Personal values assessments, PDFs and sort cards are ideal resources to help you clarify your values.
I’ve spent hours exploring the web, finding resources, and trying them out. Now I can share the best with you! And I’ll share my self-assessment results too.
These personal values resources are ranked based on 3 criteria:
- The reputation of the provider
- How easy they are to use
- The additional value they offer (beyond just helping you to sort and rank your values!)
Like any self-assessment tool, the value is primarily in the opportunity for self-reflection.
My top 3 free personal values assessments
All 3 of these personal values assessments provided me with useful insights. They each have different methodologies, different content, and different ways of presenting their results.
That might sound confusing, but there’s value in doing all 3 and then looking to see connections across the assessments and synthesizing the results!
The Personal Values Assessment, from Barrett Values Centre
The first point to highlight is that this Barrett Values Centre assessment is available in 22 languages. This makes the Values Centre a particularly good option if English is not your native language!
You’ll be required to provide your name and email address (to receive a link to the report).
In the assessment itself, you are prompted to select 10 values / behaviors ‘that most reflect who you are, not who you desire to become’. I didn’t find this very easy at first, as some of the words were a little unexpected (eg: ‘initiative’, ‘clarity’, ‘vision’). However, once I started it flowed quite smoothly.
The assessment results are provided back as a PDF. This takes a little time to read, and does have additional value:
- Pages 2 & 3 introduce the ‘Barrett Seven Levels of Consciousness’ Model (it looks like an evolution of Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs).
- Page 4 shares your results.
- Pages 5, 6 & 7 provide two additional self-development / reflection exercises.
- Page 8 provides links to additional resources.
The results are shared as a narrative, rather than just a list of single words, which I found of value. If you’d like to see my report you can view it here.
Personal Values: Free Online Test
This Personal Values assessment feels new and fresh, the webpage is lighter and brighter (and only available in English).
I was prompted to ‘select values that resonate with you’. Each value is presented as a big ‘tile’ on screen, which looked good but required a fair amount of scrolling up and down as a result. Once I had selected 10 values the assessment moved into a second stage.
The task was to choose between pairs of values (from the 10), to rank the values. The site collects your name and email after the test. You’ll get the results sent to you in a clean and simple email, with a link to results.
Here are my results if you would like to take a look!
Gyfted Personal Values Assessment
Gyfted is unique in a number of ways. The Gyfted Personal Values Assessment is just one of many assessments through the platform. I counted a total of 43 self-assessments, covering: career discovery, personality, cognitive, motivation and values, skills, job search, and fun.
The Personal Values Assessment was easy to complete. It offered a series of pages, each with 4 statements to rank (by dragging and dropping). As you can see, the results are represented on a spider diagram, a great way to visual present the results so they’re easy to digest.
Five more to explore
Here are 5 more personal values assessments that are worth exploring:
- Think 2 perform
- The Good Project
- Life Values Inventory
- Kathleen Seeley Personal Values Assessment
- Psychology Today Values Profile
Personal Values PDF downloads
And here are 3 personal values PDF downloads.
None of these personal values downloads are editable PDFs (you can’t edit and save your work). They can – of course – be shared and printed with ease. The are relatively simple resources, without the same ‘reports’ provided by the online tools.
The benefits are that they are free, easy to distribute and super simple to use.
- Community College of Vermont Values Assessment
- Life Values Inventory
- Hettie Stroebel Values Self Assessment
Values sort cards (from Amazon, so there is a cost!)
These sort cards are great if you want to collaborate and share as you explore your values. They can be used with family members, (my son is only 8, but we still had a good discussion), with a trusted coworker, or with friends.
These sort cards are great if you want to collaborate and share as you explore your values. They can be used with family members (my son is only 8, but we still had a good discussion), with a trusted coworker, or with friends.
They retail at just over US$17.00 there are 78 cards in total and they come with a booklet and guide.
Values assessments: in conclusion
These assessments don’t provide ‘answers’. It’s a little more complex than that. And each assessment is limited by its format and the ‘values’ that are available to select. Consider using several of them to provide a richer view of your values.
They do have value.
Use them for reflection, use them for insight. Come back to them from time-to-time and see which of your values remain consistent.
Use them in this way and they will help you see your core values.
