Special Report: Aptitude testing

Susanne Kuhl was happy with her job in the financial world, until one fateful day.

"The company I was working at had a 10% reduction of workforce, and I was one of the people," said Kuhl. 

But before continuing to look for the same type of job, the 41-year-old decided to find out just what kind of position she was best suited for.

So Susanne heads to the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation in Boston to take a specialized aptitude test that will pinpoint her strengths and weaknesses.

"Some people are musical, some are good at producing ideas, at reasoning in particular ways, and that information is helpful for people making choices about education and career," said Tim Fitzgerald of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation. 

Susanne was tested on everything from her dexterity, to her reasoning abilities, to her math skills.

She found out her strengths lie in diagnosing and fixing problems, like a consultant or manager.

"Some sort of role where your job is to be the one that figure things out," said Cindy Rosner of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation. 

Ron Merryman of Winthrop, who's been working in the fitness industry since college, also wanted to know where his strengths were.

"Really have an assessment based on what I am good at and what I’m good at naturally," said Merryman. 

After two days of testing Ron on everything from his musical ability to his logic, to his memory, the results show he's perfect for science and engineering jobs.

"It’s reaffirmed some of the things I’ve considered in the past,” said Merryman. 

As for Susanne, she hopes the results put her on the perfect career path.

"With this information I can sort of really say, wow, this would be good, a good fit for me," said Kuhl.

The full aptitude test takes about six hours and is done over two days. Scores are based on where the test taker ranks compared to everyone else who has taken the test.

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