We’ve put together a comprehensive list of the best free career tests that are useful for K-12, college students, and adults. Here’s a Top 10 list of the best career tests we’ve researched. We’ll highlight the features that enabled the career test to rank in our top 10 lest so you can determine the best career test for your needs.
What career test is the best?
What career test is the best will depend on your own needs and what you consider necessary in a career test. This Top 10 list focused on career tests that are available to everyone. That meant we ensured they were free and that that the career test results were also free. Online career test resources we did not include in our Top 10 Best Career Test list are online career tests that provide a shorter, modified version of your test results and then require payment to access your full test results. The career tests on this list are also student-friendly, in that they do not require personal information to take their career tests or to receive your interest results. You also do not need to register on the site. The career tests listed also take users less than 10 minutes to complete.
1. YourFreeCareerTest.com
YourFreeCareerTest offers comprehensive free career tests that are used by middle school students, high school students, college students, and adults. You will not be asked to register and share any personal information in order to take a test. If you are asked to share your personal information to take a career test, you are not on our website and the test is not affiliated with YourFreeCareerTest. Username or password is not required to take the career test and your personal information is also not needed to ‘unlock’ additional information in your results.
Career Test features:
- Cost: All Career Tests on the site are free.
- Time: Each career test takes about 3 minutes to complete.
- Audience/Age: Most appropriate for middle, high school, college students, and adults.
- User Friendly: This resource is intuitive to navigate and easy to use.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required to take the test or get results.
- Mobile Friendly: The free career tests can be taken from a smart phone.
- Printable Results: The results are print friendly and is designed to use the least amount of paper and ink for school districts.
- Printable Version: There is not a printable version as the online tests calculate interest levels.
- Downloadable: The results can be downloaded as a PDF version if users access their Print > Save as PDF option in their browser.
- Translations: The general career test on YourFreeCareerTest’s home page is in English and also has Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and German translations with a modified test for the country of India which is offered in English, Marathi, and Hindi.
- Accessible: Those using screen readers or other assistive technology can take the career tests and gain the results.
2. O*NET Interest Profiler
The O*NET Interest Profiler is hosted on My Next Move website which is developed and maintained by the National Center for O*NET Development. It’s an interest inventory test that has 60 questions and provides test results that sort users into the following categories: Realistic, Investigative, Social, Artistic, Enterprising, and Conventional. It also gives an overview of each category and then lists what they call ‘job zones’ that fall into each. Users can then continue to research careers based on their results.
Career Test features:
- Cost: The O’NET Interest Profiler is free.
- Time: The test may take 10-15 minutes to complete.
- Audience/Age: Most appropriate for middle, high school, college students, and adults.
- User Friendly: There are directions on the website though it is not as user-friendly to navigate as other sites reviewed on this page.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required to take the test or get results.
- Mobile-Friendly: The O’NET Interest Profiler can not be taken on a smartphone or smaller-screened device.
- Printable Results: Yes and the results print to fit on about 2 pages saving on ink and paper.
- Printable Version: There is also a printable career test. This can be very useful for schools without computer labs or to give to students without access to the internet at home. If providing career counseling to inmates, this may also be the option you must use if they are not able to access the internet. The paper version can be accessed from their
- Downloadable: The results can be downloaded as a PDF version if users access their Print > Save as PDF option in their browser.
- Translations: English and Spanish (see Spanish version)
- Accessible: Unknown
3. Career quizzes and tests from Canada
The government of Canada offers free career quizzes and tests. Like YourFreeCareerTest offers various tests from its free career tests page, Canada also offers more than one test depending on your needs. The Canadian Government has 3 career quizzes to help you identify what jobs may be a good fit for you. Instead of grouping results into broad categories, these tests list individual careers that rank in order based on your responses. Along with career tests, Canada also offers three tests that allow users to explore their personality.
Career Test features:
- Cost: All the career tests and quizzes on the site are free.
- Time: The tests take 5 to 10 minutes to complete depending on the test.
- Audience/Age: Though the site doesn’t specify the age group and the images used seem elementary, the questions and results seem more appropriate for older students and adults.
- User Friendly: This resource is intuitive to navigate and easy to use.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required to take the test or get results.
- Mobile Friendly: The free career tests can be taken from a smart phone.
- Printable Results: The results can be printed. However, school districts and colleges should be aware that the images print and the results print over many pages and will use a lot of ink. Downloading the RTF file and printing that will remove the images and take up less paper and ink.
- Printable Version: There is no printable version as the online tests calculate interest levels.
- Downloadable: The results can be downloaded as an RTF file (which is text-only).
- Translations: French and English
- Accessible: Unknown
4. CareerOneStop Interest Assessment
CareerOneStop offers a 30-question interest assessment test to help users discover careers they are interested in. This interest assessment test is actually a quicker version of the O*NET Interest Profiler on My Next Move’s website. Where the O*NET Interest Profiler has 60 questions, CareerOneStop’s Interest Assessment is only 30 questions. After completing the assessment, the results match careers to those interests. CareerOneStop is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.
Interest Assessment features:
- Cost: The interest assessment is free.
- Time: The test may take 5 minutes to complete.
- Audience/Age: The questions are easy to answer, even for younger students. However, instead of results that explain test scores to a user, careers are listed in a table format making this much difficult for a younger student to use. This would be more beneficial for older students or adults.
- User Friendly: The assessment is easy to navigate but the results may not be as intuitive.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required to take the interest assessment or get results.
- Mobile Friendly: The question labels on the assessment disappear on a mobile device and the results page is not responsive. This resource is not mobile friendly.
- Printable Results: All of the users results do not print and when last tested, the print button did not work. At this time, users can not print results as expected.
- Printable Version: There is no printable version as the online tests calculate interest levels.
- Downloadable: The results can’t be downloaded but they can be emailed.
- Translations: English
- Accessible: Unknown
5. National Career Services Skills Assessment
The National Career Services Skills Assessment is based out of the United Kingdom, but can be useful for people from other countries. Their target audience is for people researching careers in England and those in need of career advice. This skills assessment allows the user to rate various scenarios then provides users with an overview of their general characteristics and personality traits. It then lists the top 10 career fields that fit the user’s personality best. You can also expand a career field and answer more questions to narrow your results even further.
Skills Assessment features:
- Cost: The skills assessment is free.
- Time: The test may take about 10 minutes to complete.
- Audience/Age: Most appropriate for high school, college students, and adults.
- User Friendly: This resource is intuitive to navigate and easy to use.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required to take the test or get results.
- Mobile Friendly: The Skills Assessment is mobile friendly.
- Printable Results: The results are print friendly.
- Printable Version: There is not a printable version as the online tests calculate interest levels. However, it does provide a reference code so you can email and reference your results later.
- Translations: English
- Accessible: Unknown
6. Career Quiz and Job Outlook from Austrailia
The Australian government has a free Career Quiz (this resource does load slow to give it a minute). This test is designed differently than the others in that it groups 6 tasks together and asks you to choose your favorite out of the bunch. The report then gives your interest level in 6 categories: creative, administrative, analytical, enterprising, helping, and practical. Then, it matches the user to careers based on those interest scores.
Career Quiz features:
- Cost: The career quiz is free.
- Time: The test may take 5-10 minutes to complete.
- Audience/Age: Most appropriate for high school, college students, and adults.
- User Friendly: The site does load slow at first but the groups of questions are then easy to navigate. On the user’s results page, the careers matching the results may also take time to load. The report is not as intuitive as each of the 6 categories has a tiny question mark button that provides more information about the category and this button may be easy to miss.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required to take the test or get results.
- Mobile Friendly: The career quiz is mobile friendly.
- Printable Results: The results are print-friendly and will use about 6 pieces of paper (if printed one-sided).
- Printable Version: There is not a printable version as the online tests calculate interest levels.
- Downloadable: The results can be downloaded as a PDF version if users access their Print > Save as PDF option in their browser.
- Translations: English
- Accessible: Unknown
7. CareerQuest
CareerQuest is a career interest test that ultimately matches a user’s interest in careers. The results only display a list of specific careers that it calculates the user is more interested in based on their answers. This test could be useful for people whose native language is not English as there are three photos above each question to help illustrate the intent of the question. It may also help children who may have a lower reading level, complete a career test. The results do not contain information about a user that they can reflect on. It only contains lists of jobs they may be most interested in. If looking for a career test good resource, evaluate this career test before assigning it to your audience.
CareerQuest features:
- Cost: The career test is free.
- Time: The test is has a lot of questions and may take 15 minutes to complete.
- Audience/Age: This may be easier for younger kids to understand as this resource has been recognized by the WriteMark Plain English Awards for Best Plain English Website. It also uses photos that compliment the question, making the questions easier to understand. However, younger children may lose interest as this is a longer test with almost 80 questions.
- User Friendly: The site is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required. However, the website gives the impression that it is required. There is a small link under the Sign In button that gives the user the option to opt-out. This opt-out link is extremely easy to miss. By signing up, you will receive more features than a user who does not sign up.
- Mobile Friendly: The career quiz is mobile friendly though may take up data as it has 3 images associated with each question.
- Printable Results: The results are print-friendly and will use about 4 pieces of paper (if printed one-sided).
- Printable Version: There is not a printable version as the online tests calculate interest levels.
- Downloadable: The results can be downloaded as a PDF version if users access their Print > Save as PDF option in their browser.
- Translations: English
- Accessible: Unknown
8. Holland Code (RIASEC) Test
Developed in the 1950s, the Holland Code (RIASEC) Test matches users against six types of career interest categories: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. The results page explains the user’s career interest category and provides more information on suitable careers. This test is in the public domain and used for psychological research today. Because it is in the public domain, other assessments online may be built upon this foundational work. There is a disclaimer on the site that reads, “this test is provided for educational and entertainment use only. It should not be used as psychological advice of any kind and comes without any guarantee of accuracy or fitness for any particular purpose. Also, your responses may be recorded and anonymously used for research or otherwise distributed.”
The Holland Code (RIASEC) features:
- Cost: The Holland Code (RIASEC) Test is free.
- Time: The test has 48 questions and it is fairly quick to take. It’s estimated under 5 minutes.
- Audience/Age: This test may have vocabulary in the questions that would make it challenging for a younger student or struggling reader to comprehend. This may be more useful for college students and adults.
- User Friendly: The site is user-friendly and easy to navigate.
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required.
- Mobile Friendly: The career quiz is mobile friendly and it loads quickly.
- Printable Results: The results are print-friendly and will use about 4 pieces of paper (if printed one-sided).
- Printable Version: There is not a printable version as the online tests calculate interest levels.
- Downloadable: The results can be downloaded as a PDF version if users access their Print > Save as PDF option in their browser.
- Translations: English
- Accessible: Unknown
9. Career Clusters Interest Survey (Paper-based)
Career Clusters Interest Survey is a paper-based career interest test that allows individuals to narrow down career fields of intreats. YourFreeCareerTest does not have a paper-based career test as the calculation takes place online. For those who need a paper-based career interest test, this is an option. This can be useful for those who may be incarcerated or those with limited access to technology or the internet.
This career interest survey focuses on activities, personality qualities, and school subjects the user enjoys. To get results, users circle as many or as few circles in each of the provided boxes as they choose. When complete, the number of circles in each box are added up to determine the user’s top three highest numeric values. This assessment only provides career clusters and career titles are not listed. However, this provides a good starting point to explore various occupations that may fall into the clusters.
Career Clusters Interest Survey features:
- Cost: The Career Clusters Interest Survey is free.
- Time: The Career Clusters Interest Inventory can take an average 10-20 minutes to complete.
- Audience/Age: Most appropriate for high school, college students, and adults.
- User Friendly: N/A
- Registration: No registration or personal information is required.
- Mobile Friendly: No. This is a paper-based version only.
- Printable Results: The results are print-friendly and takes about 6 pages to print (if printing one sided) as this is a paper-based resource.
- Printable Version: Yes. This is only paper-based.
- Downloadable: There is nothing to download. A user’s results would be on their paper-based copy they completed.
- Translations: There is no evidence of other translations
- Accessible: To take the test a user must be able to read and write or be assisted by someone who can.
10. Research Careers
These are the best career tests that we found that are free, student-friendly, and did not require registration. If assigning resources to students, always explain the objective of taking career interest tests. You want to ensure students understand that career tests are a tool that can help them discover what their interests are and identify what careers they may want to research. Career tests do not predict how successful anyone will be in a career or if a person will truly will the career interesting over time.
After taking any of the career tests listed here, it’s key to research the careers. You can visit the Careers page on this resource and choose the career field you’re researching. You can also use the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook or careeronestop.org. Remember that your local community college may also have college and career advisors to help you gain even more insight into career options and careers that compliment your goals.
