How Career Assessments Helped One Professional Find Career Clarity
Marilyn Fettner, LCPC, CCC, NCC, CPVC — CEO and President of Fettner Executive & Professional Career Coaching — worked with Carolyn, a working professional, through career counseling centered on the Highlands Ability Battery.
The engagement led Carolyn to identify career possibilities she had not previously considered and to secure a role she describes as a genuine fit for her natural strengths.
Considering whether career assessment coaching could help clarify your next step? Schedule a consultation with Marilyn Fettner to talk through your situation.
Case at a Glance
| Client | Carolyn, a working professional |
| Challenge | No clear sense of career direction |
| Objective | Gain clarity on which career path actually fits her strengths |
| Strategy | Highlands Ability Battery assessment, interpreted through coaching with Marilyn Fettner |
| Result | Carolyn secured a role she describes as a strong fit for who she is |
The Challenge: What Led Carolyn to Career Coaching?
Carolyn came to Marilyn Fettner for career counseling because she wanted a better sense of direction.
Her uncertainty centered on fit — not on job title or market availability, but on not yet knowing which direction actually matched her strengths.
The Objective: What Was Carolyn Trying to Achieve?
Carolyn’s stated goal going into coaching was to gain a clearer sense of career direction grounded in a more accurate understanding of her own abilities, rather than continuing to evaluate options without that foundation.
The Strategy: Why Fettner Used the Highlands Ability Battery
To address that goal, Fettner incorporated the Highlands Ability Battery into Carolyn’s engagement.
Published by The Highlands Company, the Highlands Ability Battery is a standardized aptitude assessment administered through timed work samples, designed to measure natural talent directly rather than solely through self-reported interest.
The Implementation: How the Assessment and Coaching Came Together
Carolyn completed the Highlands Ability Battery and reviewed the results directly with Fettner in coaching sessions.
Fettner interpreted the assessment data with Carolyn, connecting the raw results to specific career directions rather than leaving Carolyn to interpret the report independently.
The Results: What Changed for Carolyn
Carolyn described the Highlands Ability Battery as one of the most helpful assessments she had completed. In her own words:
“I came to Marilyn for career counseling because I wanted to have a better sense of direction… The Highlands Ability Battery was one of the most helpful assessments I have ever done. I learned things about myself that I never realized, and those results opened career possibilities I would have never considered. Ultimately, I ended up with a job that is very satisfying because it is a great fit for who I truly am.” — Carolyn
Carolyn used that clarity to pursue and secure a role aligned with her strengths.
The Lessons Learned: What This Case Shows
In Carolyn’s case, the barrier wasn’t a lack of available options — it was incomplete self-knowledge. Naming her aptitude first, through an objective assessment, gave her a concrete way to evaluate career paths against her actual strengths rather than against resume history alone.
If a similar sense of uncertainty about career fit sounds familiar, schedule a consultation with Marilyn Fettner to talk through what a Highlands Ability Battery assessment could look like for your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Highlands Ability Battery?
The Highlands Ability Battery is a standardized aptitude assessment published by The Highlands Company. It uses timed, performance-based work samples to measure natural talent rather than relying solely on self-reported interests or preferences.
How is an aptitude assessment different from general career advice?
General career advice typically starts from job titles and market conditions. An aptitude assessment like the Highlands Ability Battery starts from measured ability, giving a coach objective data to interpret alongside the client’s own observations and goals.
Why did assessment-based coaching help Carolyn when general job searching hadn’t?
In Carolyn’s account, general job searching had not resolved her uncertainty because it focused on job titles rather than the underlying question of fit. Assessment-based coaching with Marilyn Fettner addressed that gap directly for her by starting from her measured strengths.
Does Fettner Executive & Professional Career Coaching use only the Highlands Ability Battery?
No. Marilyn Fettner draws on multiple tools depending on the client’s situation, including the Highlands Ability Battery, CPI 260, MBTI, and the Strong Interest Inventory, selecting the combination that best addresses each client’s questions.
Can assessment results alone determine the right career?
No. Results require interpretation in context. Carolyn’s outcome came from combining her Highlands Ability Battery results with coaching sessions that connected the data to real career directions, not from the raw report alone.
Who administers the Highlands Ability Battery at Fettner Executive & Professional Career Coaching?
Marilyn Fettner, LCPC, CCC, NCC, CPVC, administers and interprets assessments as part of her coaching practice, serving clients virtually nationwide from her Northbrook, Illinois, practice.
About the Author
Marilyn Fettner, LCPC, CCC, NCC, CPVC, is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Certified Career Counselor based in Northbrook, Illinois, with more than 25 years of practice and over 3,000 individual clients coached.
Through Fettner Executive & Professional Career Coaching, she provides career, executive, leadership, and personal coaching to professionals at every career stage — delivered one-on-one and virtually to clients in all 50 U.S. states.