Tech pioneer and former CEO, Mark Palmer, writes on his blog, Techno Sapien, about how his aptitude testing experience has not only guided his career, but has been meaningful in his personal life as well:
“I was 28. After five years as a programmer, I didn’t love my job. Self-help books stirred me to find my passion and “the color of my parachute,” but I struggled.
Maybe my company is the problem, I thought. I used a recruiter and found three jobs: two in programming and one in sales. But these were VERY different career paths. Which was best? How would I know?
One of my favorite authors at the time, Denis Waitley, called Johnson O’Connor (JOC) aptitude testing ‘the best thing you can do for your career.’ I signed up.
What I learned changed four lives.
The THEORY: aptitudes are your Superpower DNA. We all have natural aptitudes. According to JOC’s research, there are eight aptitudes you’re born with that are easily discovered. And, like your DNA, aptitudes don’t change. Often, they lie hidden, untapped, unused.
The theory is, if use your aptitudes at work, you’ll be happier and more successful. JOC has refined its aptitude tests since 1922 on hundreds of thousands of people.
The TEST. JOC aptitude testing is a two-day affair. My closest testing center was in Boston–an old brownstone on Commonwealth Ave. The tests were weird. I assembled blocks, solved puzzles, and listened to music.
For example, one test was to use tweezers to put as many tiny metal rods into a block full of holes, as fast as I could. I learned later that this is the “tweezer dexterity” aptitude test. Happy surgeons score high on this aptitude.
After a day of tests, I was exhausted. I wondered, “WTF do these bizarre tests have to do with work?”
The RESULTS. The next day, I met with my counselor. I had never seen him before. As he presented my results, he seemed to know me better than I knew myself. It was, well, spooky…”
Read Mark’s full piece on Techno Sapien.