I went into it not having a clue about what I wanted to do but came out the other side where the CAO practically wrote itself.

Finally an assessment that recognises me for who I truly am.

The thing I liked about the test I guess was that it laid out your top 100 career areas in terms of percentage match. There is something about seeing this written out in front of you that switches the light on and gets you to see the patterns of careers you would be suited to. And then once I had sorted my top careers I was able to see easily what courses I needed to get into them. I am currently in first year Computer science in UCD and loving it.

This assessment is truly transformative! I found in my Leaving cert year that I was taking so much time trying to make up my mind about what courses to do and the indecision was driving me mad. By doing this assessment I was very quickly able to see where I needed to direct the focus of my career and choosing the CAO courses became simple. It was such a relief to get the CAO form off my ‘to do’ list and concentrate again on my studies.

I highly recommend this test and think that every Leaving Cert student should do it. It brought so much clarity to my CAO search and got rid of loads of career areas that I was wasting my time thinking about. In many ways it rules out options as well as putting them in and this was so refreshing and helpful for me.

Before I engaged with optimal careers I was overwhelmed with all the options available to me and not sure how to proceed. Doing the assessment even made me focus my mind and during the process of doing it I almost had a clearer vision of what I wanted to do before I got the results. It was of course nice to see that the report confirmed my thoughts when I got it.

I did this test in my first year of college when I realised that I was in the wrong course. I was completely clueless about what to do and the second instalment of fees was due shortly so time was against me. In the end the test made me realise that there was another course that suited me a hell of a lot more. I have decided to take the rest of the year out and start again next year. I’m grateful I have finally worked out what I want to do and so wish that I had had the opportunity to do it when I was at school. It would have saved me a lot of time and money!

I can't thank Optimal Careers enough for the guidance their psychometric assessment gave me whilst in my second year of college. At the time I didn’t see a way forward with the course I had chosen and wanted to drop out. However, getting my career development report and top 10 career profiles made me realise that there were lots of post-graduate opportunities out there for me after my course if I just stuck it out. I’m now doing a Masters programme that complements my skillset a lot better and hope I can go on from here into a career that I will thrive in. 

I was stuck in a technical sales job feeling unrewarded and unappreciated by my managers. This assessment gave me the spark I needed to realise that I wanted to do something more creative in the area of environmental engineering. I have now nearly completed my masters in this area and am so grateful that I am now within touching distance of my dream job. Doing this assessment has transformed my life! 

I work in the area of science and felt, whilst I am doing well in my job and have obtained a successful role, I just don’t like the direction the company is moving in. I felt this service would at least allow me to blow the cobwebs off my career and give it an overall NCT. The experience was very worthwhile as it has made me more conscious of the work I need to be more strict in turning down and direction I should be orientating myself towards in order to properly pursue my career trajectory. It also made me think about going self-employed which I am currently in the process of weighing up.