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Career Orientations Questionnaire3

Career Orientations Questionnaire Test

Understand what truly drives your career choices in about 8 minutes. Get clear insight to choose roles and workplaces that fit your values and keep you motivated.

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Questions: 408 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

14,721 view

1,124 completions

921 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

33/50

Lifestyle Integration (LI)

Measures how strongly a person seeks balance and flexibility between work demands and personal life priorities.

Work-first

Balanced

Lifestyle-first

5 – 20: Work-first | 21 – 35: Balanced | 36 – 50: Lifestyle-first

A score of 33 falls in the Balanced range, suggesting you value work–life balance and prefer roles that allow flexibility without making either area consistently dominate.

example score

31/50

Service (S)

Measures how strongly a person is motivated by helping others and contributing to socially meaningful goals in their career.

Lower service focus

Moderate service focus

High service focus

5 – 19: Lower service focus | 20 – 34: Moderate service focus | 35 – 50: High service focus

A score of 31 indicates a moderate service orientation, suggesting you often value work that benefits others, while also weighing other career priorities.

example score

40/50

Entrepreneurship (E)

Measures the extent to which you are motivated to create new ventures, take calculated risks, and pursue independent initiatives.

Lower

Moderate

High

5 – 21: Lower | 22 – 36: Moderate | 37 – 50: High

A score of 40 falls in the High range, suggesting a strong preference for autonomy, initiating new projects, and building something of your own.

example score

30/50

Professional Competence (PC)

Measures the extent to which a person is motivated to build expertise, improve skills, and gain recognition for professional mastery.

Lower focus

Balanced focus

Strong focus

5 – 21: Lower focus | 22 – 37: Balanced focus | 38 – 50: Strong focus

A score of 30 suggests a balanced emphasis on developing professional skills and seeking recognition, alongside other career motives.

example score

19/50

Challenge (C)

Measures how strongly a person is motivated by tackling difficult tasks, competition, and novelty as a source of professional satisfaction.

Lower Challenge focus

Moderate Challenge focus

High Challenge focus

5 – 21: Lower Challenge focus | 22 – 36: Moderate Challenge focus | 37 – 50: High Challenge focus

A score of 19 suggests that seeking challenge and competition is a less central career driver, with motivation more likely coming from other anchors than constant problem-solving intensity.

example score

33/50

Stability (S)

Measures how strongly a person prioritizes predictable, secure working conditions and long-term stability in their career choices.

Low stability focus

Moderate stability focus

High stability focus

5 – 19: Low stability focus | 20 – 34: Moderate stability focus | 35 – 50: High stability focus

A score of 33 suggests a moderate preference for stable and predictable work conditions, valuing security while remaining open to some change.

example score

19/50

Autonomy (A)

Autonomy measures how strongly a person prefers independence and freedom in setting tasks and choosing how to work, with minimal organizational constraints.

Low autonomy need

Moderate autonomy need

High autonomy need

5 – 19: Low autonomy need | 20 – 34: Moderate autonomy need | 35 – 50: High autonomy need

A score of 19 suggests a low autonomy need, indicating you may be more comfortable with clear structures and guidance than with fully self-directed work.

example score

16/50

Managerial Competence (MC)

Measures motivation to take managerial responsibility by leading people, integrating efforts, and making key decisions.

Low

Moderate

High

5 – 20: Low | 21 – 35: Moderate | 36 – 50: High

A score of 16 falls in the Low range, suggesting management and leadership responsibility are not a primary career driver compared with other motivations.

example score

24/100

Vertical Career Orientation (VCO)

This scale measures how strongly a person is motivated by upward advancement into higher-status managerial roles.

Low

Moderate

High

0 – 33: Low | 34 – 66: Moderate | 67 – 100: High

A score of 24 falls in the Low range, suggesting limited emphasis on climbing the corporate ladder or seeking higher-status leadership positions as a primary career driver.

example score

77/100

Horizontal Career Orientation (HCO)

Measures the degree to which a person is motivated by deepening expertise and growing through professional specialization rather than moving up the hierarchy.

Low focus on specialization

Balanced orientation

Strong lateral-career orientation

0 – 33: Low focus on specialization | 34 – 66: Balanced orientation | 67 – 100: Strong lateral-career orientation

A score of 77 suggests a strong preference for building a career through developing mastery and specialized skills, with satisfaction coming from expert work and professional growth.

example score

123/150

Orientation Toward Conditions (OTC)

This scale measures how strongly a person prefers career choices that provide stability, security, predictable conditions, and work–life balance.

Low

Moderate

High

15 – 59: Low | 60 – 104: Moderate | 105 – 150: High

A score of 123 indicates a high orientation to conditions, suggesting you are most satisfied in roles with clear expectations, reliable security, and a comfortable, predictable work environment.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Career changers and seekers

41%OF USERS

People considering a new role or field take it to understand what truly motivates them and which work environments will fit.

Students and early professionals

34%OF USERS

Students and recent graduates use it to choose a direction, first job, or internship that matches their values and preferred tasks.

Managers and HR specialists

25%OF USERS

Team leads, coaches, and HR professionals take it to better align roles, development plans, and motivation within teams.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Integration of Lifestyles (IoL)

Average

Normal range

10.2 — 25.8

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Service (S)

Average

24.3

Normal range

18.2 — 30.5

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Entrepreneurship (E)

Average

Normal range

23.5 — 38.6

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Professional competence (Pc)

Average

22.6

Normal range

15.7 — 29.4

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Call (C)

Average

28.8

Normal range

21.1 — 36.5

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Stability (S)

Average

28.4

Normal range

22.7 — 34.2

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Autonomy (A)

Average

23.6

Normal range

15.3 — 31.8

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Org. competence (Oc)

Average

Normal range

15.3 — 30.8

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Focus on a vertical career (Foavc)

Average

52.7

Normal range

38.9 — 66.5

min.

max.

100

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Orientation towards a lateral career (Otalc)

Average

Normal range

42.5 — 77.4

min.

max.

100

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Orientation to Conditions (OtC)

Average

105.6

Normal range

88.6 — 122.5

min.

max.

150

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- 1: Not at all important
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- 10: Extremely important
- 1: Not at all important
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- 10: Extremely important
- 1: Not at all important
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- 10: Extremely important

These are 3 of the 40 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

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WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Career Orientations Questionnaire Test - Symptoms and Signs

career growth

pedagogy

This self-report measure is designed to clarify the work-related motives and values that influence occupational preferences and career decision-making. The Career Orientations Questionnaire is commonly used to support career counseling and related guidance by identifying an individual’s dominant career anchors.

The instrument includes 40 items and typically requires about 8 minutes to complete. Items ask respondents to rate statements reflecting themes such as autonomy, security, managerial responsibility, and other value-based drivers of career satisfaction.

Results from the Career Orientations Questionnaire are generally interpreted to summarize relative strengths across key orientation domains, which can inform discussions about person-role fit, job choice, and longer-term career planning. Interpretation should be integrated with other clinical or career assessment information and considered in the context of the respondent’s background and current work circumstances.

Author: Edgar H. Schein

Literature: Schein, E. H. Career anchors: Discovering your real values. Jossey-Bass. 1990.; Greenhaus, J. H., Callanan, G. A., & Godshalk, V. M. Career management. Sage. 2010.; Savickas, M. L. Career construction theory and practice. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work. Wiley. 2005.