Career Planning

The Acadia Student Resource Centre uses two Standarized Inventories to help you explore your career choices and better understand your values, interests and abilities.These are self-reported questionnaires that are designed to measure your preferences and interests and match them with those in various compatable professions.  As well, the centre offers an inventory that will help you understand and improve your study habits.

• The Strong Interest Inventory

• The Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI)

• The Exam Preparation Inventory

These tests are available to students, and to university employees and their eligible dependents through the Acadia University Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).

For an additional fee, those outside the University Community (Private Clients) may also take these tests. They are available on-line and are administered by the Student Resource Centre.

Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI)

The MBTI is based on Carl Jung's theory of psychological types. Your "type" is the combination of preferences that you choose when you answer the MBTI questions. The questions in the MBTI are not important in themselves, but they do indicate your basic preferences:

• Where you prefer to focus your attention

• How you acquire information

• How you make decisions

• How you orient toward the outer world

There is no right or wrong to these preferences. They simply produce different kinds of people who are interested in different things, who are good in different fields and often find it hard to understand each other. An understanding of type in general and your own type in particular can help you choose your career and help you deal with the problems and people in your life.

So . . . if you are curious about your personality type, a core business student encountering problems working in your group, or want to improve relations with your room-mate, partner or friend, why not do the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?

Strong Interest Inventory

The Strong, is a self-reported questionnaire used to measure and describe people's interests in a broad range of occupations, work and leisure activities and educational subjects. Created by E.K. Strong, Jr., the Strong was designed to help individuals make educational and career plans. It has been used in educational settings, public institutions and private organizations for nearly 80 years.

Its major purpose is to help individuals understand how their interests and skills map into the occupational world, thereby helping them make better career choices. With a focus on careers that require a post-secondary education, this inventory is most appropriate for individuals who have completed college, are currently enrolled in college, or plan to attend.

Fees for Testing

Exam Preparation Inventory

Not everyone learns and retains information the same way. The Exam Preparation Inventory (EPI) is a measure of test preparation and study behaviours. Categorized into scales that parallel the 8 MBTI ® preferences, the EPI will help students succeed by discovering a learning strategy that fits their personality.

Note about the Surveys

These surveys are available online. Each one takes about half an hour to complete. The results of the surveys will be printed at the Student Resource Centre. You keep the hardcopy printout at the conclusion of your session. We will be in touch with you to set up a time when you can talk over the results with one of our trained counsellors.

For more information, just drop into the Student Resource Centre, call 585-1246 or

Email: counselling@acadiau.ca.