Taking the CGI

 

CAREER GUIDANCE INVENTORY (CGI)

 

The CGI systematically addresses your career concerns.  It provides a unique, individual profile identifying personality characteristics, occupational values, vocational interests, accomplishments, and skills. Career counselors will help you use this information to make career and life decisions that meet your present and future needs.

 

Often, those who seek career counseling are undecided about their curriculum and/ or future occupational goals. Taking the CGI and receiving career counseling provides counselees with insights, resources, and skills necessary to make reasonable academic and/ or career choices. 

 

Career decision making and goal setting should become much easier as counselees gain more understanding about themselves and their relationship to the world of work.

 

To begin the career assessment and counseling process, telephone or visit the University Counseling and Testing Center (UCTC).  An initial interview to obtain information about your concerns and background will be scheduled.  At the end of the interview, you will be given a copy of the CGI to take home for a seven day period.  If you are unable to come to Kalamazoo, a CGI packet can be mailed to you with additional shipping and handling fee.  When you return the completed test with your payment (see below for fee schedule), a career counseling appointment will be scheduled to go over your results and to help you develop an action plan to choose or begin your career path.  After your counseling appointment, you may be directed to our Career Resource Center to learn more about the various careers available to you.  All test results and counseling is confidential.

 

The CGI fee schedule is as follows:

WMU Students………………………………$15.00

WMU Faculty and Staff……………………...$50.00

WMU Faculty and Staff

Spouses and Dependents……………………. $75.00

WMU Alumni………………………………..$75.00

Children of Alumni…………………………..$100.00

General Public………………………….…….$250.00

Cost of Mailing CGI……………………….....$5.00

 

Payment is due after you have completed the CGI and return it to UCTC.  Additional charges are assessed if the CGI is found to be damaged or is not returned.

 

Step by Step Guide and Timeline to Taking the CGI

  1. Determine that you would like to take a career assessment or seek career counseling
  2. Stop by or call UCTC at (269) 387-1850 to set up an initial intake appointment.
    * Anticipate about 3-5 business days between your visit/ call and the intake itself- possibly longer depending on schedules and demand at the Center (longer near the end of semesters). 
  3. Attend intake appointment and receive CGI to complete at home.
    *Intake appointments can last up to 50 minutes.
  4. Complete CGI at home.
    *This varies greatly, but is scheduled to be completed within 7 days
  5. Return CGI to UCTC (no appointment needed) with your payment (exact amount only) and set up career counseling session to go over the results of your CGI. 
    *Anticipate about 5-7 business days (possibly longer depending on schedule availability) between the return of your CGI and the career counseling appointment.
  6. Attend career counseling appointment.
    *Appointments to go over your results can last up to 2 hours and may require follow-up appointments.
  7. Use Career Resource Center and other sources (e.g. job shadowing, etc) to locate information on potential majors and/ or careers.  Your career counselor will assist you in identifying resources that will be to your advantage.
    *Gathering information on careers and/ or majors can vary greatly depending on the counselee’s preexisting knowledge of these areas, motivation, and accessibility.  It would be wise to allow oneself enough time to perform these actions before a decision is made or needed to be made.

 

 

 

Some of the people who may benefit from taking the CGI include:

ุ  Incoming and current students with undeclared majors

ุ  Students with declared majors they are questioning or in which they are having academic difficulty

ุ  Students looking for confirmation of a major they have or will declare

ุ  Individuals unsure of how they want to use their major

ุ  Junior and senior high school students without a clear career path

ุ  Individuals looking to change careers

ุ  Individuals interested in graduate school

 

ุ Anyone feeling confused or unsure about their career direction

 

 

FAQ’s

Q: How long does the CGI take to complete?

A: Completion time can vary greatly and depends on the age, education and ability levels of each counselee.  Individuals usually finish any where between 3 ฝ to 6 hours.

 

Q: My child is an underclassman in high school.  Is the CGI appropriate for them?

A: Typically individuals are still going through major developmental phases in high school and are still developing things such as their value system, interests, skills, and even personality.  Thus, it is suggested that for adolescents aged 13 to 15 the CGI be used only as a tool of exploration.  For students 16 and older who read at a 6th grade level, the results of the CGI will be more meaningful.


Q: How long does it take to get an appointment after I turn in my completed CGI
A: The completed CGI results are sent to scanning services which prints out the results.  This takes a minimum of three days.  Thus, appointments to go over the results are usually set up 5 or more days after one has turned them in to the UCTC office.  Appointments near the end of the university’s academic semesters can take longer to schedule due to the increased demand for career counseling services.  Please plan accordingly.


Q: I need to plan out my class schedule.  Will taking the CGI help me to do this?
A: The CGI and the career counseling involved with it can be very beneficial to helping you decide on what major and/ or career might work best for you.  However, neither the CGI nor the career counselor will be able to tell you what ‘exactly’ to do.  You will be encouraged to do further exploration which takes time so that you can make that final decision.  Thus, you will want to give yourself time to take and go over the results of the CGI as well as to explore the majors and/ or careers suggested during your session with the career counselor.

Q: I am not going to be able to finish the CGI in the 7 days allotted. What can I do?
A: Please call UCTC at (269) 387-1850 and ask for an extension of time to complete it.


Q: Can I bypass the initial intake?
A: No, it is important for the career counselors to determine if taking the CGI would be appropriate.  Even if you are sure you want to take the CGI, it is important for the career counselors to gather information on you and your concerns so that they may more effectively help you.  The exception to this rule is if you are unable to make it to Kalamazoo and/ or the UCTC at any point due to serious logistical problems (e.g. health issues).  Non-students are also typically exempt from this requirement.  Overall, however, the intake interview will be part of the career counseling process.


Q: Are there other career test options besides the CGI?

A: We firmly believe that the CGI is the best assessment available.  The CGI Shortened Version is currently in the final stages of development and will be mostly available to groups.  If there is a compelling reason (e.g. required by employer) to take another test, it may be possible to arrange this for an additional fee through UCTC.