What is Interest-Aptitude Concept used in Career Assessment?

The best careers advice to give to the young is 'Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.' - Katharine White horn

Any individual would need some Motivation for pursuing any activity in life. If we follow the Maslow's theory of "Hierarchy of needs" it is a pyramid structure which has Self Actualization on the top followed by Esteem, Love, Safety and Physiological needs in the base. Once the basic needs are fulfilled the individual would look upwards towards need for Self Actualization.

Self-actualization is a psychology term which means man's tendency to actualize him or to achieve one's full potential. Abraham Harold Maslow American professor of psychology (1908- 1970) defines Self-actualization as "What a man can be, he must be". "A musician must make music, an artist must paint and a poet must write," If a person's self-actualization needs are not met, he feels restless, edgy and lacking something.

In terms of Career Choice Self Actualization is realizing what the person is meant to do. Or in other words what is the purpose of his life and what would be the source of his bread earning. Of course Career is by choice and not by chance. When the individual has realized his Aptitude or Abilities or Capabilities or Capacities and blended with his Interest or hobby or liking then comes out his true potential. The exact sense of Self Actualization lies in the true realization of one's Potential. This makes a person known to himself and renowned to the world.

There are several factors which are all together responsible for a students to select which career/stream/course he/she is best suited for, these factors gives a proper direction to student, to be in the position to decide what he/she is capable of doing. These factors help in the judgment of student who is in the dilemma of making correct decision for them. The difficulty level of choosing right career/stream/course arises due to the fact that students knows the decision once taken could not be corrected again ever. The factors which help in making the task easier are:A Match of Aptitude and Interest

Self discovery is an important part of career planning

By doing a little digging through the use of career assessments, career seekers can be more informed and confident about choosing a career/stream/course that will be the most successful and satisfying for them.

Considering only Aptitude and no interest means that the person will be able to do the task but not for a prolonged period of time and considering only interest will mean that the person may or might not have the skills and abilities to the task properly for which he is interested.

Based on personal interests or aptitude only, it can be quite difficult to judge which subjects a student must pursue as even though a student might want to be an engineer, it would not matter unless he/she is good at science. This implies that even though a student might dream of pursuing a particular career, they might not always have an aptitude for those subjects or

if they have aptitude of studying a particular subject but do not have interest in it will be difficult for them to study that subject.

For this reason, a student must know their aptitudes and interest before they decide what subject stream they are interested in which finally would match to their career. It is not advisable to dream of being an engineer when the student knows that he/she was no good at science. Even though certain subjects and associated careers may appeal to a student more than others, they can only pursue them if they have an aptitude for those subjects.

Careers require combinations: It is also important that at the heart of a career lie a group of skills or skill sets. In other words, most careers require combinations of aptitudes. A career in architecture for example would require spatial as well as logical skills. The aptitude profile of a successful jewellery designer is likely to be characterised by sensitivity to colour, shape and form, along with fine motor skills. A brilliant diagnostician who is rough and callous toward human feelings and emotions does not necessarily make a good medical practitioner.
A career comprises of a group of tasks. The potential to do well in as many of the tasks linked to a particular career as possible, contributes to success in that career.
When Aptitude and Interest is combined it tells the potential of the person to perform the task given. If the student knows his or her potential it will be easy to take decisions related to his career easily. It must be remembered that while interest and aptitude are separate from each other and can exist as separate entities yet, both interest and aptitude are necessary conditions for successful performance - but neither is sufficient on its own.

Both interest and Aptitude are variable which means that Aptitude can be improvised by continuous learning and skill practice where as interest can be developed by the methodology and future utility of learning. A rule of thumb that a career chooser can keep in mind, is that interest profiles are likely to go through great variations up to around the age of 16 to 18 years. The strength of an interest is closely related to: personal experiences with an activity, the belief that one can do well at an activity (self-efficacy), attitudes and preconceived notions held by the individual and significant others in the person's life (e.g. career beliefs) about an activity

High interest does not signify high ability: An interest in a particular activity indicates that the individual is drawn toward it and derives enjoyment from it. It does not necessarily mean that he or she is good at that activity. Success in a career is achieved in an environment of intense competition. Merely being interested and motivated, however strong this motivation, does not guarantee that the individual could develop a sufficiently high level of skill to succeed in the face of competition.