WHAT YOU GET
A 14-Page Career Exploration Profile Plus O*NET Job Matching
The Report Covers all 11 Occupational Activity Groupings with independently scored Preference and Avoidance results, plus a three-letter Global Interest Area (GIA) code that connects directly to the ONET database. Includes OAG descriptions, the full Preference and Avoidance profile, GIA results, a career exploration section, and an ONET job title appendix.
The Participant Experience Participants access results through the Participant Hub, which delivers the on-screen report, the Career Explorer module for ongoing O*NET exploration, and Career Path Resources for continued development. Evidentra® is available 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 Preference and Avoidance Are Scored Independently
Most career frameworks assume that if you prefer something, you do not avoid it. Career Path was built on a different premise. Preference and Avoidance are independently scored on each of the 11 OAGs because the data shows they are not simply opposites. Correlations between the Prefer and Avoid sides of each OAG scale range from -.5 to -.7, meaning 25 to 49 percent of the relationship between them is shared. The rest is independent information that a single interest score would miss entirely.
This matters because clients regularly report moderate preference and moderate avoidance in the same occupational area. That is not a contradiction. It reflects a real experience of work where someone can find an activity engaging and draining depending on context, volume, or environment. Career Path surfaces that nuance rather than flattening it into a single score. Ipsative scoring then places each result within the individual’s own profile, keeping the conversation focused on personal patterns.
WHO THIS IS FOR
For Practitioners Who Know That Interest Alone Does Not Predict Fit
Your clients know what they are interested in. They keep choosing roles that do not work out.
Career Path adds the avoidance dimension, surfacing friction patterns that interest scores do not capture and that clients rarely articulate on their own.
You use the Strong or SDS and find yourself manually digging for what clients want to avoid.
Career Path measures avoidance as a scored dimension across all 11 OAGs, so that conversation is built into the results rather than left to you to excavate.
You work with clients in transition who need more than a code and a list of occupations.
The combination of OAG patterns, GIA code, O*NET matching, and Career Explorer gives clients a structured path from results to real options.
You want career work to continue after the session ends.
The Participant Hub delivers the Career Explorer module, Career Path Resources, and Evidentra® so clients keep exploring between sessions without requiring more of your time.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Career Satisfaction Depends as Much on What You Avoid as What You Choose
Career guidance should predict sustainability, not just match interests. People rarely leave careers because they lost interest in what attracted them. They leave because too much of the daily work falls into activities, tasks, and environments that exhaust them. That friction accumulates quietly. It rarely shows up in an interest inventory, and it rarely gets named until someone is already disengaged or in transition. When that friction goes unmeasured, career conversations feel productive in the moment but produce decisions that do not hold.
Career Path was built to close that gap. When your clients can see both where their energy is and where the drain will come from, you stop being the practitioner who helps people find interesting work. You become the one who helps them find work they can sustain.
Key Features of the Core Factors Career Path
93-Item Assessment Across 17 Dimensions
Measures 11 Occupational Activity Groupings and 6 Global Interest Areas. Items rate interest or dislike in specific tasks, activities, and environments on a 5-point scale. A neutral midpoint removes measurement noise from unfamiliar items.
Independently Scored Preference and Avoidance
Each OAG produces two independent scores. Correlations between Prefer and Avoid range from -.5 to -.7, confirming that avoidance carries meaningful information that cannot be inferred from preference alone.
11 Occupational Activity Groupings (OAGs)
Clusters of tasks, activities, and environments rather than job titles: Business/Management, Business/Financial, Digital Data, Mechanical, Scientific, Artistic, Social/Group Involvement, Home and Nature, Individual/Personal Service, Governmental Service, and Health and Medical.
6 Global Interest Areas (GIAs) and Three-Letter Code
Broad personality-based interest patterns producing a three-letter occupational code. GIA scales correlate .78 to .82 with Holland’s Self-Directed Search, connecting results to the O*NET database and the RIASEC career literature.
Ipsative Scoring
Results are scored within the individual’s own profile rather than against population norms. Personal patterns of relative preference and avoidance are more meaningful for individual career guidance than normative comparisons.
14-Page Career Exploration Profile
Includes OAG descriptions, full Preference and Avoidance profile, GIA results and three-letter code, career exploration section, and O*NET job title appendix.
Career Explorer and Participant Hub
Participants access results through the Participant Hub, including the Career Explorer module for ongoing O*NET exploration and Evidentra® where enabled.
Developed by Mark Majors, PhD
Mark Majors holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology and Multicultural Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He 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. His work spans psychometrics, psychological type, and career counseling, with a focus on building instruments that translate assessment data into practical guidance.
Career Path grew out of Mark’s observation that the career assessments practitioners relied on were answering only half the question. Knowing what someone is drawn to is useful. Knowing what will drain them over time is what makes career guidance predictive rather than descriptive.
GET STARTED
Three Steps to Start Using Career Path
- 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 questions about accreditation, and get you set up.
- Step 3
Complete the Practitioner Foundation Training
Professional administration requires the Practitioner Foundation Training ($299), led by Mark Majors, PhD. Includes video lessons, the assessment manual, and a competency assessment. Upon completion, Career Path is activated in your Pro Account.
FREE DOWNLOAD
Download OMG! Not Another Career Assessment
OMG! Not Another Career Assessment by Mark S. Majors, PhD, provides an in-depth look into the development and application of the Core Factors Career Path assessment. This guide is especially valuable for career counselors, offering insights into effective career guidance and understanding personal preferences and dislikes in career planning. Majors emphasizes the unique features of the assessment, including its ability to quickly and accurately identify career interests and areas to avoid, which helps in making informed career decisions and avoiding job dissatisfaction.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Core Factors Career Path assessment is a psychological measurement tool designed to help individuals understand their preferences and avoidances related to various occupational tasks, activities, and environments, aiding in making informed career decisions.
The assessment evaluates an individual’s preferences and avoidances across eleven Occupational Activity Groupings (OAG) and six Global Interest Areas (GIA) through a series of questions, resulting in a comprehensive Career Exploration Profile.
This assessment is beneficial for individuals at various career stages, including those starting out, changing careers, or seeking to understand their work preferences better. It is also valuable for career counselors and development professionals guiding clients in career decisions.
The assessment typically takes about 10-20 minutes to complete, depending on the individual’s reading speed and thought process.
The report includes your OAG profile showing preference and avoidance percentages for each of the eleven occupational activity groupings, your GIA profile with a three-letter occupational code, career exploration guidance, and an Occupational Code Appendix linking your results to specific careers from the O*NET database.
The Career Path assessment 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.
The assessment is based on advanced psychometric concepts in personality and occupational psychology, focusing on the interaction of human activities and individual differences. The GIA scales have strong validity correlations (.78-.82) with Holland’s Self-Directed Search, the established standard in career interest assessment.
The assessment has been developed with rigorous psychometric properties. Validity surveys show average agreement ratings of 8.3 out of 10 that results match participants’ actual occupational experiences. GIA scales correlate strongly (mean r=.80) with Holland’s Self-Directed Search.
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