The Career Direct® assessment maps your child’s personality, interests, skills and values — then it is unpacked over 1.5–2 hours with a Child & Adolescent Psychologist, fully in English, with you in the room.
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Many study decisions are made by following friends, trends or guesswork. The result shows a year or two later, when switching is already costly — and with international tuition fees, that cost is even higher.
A big decision made for social reasons — not on your child’s real strengths and interests.
Job prospects matter, but students in a field that doesn’t fit them find it hard to excel and compete.
Waiting only moves the confusion to a more urgent moment — when application deadlines are already close.
of university students in Indonesia say their major does not match their interests — a finding from the Indonesia Career Center Network survey. That means tuition, time and the motivation to learn all go to waste.
Indonesia Career Center Network (ICCN) survey, 2017. Widely quoted in Indonesian media; some other sources cite a lower figure. What isn’t disputed: choosing the wrong major is a real problem — and it can be prevented in high school.
Sound familiar? Here is a mother who was in the same position.
“It turned out her personality really matched, confirming a lot of things. My husband and I found it so helpful.”
I came to SOA to take the Career Direct Assessment Test for my eldest child. She's in Grade 11 and has to start decisively choosing her path: which college to go to and which major. I needed direction: what does she want to become? Whenever we asked what she wanted to be, her answer kept changing. So we let her do the test, with so many questions. The result was architecture, and that surprised us too. But it turned out her personality really matched, confirming a lot of things, a lot of our questions and curiosity about this kid. Kids can be a puzzle for parents. My husband and I found it so helpful. Very helpful, the result, because it's like confirming everything. (Spoken in a mix of Indonesian and English; translated.)
Career Direct is a comprehensive career assessment developed in the United States and now used across countries and languages. The research behind it reached one conclusion that underpins the whole instrument: a satisfying study and career direction can only be mapped when four aspects are analysed together — something most interest tests lack, because they capture only one side of a child.
How your child interacts, works and makes decisions.
The fields, activities and school subjects that energise them.
The abilities they feel strongest in, from analytical to artistic.
What they consider important in life and work — the foundation of their satisfaction.
One assessment, four aspects read against each other. A recommended major is not taken from a single top score, but from where all four aspects meet. A child who is interested in medicine but whose personality struggles under sustained pressure gets a far clearer discussion than simply “suited to be a doctor”.
This isn’t opinion: Toth’s (1998) dissertation research on Career Direct data found that all four domains — interests, personality, skills and work values — need to be analysed together to raise a person’s chances of choosing a satisfying direction.
Career Direct’s own research found that parents are a child’s main source of career information — which is why the developers concluded parents need to be equipped too, not just the student. It is also why every debrief session here includes you.
Development began in 1990 under a team led by a Ph.D. industrial & organisational psychologist — a former Head of the Psychology Department, Dean and Provost at a research university in the United States. The first version was published in 1995, has carried the Career Direct name since 1997, and is still revised based on its users’ data today.
Source for percentages: Career Direct® Research & Development Technical Manual (Crown Financial Ministries, 2011). User, country and language figures: the official Career Direct® website. All of these come from the instrument developer’s research and data in the United States, not from SOA clients.
That's the research. Here is what it meant for one of our own clients.
“It has given me clarity on what I wanted to do. I can confidently say that I have picked my major.”
Before the career assessment test, I was back and forth between majors and I didn't know what I wanted to do. Now, after taking the career assessment test, I can say that it has given me clarity on what I wanted to do. And I can confidently say that I have picked my major, one that suits my best interests and my future ahead. So I'm grateful for the career assessment test for helping me with this opportunity and for helping me gain clarity. I hope that this helps other people as well as it helped me.
So far we’ve been talking about the instrument. But an instrument is only the raw material.
Anyone holding the licence can print a Career Direct report. What can’t be printed is the interpretation — the ability to see why two children with similar scores actually need different advice, and to notice what doesn’t show up in any number.
So what you are really paying for here is not a test. It is the time, experience and insight of a child & adolescent psychologist who personally reads every report — something that cannot be automated.
Child & Adolescent Psychologist · Founder of SOA · Career Direct® Consultant
An assessment is only as strong as the person interpreting it. Every Career Direct report is unpacked personally by Ms. Hanlie — a Child & Adolescent Psychologist who founded SOA (Sahabat Orangtua & Anak) in 2012 and has guided thousands of students through the same uncertainty your child is facing.
Her background as a Child & Adolescent Psychologist is what makes the difference: she doesn’t stop at the numbers in the report, but looks at the whole child — their physical and emotional development, the dynamics of being a teenager, and their relationship with their parents — so the recommendations fit where your child really is, not just a test result on paper.
In the debrief session, your child doesn’t simply receive “a list of suitable majors”. They are helped to understand themselves: their strengths, how they learn, and the reasoning behind every recommendation.
Sessions can be held entirely in English, and the report can be issued in English as well — a natural fit for students in IB, Cambridge and other international curricula.
The session lasts 1.5–2 hours with your child and you together. Throughout, Ms. Hanlie doesn’t only explain the results, she also observes — and this is where her background as a Child & Adolescent Psychologist comes in.
Where your child lights up, and where they close off. Signals like these are often more informative than the scores themselves.
If it becomes clear during the discussion that something should be addressed before talking about majors, Ms. Hanlie will say so plainly — including when the right answer is to wait. What you hear is a professional judgement, not a conclusion produced by a system.
You both hear the same explanation. Conversations that have been going round in circles as arguments become a calm family discussion.
What is the debrief session like? From a student's point of view:
“It really made me understand the potentials I have and also the weaknesses I have.”
And today I met SOA for a Career Direct consultation with Ibu Hanlie. And I learned so much today, and I also found out so much about myself from the test results, and now I also found out what my true passions are. This consultation definitely taught me a lot about what I want to do in the future. And they actually explain it very clearly, so it really made me understand the potentials I have and also the weaknesses I have. So it's not only about the good things, but also about the bad things. And every time I asked questions, they were very open-minded in answering. So I'm very happy with today's discussion. And I'm very happy and very excited for the next journey, and to keep being with SOA through my going-to-college journey. Yes! (Mostly in English; the Indonesian phrases are translated.)
Everything can be done from home, wherever you are. You know exactly what happens at every stage.
Tell us about your child’s situation, or ask anything first. The SOA team explains the process and schedule and answers all your questions — with no obligation.
FreeThe Career Direct assessment is completed online from home, relaxed and with no special preparation — it isn’t an exam with right or wrong answers. It can be taken in English, and the report issued in English.
± 1.5–2 hoursMs. Hanlie unpacks the results with your child and you together: personality profile, study interests, skills, life values, and the fields that fit best — while observing first-hand how your child responds. The session is held in English, by video call from anywhere in the world or in person at SOA Alam Sutera.
1.5–2 hours · child + parentsYour family receives a comprehensive report you can revisit anytime — a reference when choosing subjects, a university major, and later a career path.
Yours to keepA ±35-page PDF with your child’s full profile: personality, study interests, aptitudes & skills, and life values, with the reasoning behind every recommendation. Yours to keep and print anytime.
The most important part of this service: Ms. Hanlie’s time unpacking the report with your child and you, together with first-hand observations no test can produce.
Recommendations for subject choices and university majors grounded in data — not guesswork, trends or following friends.
Real pages from a Career Direct report, with the participant’s identity removed. Reports can be issued in English or Bahasa Indonesia.
A report this thorough is generated by the same system for every participant in 84 countries. What makes it meaningful for one child is the 1.5–2 hour discussion with a psychologist.
Students and parents who have taken the assessment — several of them in English.
“It really made me understand the potentials I have and also the weaknesses I have. So it's not only about the good things, but also about the bad things.”
And today I met SOA for a Career Direct consultation with Ibu Hanlie. And I learned so much today, and I also found out so much about myself from the test results, and now I also found out what my true passions are. This consultation definitely taught me a lot about what I want to do in the future. And they actually explain it very clearly, so it really made me understand the potentials I have and also the weaknesses I have. So it's not only about the good things, but also about the bad things. And every time I asked questions, they were very open-minded in answering. So I'm very happy with today's discussion. And I'm very happy and very excited for the next journey, and to keep being with SOA through my going-to-college journey. Yes! (Mostly in English; the Indonesian phrases are translated.)
“It turned out her personality really matched, confirming a lot of things. My husband and I found it so helpful.”
I came to SOA to take the Career Direct Assessment Test for my eldest child. She's in Grade 11 and has to start decisively choosing her path: which college to go to and which major. I needed direction: what does she want to become? Whenever we asked what she wanted to be, her answer kept changing. So we let her do the test, with so many questions. The result was architecture, and that surprised us too. But it turned out her personality really matched, confirming a lot of things, a lot of our questions and curiosity about this kid. Kids can be a puzzle for parents. My husband and I found it so helpful. Very helpful, the result, because it's like confirming everything. (Spoken in a mix of Indonesian and English; translated.)
“At first I wanted to study dentistry, but it turned out I'm a better fit for psychology.”
Before I started high school, I still didn't know what my interests, aptitudes and talents really were. At first I wanted to study dentistry, but it turned out I'm a better fit for psychology. And I'm really grateful I took this test, because through it I learned what my real aptitudes are, from within myself, and I got to know myself better. (Spoken in Indonesian; translated.)
“It has given me clarity on what I wanted to do. I can confidently say that I have picked my major.”
Before the career assessment test, I was back and forth between majors and I didn't know what I wanted to do. Now, after taking the career assessment test, I can say that it has given me clarity on what I wanted to do. And I can confidently say that I have picked my major, one that suits my best interests and my future ahead. So I'm grateful for the career assessment test for helping me with this opportunity and for helping me gain clarity. I hope that this helps other people as well as it helped me.
Average rating from the families we have worked with. More written reviews, in their own words, are on our testimonials page — most of them in Bahasa Indonesia.
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