MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, April 16, 2012—CPP, Inc. (www.cpp.com), an industry leader in research, training, and organizational development tools, including the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) assessment, announced today that it has updated the Occupational Scales of the Strong Interest Inventory® assessment. The Strong tool, which enables people to chart fulfilling career paths by reflecting how their interests, preferences, and personal styles relate to actual careers, was re-launched on April 13, 2012, updated for a new and rapidly changing career landscape.
The update, which reflects changes in today’s workplace and society at large, includes the addition of new occupational scales, the removal of several old scales, and updates or revisions to some existing scales.
“The world of work has changed dramatically over the past decade with a technological revolution, globalization, economic upheaval, and major demographic shifts,” said Jeff Hayes, president and CEO of CPP. “Through it all, the importance of finding fulfillment through one’s career as a major determinant of success has remained constant.”
The 260 Occupational Scales specifically compare people’s interests to the interests of others who are successful in their profession via a rigorously constructed questionnaire, yielding results that help determine how likely individuals are to find satisfaction in a given occupation. It offers a user-friendly presentation, along with transparent technical and reliability data, that helps high school and college students and workers who are in transition make informed career choices.
While the Strong assessment has been in use since 1927, its scales have been updated regularly to reflect contemporary professional realities. As such, it has maintained its position as one of the world’s most respected and widely used career planning tools, along with other CPP products, which have been used by 100% of the top 100 U.S. colleges, according to U.S. News & World Report (2011).
As in prior versions of the Strong, data for the update were collected from the population of employed adults in the United States. Several new occupations mirrored the findings of popular press articles and online reports featuring “best jobs” and “hot career fields,” such as those found in U.S. News & World Report, Fast Company, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and CNN Money. For example, a CNN Money report indicated double-digit ten-year growth for careers related to new Strong Occupational Scales, particularly those associated with technology such as software developer, information technology consultant, and Web developer. The report also identified marked growth in finance-related careers such as financial advisor and financial analyst.
“The Strong Interest Inventory assessment plays a vital role in connecting people to their ideal career paths—a function that’s important for both individuals and the overall economy,” said Jeffrey Prince, PhD, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, UC Berkeley. “This update ensures that the instrument remains intimately connected to the pulse of the workplace, and increases its relevance to a new generation of careers.”
For more information, please visit www.cpp.com/strongupdate or Skillsone.com or contact Leah Walling at www.cpp.com.
*Statistics are drawn from CNN Money’s “Best Jobs for Fast Growth” for 2011.