The result 1 in 7 quiz takers gets
No archetype comes up more often: 1,860 of 13,386 takers, 13.9%. It takes 2 answers. You say you are a student or graduate with no clear direction yet, and for the next 6 months you want to “explore creative/passion projects part-time”. 91.7% of Open-Minded Starters are 18 to 24, 85.6% have no work experience yet, and 70.9% name high school as their highest qualification so far.
Creative as children, after purpose now
For students, the quiz asks what they spent hours on as children when it felt like play. 44.4% of Open-Minded Starters picked drawing, writing or music, against 34.3% of the other 3,733 students and graduates in the quiz.
| Answer | Share |
|---|---|
| Drawing, writing or music | 44.4% |
| Deep-diving into niche topics | 19.7% |
| Exploring nature, travel or how things work | 15.2% |
| Building gadgets or experiments | 13% |
| Organising and leading groups | 7.8% |
The value they call most essential is purpose and impact, at 32.8% against 23.2% of other students and graduates, while stability drops to 11.6% from 17.6%. Both gaps pass a two-proportion z-test against the other 3 student archetypes (p < 0.05). Put together: a creative streak, a wish for the work to matter, and little pressure yet to lock in a safe option.
Try a career before you choose it
Exploring part-time is the right instinct, and the format of the test matters. In the National Association of Colleges and Employers survey of the class of 2015, 72.2% of students with a paid internship at a private company received a job offer, against 43.9% with an unpaid one and 36.5% with no internship at all (NACE, 2016). The survey shows a correlation, and the likely reason is that paid roles carry the actual work of the job, which teaches you more about it and shows employers more of you.
For an Open-Minded Starter without work experience, a paid test can be small: a weekend job in the field you are curious about, a commissioned creative project, or a day shadowing someone who does the job. Each one answers the question a career test cannot, which is whether you still want the work after a dull Tuesday of it. If you are deciding what to do straight after school, the guide to what to do after high school compares the options, and choosing a college major covers the degree decision.