About Aptitudes
Aptitudes Are Natural Abilities
Aptitudes are natural talents or abilities that indicate your potential to perform or learn certain tasks quickly and easily. They can also be seen as inclinations, tendencies, or general suitability for specific activities. Your aptitudes are typically unaffected by your knowledge, culture, education, or interests; they are more about your inherent traits. Examples of aptitudes include a natural talent for music or sports.
Everyone has certain things that come more easily to them than others. For instance, someone might be a gifted painter but struggle with writing. Another person might excel at connecting with people but feel miserable doing paperwork. A mechanic who is brilliant at fixing machines might not feel competent playing an instrument. These variations among individuals are crucial in explaining why people find satisfaction in different careers. We all have a unique combination of innate strengths and weaknesses that we need opportunities to use. Our aptitude testing will identify your natural abilities, suggesting roles you are likely to find most satisfying and those you might want to avoid.
Are you good at generating ideas or analyzing numerical information? Can you think three-dimensionally or quickly organize information? These are examples of the aptitudes we assess in our test battery. Our research indicates that aptitudes stabilize around the age of fourteen and tend to remain consistent over time, even as interests and skillsets evolve.
Career Fields Use Different Combinations of Aptitudes
Every occupation, whether in engineering, medicine, law, or management, requires specific aptitudes and does not rely on others. You’re most likely to enjoy and succeed in work that aligns with your natural aptitudes. For example, if you’re an engineer with unused aptitudes, your job might feel unrewarding. Conversely, if you lack the aptitudes necessary for engineering, the work could feel difficult, requiring more energy and effort.
What are your natural aptitudes?
Testing Will Help You Find Your Fit
With over 100 years of extensive research into aptitudes and careers, the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation has been able to isolate 21 different aptitudes. The collection of interactive tests that you take in our testing centers are measures of these aptitudes.
The primary purpose of taking aptitude tests is to discover areas in which you have innate ability. Our research shows that people tend to be more satisfied and successful in occupations that challenge their aptitudes and don’t demand aptitudes that they lack.
Our aptitude testing program helps you discover the educational paths and types of work that best match your aptitudes. By identifying your natural strengths and abilities, our testing provides insights into which careers and fields of study you are most likely to excel in and enjoy. This understanding can guide you in making more informed decisions about your future, ensuring that your choices are aligned with your inherent talents. As Johnson O’Connor put it many years ago:
The individual who knows his own aptitudes, and their relative strengths, chooses more intelligently among the world’s host of opportunities.
The validation that comes with understanding your natural strengths and weaknesses can be profound. We often hear from former clients who want to update us on how testing helped them find satisfying career directions. You can read some of their stories on our Client Experiences page.
Aptitude testing is a unique experience, and you might have questions about what you can expect from the service. You can read more about the testing experience here or in our brochure [pdf]. You can also visit our Events page to register for an upcoming informational webinar.