Career · ~5 minutes
What do you need from work?
Interests tell you what draws you; values tell you what a job must provide for you to be content in it. Rate thirty statements by importance to rank your six core work values — and see what to look for, and trade off, in any role.
Rate how important each thing is to you in a job — from 1 (not important) to 5 (essential). Answer for what you need to feel satisfied, not what sounds admirable. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
What you need from work
A ranking of priorities, not a scorecard. These are your work values ordered by how much they matter to you — there's no good or bad profile, only what fits you. Real jobs force trade-offs between them (independence versus security, recognition versus low conflict), so the value of this is knowing which to protect when you can't have everything. Pair it with your interest profile for a fuller picture.
About this instrument
What this measures — and what it doesn't
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Measures
Work values (needs)
What you need from a job to be satisfied, across six research-based values from the Theory of Work Adjustment — achievement, independence, recognition, relationships, support, and working conditions.
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Method
30-item importance scale
Five statements per value, each rated on a five-point importance scale, presented in shuffled order. Scores are normalized to a percentage per value and ranked from most to least important to you.
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Result
Ranked values + guidance
A full ranking of all six values with scores, plus what to look for in a role for your top three. Framed as priorities to guide trade-offs, not a verdict on any job or field.
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Limits
Honest limits
Self-report reflects what you think you want, which can shift with life stage. Values conflict in the real world, and no job maxes all six. This is a reflection tool, never a hiring or fit verdict.
Questions
Before you begin
What are work values?
Work values are what you need from a job to feel satisfied in it — things like achievement, independence, recognition, good relationships, supportive management, and solid working conditions. They come from the Theory of Work Adjustment, the framework behind O*NET's work-importance model, and they predict job satisfaction better than interests alone.
How is this different from the interest test?
The interest profiler asks what kind of work draws you; this asks what any job must provide for you to be content in it. You can be genuinely interested in a field that still makes you miserable because it clashes with your values — so the two together give a fuller picture than either alone.
Why can't I score high on everything?
You can, but it's not very useful. The point is priority: when everything is essential, nothing guides a real decision. Values also trade off in the real world — high independence and high security rarely come together, for instance — so knowing which matter most to you is what helps when you have to choose.
Is my data saved anywhere?
No. The entire test runs in your browser. Your answers never leave your device and nothing is stored or sent to a server. Refreshing the page clears everything.
Go deeper
The science behind this instrument
Values, interests, and how you think.
Put it together with the full adaptive test across five cognitive domains.
Take the IQ test