Career Assessment
For Student and Non-students


The Center for Student Health and Counseling offers help with determining career goals or potential academic majors through career testing and counseling. Since career planning is a very personal process, a psychologist works with you to identify and clarify your career goals. Career assessment tools and strategies are used to determine career choices most congruent with your interests, personality characteristics, skills, abilities, and values.

The program is divided as follows:

  • Step 1: Inital Interview

    Meet with a psychologist. Discuss questions you have about yourself and your occupational future. Assess your educational background, occupational background, and any other life influences on your occupational endeavors.

  • Step 2: Testing
    (Approximately 4-8 hours. 2-3 appointments.) Tests may include the following:

    Interest Inventories - These compare interests and patterns that you have in common with individuals in various occupations and occupational groupings.

    Personality Indicators - These seek to determine your personality characteristics and thereby help you to identify work styles and environments that best suit you.

    Aptitude tests - These seek to determine some of your cognitive abilities, which are then matched to various kinds of occupations.

    Since a range of tests are used, a realistic question is whether or not they will help you. The key to getting the most out of a battery of tests is to use them as one tool in a process of self analysis. The tests can help you to pull together a lot of information, make a self-assessment, and thereby reach some clarity about yourself.

  • Step 3: Interpretation
    Meet with the psychologist to go over the test results.

  • Individual Planning
    The psychologist will help you map out a course of action. (Steps 3 and 4 may be combined.)

    Link to the PSU Career Center for other career planning services offered at PSU)


Registration Information:

1. Full-time PSU students (9+ credit hours) or Part-time PSU students (4-8 credit hours & paid Student Health Fee for current term)

  • Contact the Center for Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) to make an appointment with a psychologist for an "initial career assessment interview."
  • Call: 503-725-2800.
  • You will be billed at the time of your first testing appointment.
  • Fee is $100. This amount is assessed for testing only. There is no charge for appointments with a Psychologist.

Fee subject to change.


2. Community Members or Part-Time PSU Students (who have not paid Student Health Fee for current term)

  • In Person - Stop by our office located at: 1880 SW 6th, UCB Suite 310. (Enter on Hall or Harrison and take the elevator to the third floor).
  • By Phone - Call Testing Services: 503-725-5301. Have VISA or MasterCard ready.
  • By Mail - Call Testing Services to have a registration form mailed to you. Send completed form and fee payment to: SHAC Testing Services, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR., 97201.
  • Fee: $275. This amount is assessed for the entire Career Assessment package, which consists of four steps: Interview, Testing, Interpretation, and Planning.

Fee subject to change.