WHAT YOU GET
A 12-Page Work Motivation Profile Covering Values and Skills
The Report Covers two dimensions of career clarity: what your client values most in their work life and which skills energize or drain them. Includes a Best Job/Worst Job reflection exercise, a visual word cloud displaying Career Values by relative strength, a four-zone Motivational Skills matrix mapping enjoyment against competence, and structured reflection prompts.
The Participant Experience Participants access results through the Participant Hub, which delivers the on-screen report and Evidentra® where enabled.
The Practitioner Platform You administer through the Pro Account with project-based management, downloadable PDF reports, participant feedback, and NPS reporting at no additional charge.
Why Values and Skills Belong in the Same Assessment
Most career frameworks treat values and skills as separate exercises. A client might clarify their top values in one session and identify their skills in another, but the connection between what matters to them and what energizes them stays implicit. Career Signals measures both because the relationship between the two is where the most useful career insight lives.
The four-zone skills matrix makes that relationship visible. Skills are plotted on two dimensions simultaneously: how much the client enjoys using them and how competent they feel performing them. That intersection reveals something a single-dimension skills assessment misses: the burnout risk hiding in areas of high competence and low enjoyment. A client can be excellent at something and quietly exhausted by it. Career Signals names that pattern, which is the starting point for a more honest career conversation.
WHO THIS IS FOR
For Practitioners Who Want the Full Picture of What Drives Their Clients
Your clients are achieving by external measures but something feels off and they cannot name it.
Career Signals surfaces the values being overlooked and the skills being overused, giving the conversation a concrete starting point instead of a vague sense of misalignment.
You are using card sorts or separate exercises and want a consistent, documented process.
Career Signals delivers the same territory in a single scored assessment with a formal report, so every client gets a structured experience and you have documentation.
You work with clients in transition who need clarity on what to look for, not just what they are qualified to do.
The values profile and motivated skills zones shift the conversation from capability to fit, helping clients evaluate opportunities through the lens of what will sustain them.
You want career development to continue after the session ends.
The Participant Hub delivers the on-screen report and Evidentra® where enabled, so clients can return to their results between sessions without requiring more of your time.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Career Satisfaction Is Not Just About What You Are Good At
Practitioners who guide career decisions deserve tools that measure fit, not just capability. The careers that wear people down are rarely the ones they were unqualified for. They are the ones built around competence without consideration for what energizes the person doing the work. Someone can be excellent at something, recognized for it, and quietly depleted by it. That pattern rarely shows up in a performance review, and it rarely gets named until the disengagement is already significant. When the only data you have is interest and competence, those conversations come too late.
Career Signals was built to surface that pattern before the damage is done. When your clients can see both what they value and which skills drain them despite competence, you stop being the practitioner who helps people find what they are qualified to do. You become the one who helps them build a working life they can sustain.
Key Features of the Core Factors Career Signals
Two-Section Assessment: Career Values and Motivational Skills
The Career Values section identifies the principles, conditions, and outcomes a client prioritizes most. The Motivational Skills section measures both enjoyment and competence for each skill to reveal where energy and capability align and where they diverge.
Best Job/Worst Job Reflection Exercise
The assessment opens with a structured reflection on best and worst work experiences. These reflections anchor the quantitative results in actual history, making scored results feel concrete and personally relevant.
Visual Career Values Word Cloud
Career Values results are displayed as a word cloud where size reflects relative strength. Gives participants an immediate visual picture of their non-negotiables and a reference point for evaluating opportunities.
Four-Zone Motivational Skills Matrix
Skills plotted across enjoyment and competence into four zones: Motivated Skills (High Alignment), Development Opportunities (Growth Zone), Burnout Skills (Drain Zone), and Avoid Skills (Caution Zone). Surfaces burnout risk hidden in high competence areas.
12-Page Work Motivation Profile
Includes Best Job/Worst Job reflection, Career Values profile, Motivational Skills matrix, Making Sense of Your Signals section, and structured reflection prompts for applying results to career decisions.
No Required Training or Certification
Career Signals is available immediately within a Pro Account. No formal training or certification required.
Participant Hub and Evidentra
Participants access results through the Participant Hub. Evidentra® is available where enabled by the practitioner.
Developed by Core Factors
Career Signals was conceived by Kris Kiler, President of Core Factors, who developed the four-zone motivational skills matrix and designed the Work Motivation Profile report. The assessment was built to give career practitioners a single scored instrument covering both career values and motivational skills, replacing the combination of separate exercises and card sorts that practitioners were assembling on their own.
Item development and scoring were led by Mark Majors, PhD. Mark holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology and Multicultural Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is the developer of the Core Factors Type Discovery, Type Elements, Career Path, and Career Signals assessments and lead psychometrician for the Social Dynamics assessment.
GET STARTED
Three Steps to Start Using Career Signals
- Step 2
Schedule Your Onboarding Call
Once approved, you schedule a 30-minute call with your dedicated success manager to walk through the platform, answer your questions, and get you set up.
- Step 3
Start Using Career Signals
No training or certification is required. Career Signals is available immediately within your Pro Account once your application is approved.
FREE DOWNLOAD
Download Personalizing Career Development
The Personalizing Career Development special report offers a clear, research-grounded look at why traditional career planning methods no longer meet today’s evolving needs. Built for career development practitioners, coaches, and organizational leaders, this report explores the deeper factors that drive career satisfaction and sustainable success. It introduces a new model—structured yet flexible—that focuses on energy patterns, environmental fit, and dynamic self-awareness rather than static interest lists or rigid job matches. With practical insights and actionable frameworks, it equips practitioners to guide individuals more effectively through meaningful career exploration, transitions, and growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Career Signals is a values and motivational skills assessment designed to help individuals gain insight into what drives fulfillment and sustained engagement at work. It focuses on two key foundations of career clarity: your values (the principles and conditions that shape your motivation) and your skills (the activities that either energize you or require greater effort).
The assessment consists of two sections: Career Values and Motivational Skills. Participants reflect on real experiences, then respond to structured items that identify patterns of motivation, energy, and personal meaning in work. The results are presented in a 12-page Work Motivation Profile report.
Career Values measure what a person cares about most in their work life. This includes priorities such as autonomy, purpose, contribution, recognition, stability, growth, and teamwork. These values help define the conditions that support satisfaction and are displayed in a visual word cloud showing relative importance.
Motivational Skills reflect the areas where individuals feel both energized and effective. The assessment captures where clients feel motivated to contribute and where they may experience depletion, even if they are technically skilled. Skills are mapped into four zones based on the combination of enjoyment and competence.
The assessment is ideal for individuals seeking clarity around career direction, values alignment, or renewed purpose at work. It is especially useful during transitions, role changes, or periods of career reflection. It serves college students, mid-career professionals, and individuals navigating change.
Career Signals was created by Dr. Mark S. Majors, an expert in psychological assessments holding a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology and Multicultural Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Majors has decades of research and experience in psychometrics and career counseling, and is also the creator of Core Factors Career Path, Type Discovery, and Type Elements assessments.
The assessment typically takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete, depending on the pace and reflection of the individual. Participants are encouraged to consider their actual work experiences when responding.
The 12-page Work Motivation Profile includes an introduction to career clarity, a Best Job/Worst Job reflection exercise, your Values Profile displayed as a visual word cloud, your Skills Profile mapped across four motivational zones, guidance on making sense of your signals, and reflection prompts for navigating your career journey.
Without clarity on what matters most or what brings energy day to day, it is easy to feel misaligned even when achieving external success. Career Signals helps identify when values are being honored or overlooked and when skills are energizing or draining, providing early warning signs of potential burnout or disengagement.
Career Signals is primarily designed for individual career development, but organizations can use it to support internal mobility, leadership development, career conversations, or employee engagement efforts centered around values and motivation.
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