Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Guiding Vine Career Consulting Process?
Every client begins with our Foundation Package, a step-by-step process designed to provide clarity and confidence for educational and career decisions.
Step 1: Initial Consultation Meet with your consultant for a 20-minute Zoom consultation to discuss your goals, answer questions, and determine how Guiding Vine can best support you. Parents are welcome to join.
Step 2: Complete the Highlands Ability Battery Complete the Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) at your own pace from the comfort of your home. This research-based assessment measures your natural abilities—the foundation of the Guiding Vine process.
Step 3: Receive Your Personalized Results Once your assessment is complete, your results are carefully analyzed and prepared into a personalized report unique to your natural design.
Step 4: Results Consultation Meet in person for a 75-minute consultation to review your results in depth. Together, we'll explore your natural abilities, discuss educational and career opportunities that align with your strengths, and develop personalized next steps.
Discovery Assessment (Optional)
For clients seeking additional clarity, a Discovery Assessment measures your interests and values. Unlike your natural abilities—which remain stable throughout life—your interests and values naturally evolve over time. Combining these results with your Highlands Ability Battery creates an even more personalized list of college majors and career paths to explore.
Follow-Up Sessions (Optional)
For clients needing additional time to process their results, explore career options in greater depth, or navigate important educational or career decisions, 50-minute follow-up consultation sessions are available. These sessions provide personalized guidance, answer new questions, and help clients confidently move forward as opportunities and decisions arise.
Why does every client begin with the Foundation Package?
Every client begins with the Foundation Package because meaningful educational and career decisions start with understanding how you're naturally wired. The Highlands Ability Battery provides an objective foundation by measuring your natural abilities—strengths that remain stable throughout life. Once that foundation is established, we can confidently integrate your interests, values, personality, and goals to identify educational and career paths that are a natural fit.
What is the Highlands Ability Battery? (HAB)
The Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) is a research-based aptitude assessment and the foundation of every client experience at Guiding Vine Career Consulting. Widely recognized as the gold standard in aptitude testing, the HAB objectively measures your natural abilities through a series of performance-based exercises.
Unlike personality, interests, or values—which naturally change over time—your aptitudes stabilize around age 14 and remain remarkably consistent throughout life. This makes the HAB a reliable tool for understanding how you're naturally wired to learn, think, solve problems, and work.
By identifying these natural strengths, the HAB provides a strong foundation for making informed decisions about college majors, careers, and future opportunities.
How is HAB different from other career assessment?
Many popular assessments, such as Myers-Briggs (MBTI), the Strong Interest Inventory, and YouScience, primarily measure personality, interests, or work preferences. While these assessments provide valuable insights, those characteristics naturally change over time.
The Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) measures your natural aptitudes—the abilities you were born with. Based on the research of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation, it is most similar to the aptitude testing offered by Johnson O'Connor and AIMS, with the added convenience of being completed entirely from home. The HAB can be completed from the comfort of your own home, on your schedule, and at your own pace. Whether you complete it in one sitting or spread it over several days, weeks, or even months, you can work when you're rested, focused, and able to perform at your best.
How long does it take to complete the HAB?
The Highlands Ability Battery consists of 19 timed, performance-based work samples and takes approximately three hours to complete in total. Most work samples last 5–10 minutes, allowing you to focus on one exercise at a time.
One of the greatest advantages of the HAB is its flexibility. You don't have to complete the entire assessment in one sitting. Instead, you can complete the work samples at your own pace, from the comfort of your home, taking breaks whenever needed.
Is the HAB like the ACT or SAT?
No. The Highlands Ability Battery is not an academic test like the ACT or SAT. It doesn't measure what you've learned in school, your intelligence, or how well you perform academically.
Instead, the HAB measures your natural aptitudes—the abilities you were born with. There are no passing or failing scores, and there is no need to prepare or study for the assessment. The goal is simply to understand how you're naturally wired to think, learn, solve problems, and work.
The most important thing you can do is complete each work sample when you're rested, focused, and free from distractions. The HAB isn't about achieving a perfect score—it's about discovering your unique strengths.
Can parents be involved in the process?
Absolutely. Parents are encouraged to attend the initial 20-minute Zoom consultation and the 75-minute results consultation with their high school or college student. Understanding your student's natural strengths allows everyone to participate in meaningful conversations about college majors, career options, and future decisions.
For adult clients, participation is entirely up to the client. While most adults attend independently, spouses or family members are welcome if the client feels it would be beneficial.
Will the HAB tell me exactly what career I should pursue?
No—and that's actually one of its greatest strengths.
Rather than telling you what you have to do, the Highlands Ability Battery helps identify the careers and college majors that best align with your natural talents and abilities. Instead of overwhelming you with endless possibilities, it narrows the field to options where you're most likely to thrive and find fulfillment.
The final decision is always yours. My role is to equip you with the insight and confidence to make informed choices about your future. By understanding your unique design, you can pursue educational and career paths that fit who you are naturally—greatly increasing the likelihood that you'll enjoy your work and find long-term satisfaction.
Ready to get started?
Schedule your free 20-minute Zoom consultation today!
Still have questions? We'd love to help. Email us at amy@guidingvine.com.