The Most and Least Stressful Jobs

When people choose a career path, one of the factors they often forget to consider is the stress level of the job. A career aptitude test can give a person insight into a career that suits your personality. While most people would assume that higher stress automatically means more money, this is not always the case. If a free career aptitude test indicates that a certain job may suit your personality, you should consider the causes of job related stress.

Personal Danger

Generally speaking, regardless of the results of your aptitude test, the more risk a job poses to your health, the more stress comes with that job. Firefighters, police officers, and miners are examples of high danger jobs that create stress. The thing that makes a career assessment test so valuable is that for some people, the danger does not automatically increase stress. Knowing how well your personality is suited to a high danger job saves a great deal of time when selecting a career. On the other end of the spectrum, jobs like GIS analyst, web developer, and computer software engineer offer an environment where carpal tunnel syndrome is the biggest danger.

High Stakes

Some jobs place place the world on a single person’s shoulders. If a career aptitude test indicates that you do not deal well with a high level or personal responsibility, these careers should be avoided. Jobs that cause stress through high stakes where money and/or lives are on the line are things like: corporate executives, civil engineers, surgeons, commercial pilots, and air traffic controllers. On the other hand, jobs like biomedical engineer or transportation engineer offer low stress because the results of their decisions will not be implemented without thorough testing to predetermine results.

Pressure to Perform

Careers that require a person to always be at the top of his or her game create great deal of stress. Someone like a real estate agent must successfully make sales to put food on the table. The feeling that you are putting in work every time, but only getting paid sometimes can be extremely psychologically draining. Contrast this with a job like statistician or technical writer where you compile data and generate reports, and it is clear that these jobs would create little performance pressure outside of a deadline situation.

Dealing with Unhappy People

The customer may always be right, but the customer can also add a load of stress to your life. Situations where you spend the entire work day dealing with people who feel that they are the authority and it is your job to obey them can be a nightmare. Jobs like taxi driver and waitress are situations where customers often have unrealistic and unreasonable demands but expect them to be met. On the other hand, some careers place you in a position as the authority and people consider your task to help them rather than obey them. These are careers like optometrist and consultant.

Understanding the things that cause you stress is a big step in the right decision for someone planning to embark on a new career.

Hot Jobs in 2011

In today’s volatile economy, young students are not the only ones who are trying to figure out what to do with their lives as it relates to a career. Many adults are also interested in career opportunities, some because they want a change and others because they need to find a job. Whatever the reason, all age groups can find solace in certain assessments, or tests, that are designed to help with career goals and plans.

One of these is a career aptitude test that offers a variety of questions about interests, styles of working and interaction methods, particularly with people. The best advice for taking this type of test is honesty. It is also important for test-takers to be true to their instincts. The results can help in figuring out natural strengths and weaknesses as well as comfortable preferences in jobs. This is a fantastic tool for narrowing choices and career highways.

Another option is a basic aptitude test, which measures a large range of abilities such as verbal, general reasoning, mathematical operations and mechanical abilities. Sometimes this type of test is thought of as a broad-based intelligence test or a means to determine general academic abilities.

For those who are not sure if their career is quite right for them or if they feel that it is not very satisfying, it might be a good idea to begin a career assessment—or to take a career assessment test to analyze the situation. This type of test can help to speed up the process of figuring out what to do or how to provide a process for thinking about and planning career changes. It also helps with boosting self-esteem because it provides talent alerts, which helps with self-confidence when thinking about changing careers. Basically, this is a valuable diagnostic tool that matches people with the best career options for them.

The most difficult thing about beginning, changing or evaluating a career, for almost everyone, is trying to determine the best personal career path. Everyone can find a choice that is suited to their personality and ability, but most fumble around with getting the process started. However, this is a fairly easy task because many free career aptitude tests are available, and many of them are on-line. They give test-takers an edge on figuring out skills and interests, and that is a real advantage for job-seekers.

One of these free tests is called the Myers-Briggs test, which is an assessment of personality, perception and intuitive abilities. Other personality tests are also available as are various IQ tests. Some tests even match personalities to career choices, and others match temperaments to job possibilities.

Free tests are also available for specific careers. These might assess whether a person would be a good manager, sales associate or home-worker. There are even free tests for firefighters and circus performers. In fact, with a bit of effort, just about anyone who is interested in researching job abilities can find a free test that will help them in their career planning.

Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For

The only thing that could be better than getting paid to do what you love is getting paid to work with people you love. Once you have taken a career aptitude test to identify your professional strengths and interests, you should invest some time in identifying and researching companies that hire people with those skills.

Today’s blog highlights Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. The list recognizes American companies that have implemented creative strategies that put the employees’ needs first, but still continue to earn a nice profit. Most companies offer their employees access to excellent health care plans, flexible working schedules and generous benefit packages. Many also offer unique perks, including on-site childcare and summer camp scholarships, state-of-the art gym equipment and sabbaticals, as well as access to life coaches, corporate jets, free laundry services and Botox.

This year, Fortune’s well-respect list recognizes SAS, Edward Jones, Wegman, Google and Nugget as being the Top 5 companies to work for. Google also received first-place in the Most Admired Companies category, along with FedEx, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and Nordstrom.

And, in spite of the recession, 25 companies on the list are looking to hire nearly 137,000 employees. Although Accenture was ranked 84 out of 100 on the list, the management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company leads the pack with 45,000 open positions. Consultants average $82,500 per year, while Enterprise Analysts earn roughly $52,000 annually. Deloitte (#70) is looking to fill 11,000 positions, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (#71) has 5,097 openings, Nordstrom (#53) needs 4,766 more employees and Mariott (#82) is hiring for 4,696 positions worldwide.

On the flip side, it is much more difficult to get hired on by the nation’s top-paying companies. The law firm, Baker Donelson, pays its shareholders $319,779 and legal secretaries earn $50,506, but the company only has three openings. Likewise, Bingham, another law firm, pays its associates an average of $233,800 and its legal secretaries $73,233, but only has seven empty positions.

If you haven’t taken an aptitude test yet or completed a career assessment, Career Explorer offers a free career aptitude test that will help you identity your strengths and weaknesses based on your interests, talents, hobbies and lifestyle preferences. Whatever results you receive on your career assessment test, you are sure to find a company that needs your skill set.

So, once you are done, come back and look over Fortune’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. Whether you are interested in becoming a customer service rep or a sales managers or a financial maven, the top companies all seem to agree on one thing: it’s important to be self-driven, flexible and a team player. Companies also appreciate employees who are innovative, adaptable and committed to their community.

The Most Stressful Jobs in America

With so many employment opportunities, it can be hard to pick the right career that fits your skills and knowledge. A career aptitude test asks you questions about your interests, skills, strengths and weaknesses. The aptitude test then gives you options on what careers may fit your personality and likes. It is not perfect, but it can help you get started on figuring out what career path you might want to consider. A free career aptitude test can be found online through many websites. However, be aware that there are some stressful jobs out there. No job is perfect, but if it’s something you love, then go for it.

One of the most stressful jobs in the United States is a real estate agent. This job is very competitive because of the many homes for sale and competitive real estate businesses. A lot of money is at stake and pay is based on commission. There is always the pressure of time because many people want to sell their homes as soon as possible. They work an average of nine and a half hours a day and the unemployment rate is between four and seven percent. Another stressful job is an advertising executive. They too are a very competitive business, under a lot of pressure, work the same hours as a real estate agent, but have higher unemployment rates exceeding 14 percent.

Public relations officers deal with a lot of competition and pressure in their nine hour work days. This industry also has a four to seven percent unemployment rate. Highway patrol officers and police officers do not deal with a lot of competition because their jobs are not fit for everybody. They spend a lot of time driving and have to be aware of reckless drivers. Commercial pilots work nine hour days with average pressure. This career is also not for everyone because many lives are in a pilot’s hand. The pressure of being in charge of a plane can be stressful for some.

Surgeons also have to deal with people’s lives in their hands. They work long eleven hour days and the stress can be high because of the competition and knowledge they must have. Taxi drivers are also under stress when a passenger is in a rush. The unemployment rate is very high because many people drive themselves or take public transportation.

Corporate executives work long business hours and deal with keeping a company profitable and well-liked. They are in charge of many things. Firefighters deal with saving lives and taking out fires quickly. Their stress levels can be high because they too work long shifts. The unemployment rate for these jobs is below four percent.

A career assessment test can tell you if what you want to major in college is right for you. It can also help people who are interested in a career change. A career assessment is a great tool in figuring out what you want to do for the rest of your life.

According to the Wall Street Journal, some experts report that nearly 85% of employers “Google” a candidate before or after an interview. So, how can you create your online identity, use it to benefit you and avoid negative information? Use the following tips to get started.

1. Create a Google profile. Creating your Google profile helps you control your information that shows up in Google. It also allows you to link any websites or website pages you are affiliated with.
2. Create a LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a professional network that allows you to reconnect with former employees, make new connections in your industry and get advice from industry experts. Changing the URL to feature your name can help you create more online awareness.
3. Work your websites. The more you update content, comment on career relevant blogs (add a link back to your website or website page when you do) and get others to link to your website pages, the more relevant your online identity becomes.
4. Remove as much negative information as you can. Go through your websites and make sure everything you have posted is appropriate for a potential employer to view.

Your online identity is becoming more important every day. Takes steps to control it and the next job you apply for could be yours!