It is common for students to want to know what they’re best at and to connect this information to their career planning. Sometimes others in our lives will tell us that we’re good at something and should consider a career related to that activity. For example, if you’re seen to be good with children you may be encouraged to become a teacher.

What is aptitude? Some people see aptitude as referring to “natural” ability or skill. Others view aptitudes as referring to specific capacities and abilities required from a person to perform a task or job duty. It is important to consider what your aptitudes are but maybe less important than you think. Some career theorists believe that most people have the capabilities to work in 90% or more of the jobs that exist in the world. These people would say that your aptitude is not as important as what you want to do because...you will develop skills in things that you’re interested in.

Aptitude Information and Assessment:

• Start thinking about your aptitudes by considering what things (i.e., activities) come easier for you. This includes activities outside of school. For example, have you always been good at understanding direction and visualizing layouts of cities/communities.
• Remember that getting a low grade in a course may not mean that you have no aptitude for that subject. There are many reasons for low grades including poor instruction, questionable assessment techniques, unfocused studying, chaos in life, etc.
• Career Services does not perform aptitude testing for career planning.
• For more information on aptitudes, check the Career Handbook available from the Government of Canada.
• Always consider whether or not you can develop skills related to the work you’re considering. It is a fact that we all have relative strengths and relative weaknesses and you probably do not want a job where you will have to use relative weaknesses frequently (e.g., you may not want to be an accountant if you’re not a detail oriented person – i.e., you make detail mistakes easily).