuller profile

The Career Profiler’s Find My Profile Package page shows which packages combine interests with personality or ability assessments. The assessment and report mix varies by package; the four tools discussed here are not included in every package. Current prices and specific inclusions appear on the linked TestEts product pages.

The Career Profiler owns TestEts. When you come through this site, Marjorie Wall Hofer is your consultant. Each assessment in your selected profile package includes consultation; some packages offer video interpretation followed by a comprehensive consultation, while others use consultations alone. Read what to expect from the debrief.

First, buy and complete your chosen profile package. Decide your next step at the final profile consultation. If you choose Targeting or Landing, the next phase involves coaching sessions with Marjorie. If you need help understanding the process before choosing, request a free 30-minute consultation.

Explore the other assessment types

Return to the assessment overview.

Natural Aptitudes and Career Skills

Posted on July 25, 2017October 28, 2026 by Marjorie Wall Hofer, M.Ed., PCC, PCM

Reviewed October 28, 2026

A natural aptitude is not the same thing as a job skill. You can have an ability that supports a career and still need to learn its tools, methods, standards and everyday tasks. Training and experience turn that potential into work you can execute properly.

Understanding your abilities helps you choose where to invest that effort. The next question is practical: Which skills does the career I want require, and how will I acquire and demonstrate them?

Separate ability, skill and experience

In the Highlands framework, aptitudes are underlying natural ability patterns, while skills are acquired through learning and practice. The publisher’s explanation of abilities and skills makes that distinction and considers both in the wider context of career choice.

Ability: A pattern identified through assessment that helps explain how you approach particular kinds of tasks.
Skill: Something you have learned to do, such as diagnosing a fault, preparing an estimate or using a particular tool.
Experience: Opportunities to apply those skills, encounter variations and build judgment.

A score does not certify that you can perform a job. Equally, limited experience does not establish that you lack the ability to learn its skills. Use the assessment to inform your plan rather than treat it as a permanent verdict on your options.

Interested in mechanics, but new to the work?

Imagine someone who is interested in mechanics and has relevant spatial strengths, but grew up without opportunities to work on engines or equipment. Those strengths do not supply knowledge of diagnostic procedures, components, tools or safe working methods.

A school program, apprenticeship or suitable supervised role can provide the missing instruction and practice. Interest gives the person a reason to pursue the work; ability informs the fit; training develops the skills needed to do it.

Family background can affect early exposure, but it does not fix the learning opportunities available later. The useful question is where to get that experience now.

Project planning needs field knowledge

A similar distinction applies in real estate development or construction management. Concept Organization concerns arranging information into a logical sequence; it does not automatically teach someone the sequence of a construction project.

To plan actual work, you need to understand the tasks, dependencies, trades and constraints involved. Experience helps you recognize which steps must precede others and when an apparently sensible plan will fail in practice.

A natural way of organizing information can support that learning. It does not replace learning the field.

Build a route from beginner to capable worker

Choose a target role. Find out what people actually do in it, rather than rely on a broad career title.
Identify the required preparation. Check the relevant education, training, credentials and practical skills.
Compare the requirements with your experience. Separate skills you already use from those you have not yet had an opportunity to learn.
Find a starting point. Consider an apprenticeship, course, assistant role, internship or other supervised entry route appropriate to the work.
Progress to more demanding tasks. Seek instruction, feedback and opportunities that build the next level of skill.
Show what you can do. Use appropriate examples, qualifications, work records or references to demonstrate your preparation.

For students, relevant experience during high school can be valuable where the work is age-appropriate and properly supervised. Adults changing direction can use the same progression. You do not have to have discovered the field as a child to begin developing its skills.

Employer tests and career assessments differ

Some employers use job-relevant aptitude or skills assessments and provide training. Ask what preparation a particular employer expects and what training it actually offers; do not assume every company will train a new hire from the beginning.

The Highlands Ability Battery serves personal career and educational guidance. Its publisher’s terms state that it is not normed for employers to predict job performance or screen applicants for hiring. It should not be presented as an employer selection test.

The military has its own assessment system. The ASVAB includes verbal, mathematics, science/technical and spatial domains, including knowledge-based subtests. It is not simply a measure of untouched natural ability. Military specialty selection considers test results alongside other requirements and service needs, as described in the BLS military careers overview.

Choose the work, then plan the preparation

Skills development is most useful when it serves a direction that fits you. Your ability patterns are part of that choice, together with your interests, work style, internal needs and external circumstances. Read how those factors fit together and why driving abilities need an outlet.

Find My Profile Package to compare assessment coverage and debrief formats. First, buy and complete the package you choose. Each assessment includes consultation, using the package’s available video-plus-consultation or consultations-only format.

Decide your next step at the final profile consultation. If you want further support with Targeting or Landing, both phases involve coaching sessions with Marjorie Wall Hofer. Together, you agree on a plan and the scope of that further work.

The Career Profiler owns TestEts. Marjorie is the consultant for clients coming through this website. If you have questions before choosing a package, request a free 30-minute introductory consultation.

Start here: Aptitudes, Abilities and Skills: Start with Highlands explains why I begin with natural abilities before planning skill development.