First and foremost, the CliftonStrengths for Students assessment is a measure of your talents, not your weaknesses. If you decide to take the assessment, you will get a clearer picture of talents you possess. Talk with a career counselor about strategies for capitalizing on these talents and turning them into strengths.
Taking CliftonStrengths for Students is a 3-step process:
- 30-minute Informational Meeting
- Taking the Inventory
- 30-minute Interpretive Meeting
If you are interested in signing up to take the assessment, please schedule an appointment with a career coach in Handshake.
Step 1: The Informational Meeting
The Informational Meeting is the first step to taking the CliftonStrengths for Students. At this 30-minute meeting you will have a conversation with one of the Career Coaches about the assessment. At the end of your meeting, you will receive a code to take the assessment and the link to the assessment’s website. We will also schedule a follow-up Interpretive Meeting to talk about your results. This meeting can be scheduled as soon as three days later or up until the week after your Informational Meeting.
Step 2: Taking the CliftonStrengths for Students
Once you have your code, you may take the StrengthsQuest. However, we do suggest that you find a place that best suits your studying style.
When taking the StrengthsQuest you should set aside 35-40 minutes. It may take less time, but make sure you are not rushing through the exam just to get it done.
Step 3: The Interpretive Meeting
After you have taken the CliftonStrengths for Students, you will receive your Top 5 Strengths.
Once you have completed the online assessment, you will receive an Action-Planning Guide that is based on your results. This guide includes:
- Your top five theme report, built around the new Strengths Insight descriptions
- 50 Ideas for Action (10 for each of your top five themes) based on thousands of best-practice suggestions we reviewed
- A Strengths Discovery Activity that helps you think about how your talents, investment, experience, skills, and knowledge work together to build strengths
- A Strength-Based Action Plan for setting specific goals for building and applying your strengths in the next week, month, and year
At your optional Interpretive Meeting, you and your Career Coach will talk about the results, and how they may translate into your next steps. We urge you to come back to the Center for Career and Professional Development with questions you may have after the meeting. Additionally, we will keep a copy of your results on file to reference if you work with us again in the future.